It has been great to see the Do Not Knock sticker being adopted by such a wide cross section of Australian communities—it’s fair to say the campaign has gathered a lot of momentum in a short amount of time. But it’s equally true that we’ve got a lot more to do to clean up the
Victoria Legal Aid kindly provided an example of problematic door-to-door sales practices they were able to help resolve. Matt Anker, who is the Pastor of St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Shepparton Victoria, was frequently approached by members of his Congolese and Sudanese congregation with contract problems resulting from door-to-door sales, including water purifier contracts. The
ABC Radio National’s The World Today program reports on sales of first aid kits to remote indigenous communities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in November 2011. (Peddlers rattle Pilbara community, The World Today, 10 November 2011).
Many of the complaints we receive are about push energy salespeople. You can find the contact details for the Energy Ombudsman sevice in your state or territory on the Make a Complaint page.
This case study highlights the successful collaboration between Victoria Legal Aid, Moreland City Council and community legal centres and the subsequent benefits to members of the community. [box]An elderly Greek woman attended a Victoria Legal Aid ‘Do No Knock’ session in April 2011 that was presented in partnership with the City of Moreland. A legal aid staff member spoke at
Recently we wrote about the campaign by UK consumer advocacy group Consumer Focus, who are lobbying energy retailers to cease door-to-door sales because consumers have such poor experiences buying energy in that environment. As of October this year 2011, 5 of the so-called ‘big 6′ energy retailers have responded favourably to Consumer Focus’ call for a three-month
Linda contacted us recently, incensed at the behaviour of an energy marketing company; this is what she told us. Just wanted to let you know of the experience my elderly mother had with a TRUenergy door knocker yesterday evening in Ascot Vale, Melbourne. A woman came to her door around 5pm saying she was from TRUenergy and
In July 2011, UK based consumer watchdog Consumer Focus called on the energy industry to end cold-call doorstep sales. The call comes as new research from the watchdog shows that more than nine out of ten people who have bought energy products on the door would never do so again and only 4% of people
Australia’s two major current affairs programs, Channel Nine’s A Current Affair and Channel Seven’s Today Tonight, have both recently investigated the practices of door-to-door salespeople. These links will take you to the video of each program: Power scams revealed (Today Tonight, Channel Seven, 5 August 2011) Power School (A Current Affair, Channel Nine, 10 August 2011) And
Door-to-door salespeople offering building and handyman services can be scammers in disguise. This article from Victoria shows why you should always use a licenced professional and ask for a written quote (Eastern suburbs scammers on the move, Whitehorse Leader, 16 March 2011)