Consumer and Trading Standards - our service standards

We settle disputes between consumers and businesses about consumer law civil and criminal legal issues. We give advice and information, investigate the dispute, contact third parties on your behalf, recommend remedial action or take enforcement action if appropriate. We hope to resolve disputes fairly, reasonably, quickly and informally. However the services we provide are subject to other legal and council guidelines.

There are some things that we can't guarantee, for example, getting an automatic refund or compensation, stopping businesses from trading, closing them down or recommending businesses.

Our contact with you

We aim to be polite and professional and we expect the same for our staff in return. We help settle many disputes involving complex legal issues. We always try to set out our views and decision clearly, without using jargon, but sometimes we have to use legal words and phrases.

We aim to settle 65% of disputes within 14 days of having all of the necessary information. But some cases can take longer, particularly if we need to make lots of enquiries, or if they are complex issues.
We will keep you informed of progress and about what you need to do next. You will always know the name of the person handling your case and you can contact them direct with any questions. We have different targets for other services such as inspecting business premises, completing licence applications, verifying weighing and measuring instruments.

If you disagree with our decision, you can ask us to reconsider the matter. In the majority of cases, we are usually able to settle the dispute informally but if this isn't possible we may need to take civil or criminal enforcement action and the court will make a decision.

We can provide information in formats such as Braille, large print and audiotape, and in other languages on request. If you want to call we can arrange for an interpreter. Let us know if you have other accessibility needs.

Tell the officer handling your case if you are unhappy with the decisions we make. They will advise their manager, who will decide the best course of action. If you are still not satisfied, please call or write to Consumer and Trading Standards.

We also want to know if you are unhappy any part of our service, whatever the outcome of your case such as:

• unfair or rude treatment
• failure to explain things properly
• unnecessary delays

How we will deal with your complaint

We aim to send you a response in writing within 20 working days. If we can't do this because of exceptional circumstances, we will let you know what is happening and when you can expect a full response from us. If your complaint is justified, we will tell you how we will sort out the problem. Where relevant, we will also tell you how we plan to make sure the mistake does not happen again.

If you're still not happy, you can raise your complaint with the Head of Service, your local Councillor or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.