All posts tagged: Consumer

‘How do you get a result without contacting a newspaper?’: your questions for our consumer champion answered

‘How do you get a result without contacting a newspaper?’: your questions for our consumer champion answered

Published by Sam Flores

That’s all, folks! Anna Tims Thanks for all the questions. Some of them have given me a new perspective. And thanks to all of you for reading the column and helping to hold companies to account. I like to think that by calling out bad practice and saluting the good, we are helping to change things, even if progress seems imperceptible. Share Key events In praise of good customer service Wasserfall says: Stena Line were extremely helpful when I booked a ferry trip “the wrong way round” and rebooked it the correct way whilst I was on the phone to them. They also moved (without charge) a ticket for a ferry when we were held up following a crash on the motorway and missed our scheduled sailing. Onecandream says: I had to phone Premier Inn call centre to change a booking. The person I spoke to couldn’t have been more helpful. double quotation markAnna: Good news stories are balm to my blood pressure. Often readers are pole-axed by companies doing what they are legally required …

‘We lost £14,000’: can a new clampdown stamp out cowboy builders?

‘We lost £14,000’: can a new clampdown stamp out cowboy builders?

Published by Sam Flores

In hindsight, Sheri Ingram, 35, can see the red flags. Lee Slocombe, a builder hired to renovate her ex-boyfriend’s home in the south Wales valleys, offered to do the work cheaply because he had materials left over from another job, then asked for money upfront to buy additional supplies. “At the time, we believed him,” says Sheri, who was in her early 20s when it happened, and had just left university. The couple budgeted about £8,000 for work that included removing a supporting wall and building an extension with a balcony. Within weeks, the house had been ripped apart. “He pulled up the floorboards and removed the floor joists – he said they had wood rot and needed to come out – took out the staircase, took down the walls, and removed the ceiling,” Ingram says. “The first floor was pinned up using metal poles, and he threw the rubble out the back.” Slocombe kept finding problems and asking for more money, so Ingram’s then boyfriend borrowed another £6,000 from family. By the end, the …

Overcoming consumer scepticism in biotechnology foods

Overcoming consumer scepticism in biotechnology foods

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A new EIT Food report examines how consumer trust, health, safety and perceptions of naturalness could shape the future of biotechnology foods. The science behind novel proteins is advancing quickly. But according to new research from EIT Food, the biggest challenge facing biotechnology foods may not be developing the technology itself. It may be convincing consumers that the food produced with it is safe, healthy and worth putting on the dinner table. The EIT Food Consumer Observatory’s report, Turning novel proteins into trusted foods: Consumer perceptions of high-tech proteins, examines how European consumers understand food processing and how they respond to three different biotechnology-enabled protein concepts: mycoprotein produced through biomass fermentation, precision fermentation, and cultivated meat. The research involved 215 consumers using EIT Food Consumer Observatory’s citizen participation forum, an online research community involving more than 300 consumers from 17 European countries. Its findings point to a complicated picture. Consumers are not simply divided between people who embrace food biotechnology and those who reject it. Instead, their attitudes depend heavily on how a product is …

Hastings Direct’s failures forced my family out of our home

Hastings Direct’s failures forced my family out of our home

Published by Sam Flores

Eight months after reporting a leak to our home insurer, Hastings Direct, my husband and I and our two-year-old are still effectively homeless. Last winter, we discovered that an unnoticed leak beneath our fitted fridge-freezer had caused extensive damage to the floorboards of our kitchen/living room. Since then we have experienced significant delays, poor communication and conflicting information, and what I believe is a failure by the insurer and its appointed contractors to properly manage the claim. A promised call-back never materialised because call staff failed to log the claim. Work finally commenced more than five months later. The contractors removed all the kitchen units, despite the fact that most were undamaged and were not included in the schedule of works, and Hastings now wants us to contribute £8,000 to replace them. There is still no functioning kitchen in the property, which means we cannot return home. We initially agreed to move into temporary accommodation for what we were told would be approximately two weeks. It’s now been nearly three months. The insurer only authorises …

The ‘Consumer Socialism’ Trap

The ‘Consumer Socialism’ Trap

Published by Daniella Wilson

This past January, in his inaugural address, Zohran Mamdani memorably promised to “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” In the parlance of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Mamdani is a member, collectivism is a good thing. It is not meant to recall Stalin’s seizure of farms, which resulted in mass famine, or Mao’s Great Leap Forward, which also resulted in mass famine. American socialism today is different. The DSA still formally aspires to “popular control of resources and production,” otherwise known as seizing the means of production. Yet the New York City mayor’s attention-grabbing policy proposals—to freeze rents, establish city-run grocery stores, and pay for universal child care—are aimed at a more modest goal: socializing the cost of consumption. Explore the August 2026 Issue Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. View More “Consumer socialism” does not liberate workers from the exploitation of owners; it liberates consumers from the burden of prices. Although its advocates may claim inspiration from both the Great …

