Category Archives: Consumer affairs

Wimbledon to get exemption from ticket resale crackdown for seats that can cost thousands

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Organisers claimed proposed ban on reselling tickets for more than face value would dent investment in facilities

Wimbledon will be given an exemption from the clampdown on ticket resales for its “debenture” tickets, the Guardian understands, in what would be a victory for the organisers of the annual tennis tournament.

The championship organisers, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), had previously said ministers’ proposed ban on reselling tickets for more than face value would prevent it from being able to reinvest debenture proceeds in maintenance of its facilities.

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Eight firms under investigation in crackdown on additional online fees

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Competition watchdog examines StubHub, Viagogo, AA Driving School and BSM Driving School and others

Britain’s competition watchdog has begun investigations into eight companies about their online pricing practices, expressing concern over additional fees and sales tactics such as “drip pricing” and “pressure selling”.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was looking into the ticket sellers StubHub and Viagogo; AA Driving School and BSM Driving School; the US gym chain Gold’s Gym; and the retailers Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical.

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Reselling tickets for profit to be outlawed in UK government crackdown

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Touts, and ordinary consumers, will no longer be able to charge anything more than price at which they bought ticket

Reselling tickets for profit is to be outlawed under plans due to be announced this week, the Guardian has learned, as the government goes ahead with a long-awaited crackdown on touts and resale platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub.

Ministers had been considering allowing touts – and ordinary consumers – to sell on a ticket for up to 130% of face value, as part of a consultation process that ended earlier this year.

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Owner of scandal-plagued Panthera Finance tells court it was not technically operating illegally in Victoria

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Francom claims that because Panthera had ‘acquired’ the debts, it was not technically engaged in collecting debt owed to a third party

One of Australia’s largest debt collection firms has claimed that scandal-plagued Panthera Finance was not technically banned from operating in Victoria after it was blacklisted by the state’s consumer watchdog.

Consumer Affairs Victoria launched legal action against Panthera Finance last year, alleging it operated in the state illegally after a federal court ruling in 2020, and despite warnings that doing so could amount to a criminal offence.

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Multiple ACT schools shut after alert over asbestos in coloured sand products

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Testing and remediation to take place in 15 schools after a consumer safety recall was issued for coloured sand used in sensory play and arts and crafts

More than a dozen primary and preschools in the ACT have shut their doors, and a special school in Brisbane has made a snap closure, after an asbestos warning was issued for a range of colourful children’s sand products imported from China and sold at leading Australian retailers.

On Friday , the ACT’s education minister, Yvette Berry, confirmed 15 schools and six preschools would be fully closed, up from three earlier in the morning. Nine schools and preschools would be partially closed to multiple cohorts while testing and remediation took place.

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Nationwide recall of alfalfa sprouts linked to ‘unusual strain’ of salmonella after dozens infected across Australia

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Health authorities urge consumers not to eat affected products sold in multiple supermarkets and grocers

Health authorities have issued a nationwide recall of alfalfa sprouts, urging people not to eat affected products, after at least 44 people across Australia contracted an unusual strain of salmonella.

The recall applied to 125g packets of sprouts produced by Parilla Fresh, which included: Aussie Sprouts Alfalfa Sprouts, Hugo’s Alfalfa Onion & Garlic Sprouts, Hugo’s Alfalfa & Radish Sprouts, Hugo’s Alfalfa & Onion Sprouts, Hugo’s Salad Sprouts, Hugo’s Alfalfa & Broccoli Sprouts and Hugo’s Trio Sprouts Selection.

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BT ‘considering low-cost mobile brand’ as Revolut and Monzo plan launches

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Move into budget market could involve creating new brand in-house or buying virtual network operator

BT is reportedly considering the launch of new a low-cost mobile brand, as the telecoms group explores ways to compete with new rivals in the market including the fintech companies Revolut and Monzo.

The group is exploring options to enter the budget market, which could involve creating a new brand in-house or buying an existing virtual network operator, according to the Financial Times.

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Suspected scam investment firms ‘exploiting Trustpilot review system’

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Fake reviews, forged certificates and stolen corporate identities being used to lure victims, KwikChex finds

Suspected scam investment companies are exploiting Trustpilot’s review system by giving themselves five-star ratings to persuade would-be investors that they are legitimate businesses, a report has warned.

An investigation by the verification firm KwikChex found operators using fake reviews, forged certificates and stolen corporate identities to lure victims.

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Fears over higher rates as Georgia moves to provide more electricity for AI datacenters

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State’s Republican-led public service commission to decide on power expansion and prices, as Democrats vie for voice

Georgia is facing the largest demand for electricity in its history, driven by nation-leading datacenter construction.

The Georgia Power company has made an unprecedented bid to the agency that oversees the utility for about 10 additional gigawatts of energy in the coming years – enough to power 8.3m homes, at an estimated cost of nearly $16bn, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

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If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit … look away now

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Club and Penguin bars are now ‘chocolate flavour’ after owner McVitie’s cuts cocoa content amid soaring prices

If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit you can no longer join our Club or pick up a Penguin, as the lunchbox favourites have reduced the amount of cocoa in their recipe so much they are now only “chocolate flavour”.

