14TH JULY 2010: A significant part of the correspondence to the Constituency Office of Nick Griffin MEP concerns consumer complaints with regard to goods and services purchased outside of the United Kingdom.
In many cases office manager Tina Wingfield, directs such enquiries to the contact details for the European Consumer Centre for Services (ECCS) which is a website and telephone service (funded by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills and hosted by the Trading Standards Institute) which provides general information on consumer laws and rights, when buying a service in other European countries.
The ECCS can contact service-providers in the EU country concerned on your behalf, to gather information, as well as providing details of relevant consumer advice centres, enforcement bodies and schemes which can provide mediation in the case of customer disputes.
You can access the ECCS website at: www.ukecc-services.net
Email address: eccs@tsi.org.uk
Telephone number: 0845 608 9494.
"There are many, many letters to Mr Griffin's office complaining of what seems unfair practice against UK citizens by foreign companies. The ECCS does take complaints very seriously and a number of our constituents have received redress after instances where they were 'short-changed' when accessing services abroad," reports Tina.