Category Archives: Consumer affairs

Cash settlements on home insurance claims leaving vulnerable Australians short-changed, Asic says

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Corporate regulator finds insurers settling most claims with cash rather than by managing repairs or rebuilding, warning of ‘unfair outcomes’ for homeowners

Home insurers are overwhelmingly paying cash to settle claims, leaving Australians to foot blowouts in repair costs for their cyclone-damaged homes.

The corporate regulator is calling for “realistic” bigger payouts, warning the practice could cause “unfair outcomes” for people already in vulnerable positions.

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Households in Great Britain ‘could owe energy suppliers £7bn by end of year’

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After higher prices for winter kick in, energy debt unpaid for more than 30 days likely to rise, says Energy UK

Households in Great Britain could owe their energy suppliers as much as £7bn by the end of the year after higher gas and electricity prices forecast for the winter kick in, an industry group is warning.

Domestic energy debt and arrears climbed by about £500m over the past year to a record £6bn at the end of June as the Middle East conflict continued to stoke rising gas market prices.

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‘Friday afternoon fraud’: warning for UK homebuyers on bank scams

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Victims have lost tens of thousands – and in one case £300,000 – due to fake emails from solicitor or estate agent

You are poised to move house and are awaiting the solicitor’s instructions that things are ready to go and it is time to hand over your deposit. When the email arrives giving you their bank details, you set up the transfer and move the cash. And then the solicitor calls to ask where the money is.

Conveyancing fraud involves criminals getting access to an email chain between homebuyers and their solicitors or estate agents and requesting payment to a bank account they control. Sometimes the solicitor has been hacked, but often the homebuyer has been the victim of a phishing exercise.

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40,000 bottles of eye drops across the US recalled over issues with sterility of product

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Prestige Brand Holdings has voluntarily recalled a batch of its Clear Eyes eye drops after FDA alert

Nearly 40,000 bottles of eye drops are being pulled from store shelves across the US over concerns about potential contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Prestige Brand Holdings, based in Tarrytown, New York, has voluntarily recalled 39,060 bottles of Clear Eyes Maximum Itchy Eye Relief eye drops because of a “lack of assurance of sterility”, an FDA enforcement report states. The FDA classified the action as a Class II recall, defined on the agency’s website as a moderate-risk situation “in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote”.

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40,000 bottles of eye drops across the US recalled over issues with sterility of product

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Prestige Brand Holdings has voluntarily recalled a batch of its Clear Eyes eye drops after FDA alert

Nearly 40,000 bottles of eye drops are being pulled from store shelves across the US over concerns about potential contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Prestige Brand Holdings, based in Tarrytown, New York, has voluntarily recalled 39,060 bottles of Clear Eyes Maximum Itchy Eye Relief eye drops because of a “lack of assurance of sterility”, an FDA enforcement report states. The FDA classified the action as a Class II recall, defined on the agency’s website as a moderate-risk situation “in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote”.

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Burnham scraps restrictions on disabled people’s bus passes in England

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Move means holders will be able to travel free on local services at any time of day or night from April next year

Disabled people across England will be able to use their free bus passes at any time of day from next April, as Andy Burnham expands a policy he introduced as mayor of Greater Manchester.

The prime minister has said the current weekday restrictions on when disabled people can use their bus passes will be removed from 1 April 2027. Their passes are valid only between 9.30am and 11pm on weekdays, although some councils pay to allow people free travel outside those hours.

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Burnham scraps restrictions on disabled people’s bus passes in England

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Move means holders will be able to travel free on local services at any time of day or night from April next year

Disabled people across England will be able to use their free bus passes at any time of day from next April, as Andy Burnham expands a policy he introduced as mayor of Greater Manchester.

The prime minister has said the current weekday restrictions on when disabled people can use their bus passes will be removed from 1 April 2027. Their passes are valid only between 9.30am and 11pm on weekdays, although some councils pay to allow people free travel outside those hours.

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Is Australia’s Buy Now Pay Later boom at an end?

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Several firms promised to disrupt the consumer credit market by offering consumers their purchases instantly and the bill later. Did it work?

Afterpay has never turned a profit in Australia. Last month, it spent millions to take over a Sydney Olympic Park arena.

The company says Afterpay Arena will be the first venue where Australians can “buy now, pay later” for their event tickets, merchandise, dinner and even alcohol.

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Will Andy Burnham’s everyday fixes be enough to get the public on his side?

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The prime minister’s money-saving policies are popular but they are yet to convince voters he can take on the big things

It was last year that Martin Lewis, the money-saving guru, advised the government to find “100 small things that piss people off” and set about sorting them out.

That approach has been adopted almost immediately by Andy Burnham since entering office, as he began his programme of “everyday fixes” to tackle problems that can be dealt with through minor policy tweaks.

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Car owners should challenge insurers on steep price hikes and ‘call their bluff’, Asic says

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Regulator finds many insurers raising premiums faster than inflation and advises customers to ask for better deals

Car owners should challenge motor insurers over steep premium hikes, the corporate regulator advises, after finding many companies were raising prices faster than inflation.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic) found that none of the eight insurers it reviewed adequately explained the reasons behind premium calculations to customers or why prices had changed in quote or renewal documents.