The two snacks, both made by McVitie’s, changed their recipes earlier this year amid soaring cocoa prices – which have prompted manufacturers to try a number of different tactics to keep prices down.

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Banks need stricter controls to prevent romance fraud, says City regulator

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FCA cites study showing victims’ ‘red flags’ are often missed and calls for improved monitoring systems

The City regulator has called on banks and payment firms to bring in stricter controls protecting customers from romance fraud after a study showed a number of missed “red flags” that led to people losing huge sums of money.

The review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) highlighted one case where someone lost £428,000, another where a customer made 403 payments totalling £72,000 to a fraudster and a case where someone wanted money to transfer cryptocurrency to their “partner” in Iraq.

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Vets could be made to publish prices after UK watchdog investigation

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Market ‘not fit’ for purpose and must be modernised, CMA says, with pet owners paying 16.6% more at large groups

Vets in the UK could be forced to publish their prices and whether they are part of a larger group after an investigation by the markets watchdog into claims that chain-owned surgeries have left pet owners with dwindling choice and higher bills.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found pet owners pay 16.6% more on average at large vet groups than at independent vets. It said the £6.3bn market was “not fit” for purpose and needed to be modernised.

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Widow of man conned out of pension savings to lose half the compensation to tax

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Robert Dewar’s widow, Susan, is a leading campaigner over multimillion-pound Norton Motorcycles fraud

The family of a deceased man, who was conned out of his retirement savings after investing in the Norton Motorcycles pension scam, is to lose almost half the subsequent compensation award because of a little-known tax rule.

A long-running battle to win an award from the Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) meant that Robert Dewar’s pension was not reimbursed until 2024, five years after his death at the age of 64.

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Millions of households face jump in water bills after regulator backs more price rises

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Competition watchdog agrees requests from Anglian, Northumbrian, Southern, Wessex and South East to raise household bills

Water bills for millions of households in England will increase by even more than expected after the competition regulator gave the green light for five water suppliers to raise charges to customers – but rejected most of the companies’ demands.

An independent group of experts appointed by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally decided to allow the companies to collectively charge customers an extra £556m over the next five years, it said on Thursday. That was only 21% of the £2.7bn that the firms had requested.

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‘It’s unsustainable’: homes in Great Britain brace for winter with soaring energy debts

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As typical annual dual-fuel charge rises to £1,755, charities warn over record £4.4bn owed to suppliers

Three and a half years after war plunged Europe into an energy supply crisis, millions of households in Great Britain are braced for another winter of painful gas and electricity bills.

On Wednesday, the quarterly cap on charges will increase again. Despite a fall in wholesale gas prices, the ceiling for a typical annual dual-fuel bill will rise by 2% to £1,755 to help cover the costs of energy policies and network upgrades.

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Britons preparing to ration energy as Ofgem price cap rises, says charity

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National Energy Action says 58% of households expect to cut heating use as typical annual dual-fuel bill increases to £1,755

The majority of British households expect to restrict their home heating this winter to try to keep rising costs in check, according to research released as the price cap that dictates most bills rose again.

The fuel poverty charity National Energy Action said 58% of households told its survey they were likely to trim their energy use, a nine-percentage-point increase from the level in January.

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Social media and weight loss drugs drive UK rise in facelifts in men and people in their 40s

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Number of procedures on men up by 26% as experts say cosmetic surgery has become normalised despite risks

Growing numbers of men and younger people are getting facelifts, a trend driven by social media, advances in surgical techniques and the rise of weight loss drugs.

Figures from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) show facelifts are on the rise in the UK. In 2024 there were 1,882 procedures, up 8% from the previous year. Women accounted for the majority, with numbers rising by 7% to 1,742. But the steepest increase came from men: procedures grew by 26%, from 111 in 2023 to 140 in 2024.

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The death of the wallet: how our pockets suddenly got a lot lighter

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A new survey finds less than half of British people now carry a wallet – even though 80% own one

Name: The wallet.

Age: The word originates from the late 14th century, meaning something like knapsack. That’s how Shakespeare uses it in Troilus and Cressida, when Ulysses says: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.”

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Resale ‘subterfuge’: Viagogo sent fan his tickets along with a stranger’s passport

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Experiences of booking for big London gigs underscore the opaque practices of some online platforms

When Danny bought tickets to see Deftones in Crystal Palace Park he was not expecting to be initiated into an apparent subterfuge.

Yet shortly before the south London gig, Viagogo, the resale platform that sold him the tickets, sent him a scanned copy of a passport ID page belonging to a Dutch man he had never met.

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Drop in new properties for rent is steepest since Covid, says Rics

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Monthly report from surveyors’ body sees ‘firmly negative trend’ that is expected to push up rental prices

The flow of new rental properties coming on to the market has fallen at the fastest rate since the first Covid lockdown five years ago, according to research by Britain’s property surveyors.

Although the demand for properties is steady, there are fewer new rentals from landlords coming available, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) found.

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