Consumer protection
Every WBWO member promises to deal honestly with its customers. If one doesn’t, we take it up with them and see that it’s put right. Our help is free: make a complaint from a free consumer account, and follow and settle it in one place.
How we can help
- Make a complaint
A WBWO member took your money, lied to you or misused your details? From your free consumer account, we take it up with them.
- Report a company
A fake WBWO certificate, a company misusing our name, a scam or unsafe practices. Any company, member or not.
- Check a business
Before you pay, check its WBWO number to see whether it’s certified and when it was last reviewed.
- Your consumer account
Log in to follow, message and settle your complaints, or create a free account.
Our commitments to consumers
- Free for consumers
- Complaints and reports cost nothing. A free consumer account keeps every case, message and decision in one place.
- Both sides are heard
- We hear the business as well as you before anything is decided, and we explain every decision in writing.
- Quick deadlines
- We review every complaint within 2 working days, and members must respond within 5 working days.
- Your details stay private
- Businesses see your name and complaint, never your email or phone. Reports are never shown to the company.
- Decisions have consequences
- A member that ignores a complaint, or a panel decision, can have its certification suspended or withdrawn.
How a complaint is settled
Dispute settlement in detail- Within 2 working days
We review your complaint
You confirm your email and get a case number. We check the business is a WBWO member and that the complaint is one we can deal with, usually about something in the last 12 months.
- Within 5 working days
The business responds
We pass your complaint to the business, which must reply. Most complaints are settled at this stage.
- Up to 10 working days
Mediation
If you can’t agree, a WBWO mediator works with both sides to find a solution. Anything agreed is written down in the case.
- Within 10 working days
Panel decision
If mediation doesn’t settle it, the Consumer Protection Panel decides and explains why in writing. The member has 7 days to put things right, or risks losing its certification.
What every member promises its customers
Members accept these promises in the WBWO Code of Conduct when they join, and again every year when they renew.
- Be honest about who it is, what it sells and its prices
- Deliver what customers have paid for
- Never charge customers without their agreement
- Sell only genuine goods, and claim only certifications and licenses it holds
- Answer complaints within 5 working days
- Keep customers’ personal information safe
- Take part in WBWO mediation in good faith, and carry out panel decisions
What we can and can’t do
We can
- Take your complaint up with a WBWO member and require a response
- Mediate between you and the business
- Decide a complaint through the Consumer Protection Panel
- Require a member to return money taken dishonestly, deliver what was paid for, or stop the conduct, as a condition of membership
- Suspend or withdraw a member’s certification
- Warn the public about companies falsely claiming WBWO certification
- Pass evidence of crime to the authorities
We can’t
- Judge the quality of goods or services, delays or workmanship
- Act as a court, or award damages
- Take up complaints about companies that aren’t WBWO members
- Recover money lost to a scam
- Give legal advice about your case
Using WBWO doesn’t affect your legal rights. You can go to a court or a consumer authority at any time, before, during or after your case with us.
Trade safely
A few checks before you pay protect you from most problems.
- Check the WBWO number. A real certificate has a number you can check on our website, and a QR code that opens its record.
- Pay in a way you can trace. Be wary of anyone who asks for cash, gift cards or cryptocurrency.
- Keep your paperwork. Save invoices, receipts, messages and photos. You’ll need them if anything goes wrong.
- Raise problems early. Tell the business as soon as something’s wrong, in writing.
How to check a supplier before you payQuestions? Email mediation@wbwo.org