How the home-improvement payment scheme aims to protect consumers and traders
As a consumer expert I regularly hear from consumers about issues that they have had with tradespeople but also tradespeople complain abut bad customers too. In this episode of The Complaining Cow Consumer Show on East London Radio presenter Helen Dewdney talks to James Walker Trusted Payment CEO about Trusted Payments, discussing how the scheme works, what it costs and whether it can provide greater protection for consumers and traders undertaking home-improvement projects
James Walker is the chief executive of Trusted Payments, the government backed service that helps homeowners pay for building work safely, with money only released to the trade once each stage of the job is signed off.
James Walker
James has spent well over a decade standing up for consumers. He founded Resolver, the free complaints service that helped people sort out around £4 billion worth of problems, and over his career he has dealt with some 4 million consumer complaints. He is a non executive director of Consumer Scotland, a director of the Ombuds Group, and works with the Civil Aviation Authority’s Consumer Panel.
He’s also a building surveyor by training, with a Masters in the environmental design of buildings, and has run plenty of projects of his own, from turning an ordinary house into an eco home to a loft conversion completed in under eight hours.
James Walker talks Trusted Payments on The Complaining Cow Consumer Show
Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-complaining-cow/id1742304080
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/0kiyo8UJ5hGq2InZIeXD2p
Amazon – https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7afcd171-6fc2-4369-88c2-1ad4ebb8fddc/the-complaining-cow
iHeart – https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-the-complaining-cow-169077613/
Help with tradespeople
Time to tackle the Cowboy Builders article about the scheme
Ellora Coupe talks about women, building and renovation article about Ellora who works with women to undertake DIY
How to ensure a stress-free building project detailed post about undertaking work in your home
6 Top Tips for complaining about builders/ painters & decorators help for when things go wrong with tradespeople
5 Top Tips to prevent builders/painters/decorators problems how to reduce risk when employing tradespeople
About Helen Dewdney, The Complaining Cow
Helen Dewdney is a consumer rights expert, author and media commentator. She regularly appears on television, radio and in the press discussing consumer rights, customer service, scams and personal finance.
See more about Helen’s TV and radio appearances on the Media page.
If you’re looking for a keynote speaker on consumer rights, complaints, customer service or consumer behaviour, find out more about booking Helen for conferences, business events and training.
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