Contacts received by Trading Standards

Purpose

This report summarises contacts received by Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards relating to consumers or traders based in Surrey during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. A contact may include a consumer complaint, a request for advice, an intelligence report or an enquiry received through Trading Standards services.

The report highlights key trends, the products and services generating the highest levels of consumer concern, geographic patterns across Surrey and emerging consumer protection issues.

Trading Standards continues to protect Surrey residents from unsafe products, unfair trading practices and poor-quality services, with consumer contacts most commonly relating to used vehicles, home improvement work and defective goods. Work also continues to tackle scams, protect young people from age-restricted sales and support animal health and welfare across the county.

Key Headlines

• Residents continue to experience significant difficulties obtaining repairs, refunds and satisfactory service from businesses.

• Used vehicle purchases continue to generate high levels of contact from Surrey residents experiencing issues following a transaction.

• Home improvement and repair services continue to be an area where residents experience financial loss and poor outcomes.

• Protecting consumers from unsafe goods remains a core function of Trading Standards.

• Enforcement work continues to support the prevention of age-restricted sales to children and young people.

• Residents need support to understand and identify scams and misleading trading practices, particularly where people who may be vulnerable are targeted.

• Trading Standards has a broader role extending beyond consumer protection, including supporting animal welfare and wider public protection across Surrey.

• Strong partnership working helps to ensure that consumer concerns are identified and referred to Trading Standards where intervention is required.

Overall Trends (April 2024 – March 2026)

Across the reporting period, Surrey Trading Standards received a substantial volume of contacts and intelligence reports relating to consumer protection, product safety, unfair trading practices and substandard services.

Surrey Trading Standards received 19,399 contacts across the two-year period. Approximately 92% were consumer-related, while around 4% related to business advice. The remainder concerned regulatory and intelligence contacts.

Key themes observed across the period include:

• Contacts relating to used vehicles represented the largest single product category.

• Home improvement and property maintenance services accounted for a significant proportion of service-related contacts.

• Defective goods remained the most frequently recorded contact issue.

• Significant activity related to product safety, age-restricted sales, scams and consumers who may be vulnerable.

• Contacts involved both Surrey-based traders and businesses operating outside the county, reflecting the regional and national nature of consumer markets.

Contacts by Type

Key observations

• Defective goods (4,201) and substandard services (3,187) were the largest individual contact types.

• Almost 2,700 contacts related to misleading, unfair or aggressive business practices.

• Almost 2,000 contacts related to contracts, refunds, cancellations and consumer rights.

• Underage sales generated 275 contacts and represented the most frequently recorded regulatory enforcement issue.

• Farm animal issues accounted for 249 contacts and represented the majority of animal-related activity.

• Digital harms represented a relatively small proportion of demand, with 44 contacts, most of which concerned privacy and data protection.

Table 1: Contacts by Primary Trading Practice Type (April 2024 – March 2026)

Contacts by Products and Service Category 

Key observations 

• Used vehicle sales generated the largest number of contacts.

• Home improvement sectors collectively accounted for a substantial proportion of Trading Standards activity.

• Vehicle repair and servicing remained a persistent concern.

• Roofing, paving and renovation work featured regularly within contacts relating to poor workmanship.

Table 2: Contacts by Product Type (April 2024 – March 2026)

District Observations 

Key observations 

• A significant proportion of contacts involve consumers or traders located outside Surrey, reflecting increasingly national and online consumer markets.

• Among Surrey districts, Guildford, Reigate & Banstead and Elmbridge recorded the highest numbers of resident contacts.

• Around 45% of contacts involved consumers residing outside Surrey, while 43% involved traders located outside Surrey.

• Runnymede recorded substantially more trader-linked contacts than consumer-linked contacts, reflecting the concentration of businesses registered within the borough.

Table 3: Breakdown of Contacts by Consumer and Trader Location in Surrey

Enforcement and Regulatory Themes

Key observations

• Product safety concerns remained a core area of Trading Standards activity.

• Vaping products frequently featured in age-restricted sales investigations.

• Counterfeit goods continued to pose risks to consumers and legitimate businesses.

• Scam prevention and the safeguarding of residents who may be vulnerable remained important areas of work.

Table 4: Enforcement and Regulatory Themes

Emerging Issues

Analysis of contacts received between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2026 highlighted several recurring themes:

Used vehicle sales

• Mechanical faults identified shortly after purchase.

• Disputes about vehicle condition.

• Misrepresentation of vehicle history.

• Consumer rights concerns relating to repairs, refunds and warranties.

Home improvement services

• Poor-quality workmanship.

• Incomplete or delayed work.

• Contractual disputes.

• Unexpected additional costs.

• Rogue-trader activity.

Online purchasing

• Failure to deliver goods.

• Defective products.

• Difficulties obtaining refunds.

• Misleading advertising and product descriptions.

Conclusions 

Consumer contact levels remained high throughout the reporting period, with used vehicles and home improvement services generating the greatest levels of demand. Product quality issues and substandard services accounted for more than half of all recorded concerns. The findings highlight the continuing importance of consumer protection, product safety and support for residents affected by unfair trading practices. They also demonstrate the value of partnership working in identifying emerging issues, protecting people who may be vulnerable and referring cases to Trading Standards where intervention is required.