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Test for Australia’s best laundry detergent sees Aldi and Omo tied for first place

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In a Choice test of 48 products, the Aldi powder also came out on top for top loaders

Consumer advocacy group Choice has put more than 40 supermarket laundry detergent products through the wringer, naming two Omo and one Aldi product as its best performers – while some other brands perform barely better than water.

In a lab test of 48 laundry powders, liquids and capsules, Aldi Trimat Advanced Laundry Powder Concentrate, Omo Active Clean Powder and Omo Ultimate Powder shared equal-first billing for front loader washing machines, with all three products scoring 82% overall.

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Britons give classic round tomato the red card as coloured and vine varieties score

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Premium cherry-on-the-vine are poised to take top spot in Britain’s £1bn-a-year tomato market

For a long time the classic round, red tomato has dominated British salads and sandwiches, but its supremacy is coming under threat as sales of rainbow colours and the upmarket rival “cherry on the vine” take off.

“Non-red tomatoes” sales are up 21% this year, a growth rate that far exceeds the overall market, according to Paul Faulkner, of Evesham Vale Growers.

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Which? finds 150 potentially lethal baby products sold online

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UK consumer group says lives are at risk because platforms fail to prevent dangerous items reaching customers

Babies are being put at risk by dozens of potentially lethal infant products sold to UK parents on major online marketplaces, an investigation has found.

The consumer champion Which? identified 150 products, including self-feeding prop feeders that pose a choking risk and baby sleep pillows linked to suffocation.

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Mobile internet coverage in UK worse than any EU or G7 country, Which? says

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Analysis finds services cheaper but country ranks 57th in network performance and 70th for download speeds

British holidaymakers watching online videos while they sit on a European beach this summer are likely to be pleasantly surprised: the signal should be better than at home.

Mobile coverage in the UK is worse than in any of the 27 EU member countries, and every other member of the G7 group of large economies, according to analysis by consumer group Which? of data from Opensignal.

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How doing a wash while you watch the World Cup at 2am could cut energy bills

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Change in viewing habits offered by match times at 2026 tournament could mean using cheaper off-peak power

Watching late-night or early hours football could provide UK households with a practical opportunity to cut their energy bills, as even just doing the washing when cheaper electricity rates apply can net a decent saving.

At a time when energy costs are back at worrying highs, research by E.ON Next shows the potential to save money on a time-of-use tariff – in this case, its Next Smart Saver deal, which has three rates: peak, off-peak and super off-peak.

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‘Poisoned’ AI: the ChatGPT shopping scams that lead to fake websites

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Buyers are ripped off after assuming online stores were genuine because they are recommended by an AI tool

You want to buy a new bag and so you ask ChatGPT for help. You have always liked Russell & Bromley so you ask ChatGPT what is popular there at the moment.

The artificial intelligence (AI) assistant gives you cross body, shoulder, casual and formal options with the prices listed beside them. You click through from the sources to what looks like the official Russell & Bromley site and buy your new bag, which is conveniently on sale.

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UK shoppers return to high street as warm weather brings respite from shadow of war

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British Retail Consortium figures show footfall rose in May, with consumer confidence improving after spending squeeze

Greater numbers of consumers went shopping last month as spring sunshine brought welcome relief to retailers, which have faced a squeeze on spending since the US-Israel war on Iran.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and a separate survey by the accountancy firm BDO showed a bounce-back in footfall during May, reversing a sharp decline in April.

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EU fines Temu for failing to stop sale of illegal and dangerous products

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European Commission finds shoppers on Chinese website very likely to find unsafe items and imposes €200m penalty

EU regulators have fined the Chinese shopping website Temu €200m (£173m) for failing to stop the sale of illegal and dangerous products.

The European Commission imposed the penalty after a 19-month investigation that found consumers were very likely to encounter illegal or unsafe products including baby toys and electronics on the firm’s website.

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Spending watchdog warns £38bn cost of Sizewell C nuclear plant is ‘risky’

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National Audit Office says potential benefits are ‘considerable but uncertain’ while risks are ‘immediate and substantial’

The cost of the government’s £38bn nuclear plant in Suffolk is subject to “significant uncertainty” and may outweigh the benefits for UK households until at least 2064, according to the government’s spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that although the potential benefits of the Sizewell C nuclear plant are considerable, they remain uncertain. The risks, however, are “immediate, substantial and borne by the public”.

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‘It was like a mosh pit’: Swatch closes stores as watch launch causes crowding and scuffles

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French police fire teargas and UK shops close for safety reasons as hundreds queue for Royal Pop timepieces that make up Audemars Piguet collaboration

The launch of limited-edition Swatch watches descended into chaos in several European cities and New York, with French police firing teargas to restore order at a store near Paris.

Hundreds of people waited through the night from Friday into Saturday – and in some cases for several days – hoping to buy the Royal Pop timepieces, made in collaboration with the luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet.

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