"Now is the time to reflect on how well you are dealing with your customers" says Yvonne Orgill, Chief Executive of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association. "When business is down manufacturers, builders merchants and bathroom retailers can easily fall into the trap of cutting corners. But this could make the situation even worse.  If customers are difficult to find then now is the time to consider how well you are treating them and how good you are at keeping them coming back for more."

New Regulations

Treating customers fairly has been the recent target of The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and perhaps the timing of the introduction of new regulations is fortunate.  Together with The Office of Fair Trading, the BERR is introducing new regulations to clamp down on unfair sales and marketing practices.

Many of the existing regulations will be replaced with a new general ban on unfair trading. The average consumer will have the right to make free and informed purchasing decisions. And businesses will no longer have to face unfair completion from traders who use underhand practices.

Existing businesses which already deal fairly will have no worries about the new rules.  But those who cut corners (or who will start cutting corners as the credit crunch bites deeper) will need to know what may happen if they don't follow the rules.

Trading Standards

The Trading Standards Service will have new powers of investigation, and possible prosecution, if customers are treated unfairly. 

Misleading descriptions will be dealt with more severely. For instance, an acrylic bath made from 4 mm acrylic sheet but described as a  "5mm bath" will be deemed a "deceptive message" and the trader will fall foul of the law. The trader will not be allowed to make such a false description.

Plumbers who fake their credentials by displaying or claiming to be a member of a trade body or signatory to a code of practice will breach the new regs. So rogue plumbers falsely claiming to be, for instance, a member of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers (CIPHE) in order to generate business would be in breach of the regulations.

Bathroom showrooms need to be aware that if they falsely state that a particular bathroom suite is only available for a limited time in order to elicit an immediate purchasing decision they could fall foul of the law.  They could be deemed as depriving the purchaser of sufficient opportunity or time to make an informed choice.

Fake goods

Faking or copying bathroom products is close the heart of some members of the BMA at the moment.  Cheap and obvious sanitaryware copies have been seen popping up over the past couple of years. These will now be covered by the new regulations. Promoting a product similar to a product made by a particular manufacturer to deliberately mislead the purchaser will breach the regs. This will be good news for BMA members who have suffered in this way recently.

Staff training

"Now is the time to ensure your staff are fully up to date with these new regulations" says Orgill. "Treating customers fairly will always pay dividends, particularly while the market is so difficult. It may also be the time to see how well your staff know about Competition Law, another law designed to ensure fairness in the market place." 

The Bathroom Academy - a division of the BMA - is the ideal vehicle to impart the very latest information about bathroom products and regulations. One of the academy's modules goes into the details of Competition Law.  More information about the Bathroom Academy and its on-line learning is available from the BMA.

For further information, please  contact BMA on 01782 747123 or visit http://www.bathroom-association.org/

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