My eight-year-old was refused a UK passport

My eight-year-old was refused a UK passport

Published by Sam Flores

I am a Briton living in Switzerland and my three children are British and Swiss nationals. When we found out via the Guardian that dual nationals, who live overseas, are now required to hold a British passport in order to enter the UK, we set about applying, so the children can continue to visit their English relatives. More than three months later we find ourselves in a nightmare with HM Passport Office (HMPO). We have provided all of the documents asked for, including three different birth certificates for each child (British, Swiss and a certified translation), we have spent countless hours on online helplines, and spent close to £800 on fees, translations and postage – to no avail in the case of our youngest child. His application has been refused despite the fact his siblings’ were accepted on the strength of the same documents. We now have to send antenatal records of his birth eight years ago, as well as our passports valid at the time of his conception. Those passports have long since expired …

Why Is Consumer Sentiment At Record Lows?

Why Is Consumer Sentiment At Record Lows?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via substack, Consumer sentiment is at record lows because there is zero visibility on any real-world trends that would be positive for the bottom 90%. Vague promises of super-abundance are not visibility. Why is consumer sentiment at record lows while the stock market is at record highs? The media / social media are ablaze with coverage and commentary on this K-shaped economy, for example: The Stock Market Has Never Been So Good When People Have Felt So Bad: Stocks are partying like it’s 1999. Americans haven’t been this gloomy in 70 years. (wsj.com) While much commentary focuses on the rising cost of living (i.e. inflation) and the potential disruption of jobs by AI, these miss the larger dynamic of visibility, i.e. what is visible looking forward. If the horizon is clouded by uncertainty and unaffordability, then the core investments in the future–a family home and a family–are no longer in reach except for the lucky few inheriting wealth while they’re young. A high-paying job that isn’t secure is not a foundation, it’s a temporary raft in …

Everlane, Shein, and the Limits of the Ethical Consumer

Everlane, Shein, and the Limits of the Ethical Consumer

Published by Daniella Wilson

A decade or so ago, pairing Everlane kick-crop jeans with the brand’s almond-toe Modern Loafer and a crewneck sweater was a quintessential Millennial city-girl uniform: minimalist, boring, and, most important, vaguely ethical. The San Francisco–based fashion start-up was founded in the early 2010s on the premise of “radical transparency.” It told consumers about the factory where their shirt was made and the cost to produce it, down to the labor and markup, which it said was a fraction of the markup of other retailers. It was a brand built on the belief that globalization could work for everyone, and that anybody could shop with their values. But now Everlane is in bad shape. It’s $90 million in debt, behind on rent, and facing eviction at its headquarters. This week, Puck reported that the company has found a buyer that seems antithetical to the values it once said it held: Shein, the online fast-fashion behemoth synonymous with overconsumption and workplace abuses such as child labor. Shein, in response to allegations of poor conditions over the years, …

Integrating consumer perspectives into organic farming

Integrating consumer perspectives into organic farming

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Mariano Votta and Bianca Ferraiolo of Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network explore how an EU workshop in Rome explores how consumer insights can shape the future of organic farming. On 29 and 30 April, Cittadinanzattiva – Active Citizenship Network (ACN) will host in Rome, Italy, an EU workshop titled “Responding to consumers’ needs in organic farming: a qualitative assessment“. Policy context and targets Organised within the framework of the Organic Farming Innovations Network Europe (OH-FINE) project, the event will bring together consortium members, independent experts, representatives of national civil and consumer associations from several European countries, as well as leaders of the EU umbrella consumer association European Consumer Union (ECU), to discuss the practical integration of end-user needs into the organic supply chain. The European Union’s Green Deal and “Farm to Fork” strategy have set an ambitious target: 25% of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. To reach this, the current growth rate must double. However, the transition is not merely a technical hurdle for farmers; it is a social and economic evolution …

My son was fined £500 just for dropping a cigarette butt

My son was fined £500 just for dropping a cigarette butt

Published by Sam Flores

My son was fined £500 after dropping a cigarette butt in Southwark, London. He says the enforcement officer physically prevented him from picking it up, and told him he would escape a fine if he provided ID, and the police would be called if he didn’t. He complied and was promptly issued with a fixed-penalty notice (FPN). However, £500 is more than a typical fine for a dangerous offence such as speeding. I’ve since found fines and enforcement vary dramatically between London boroughs. Barnet charges £100, but drop your cigarette on the Enfield side of Cockfosters Road and your fine will be £500. Same “crime” a few yards apart and a 400% increase. These fines are not proportional and not fair. TH, London I should start by saying that littering is a national scourge and flung fag ends an environmental hazard. However, the government guidance to councils on enforcement, which last month was made legally binding, is unambiguous: the goal is to “educate” and “change behaviour”, and enforcement should be “transparent, accountable, proportionate and consistent”. …