If you have an unresolved complaint about energy, water, transport or postal services in Northern Ireland, the Consumer Council may be able to help.
The Consumer Council provides a free and independent advice and support service to local consumers as well as taking on complaints on their behalf.
Noleen Charnley, Head of Insight and Investigations at the Consumer Council, explains how the service works.
“If you have an issue with an energy, transport, water, or post provider in Northern Ireland, make a complaint to them in the first instance to give them the opportunity to put things right.
“If you don’t receive a response, or are unhappy with the outcome, you can contact us. We will investigate the issue and do what we can to help you.”
Complaints that the Consumer Council can investigate:
Electricity and gas complaints, for example billing issues, customer service failings or problems with your meter or supply.
Transport, for example problems with airlines, ferry travel, or public transport.
Water, for example billing issues or problems with water pressure or quality.
Postal services, such as problems receiving compensation for items being lost or damaged.
“Over the past three years, the Consumer Council has helped over 30,000 customers, investigated 24,000 enquiries and complaints and advised and signposted over 7,000 consumers to other organisations,” said Noleen.
“Through redress, we have returned over £1 million to consumers.
“If you have reached out to a company with your complaint and have not received a satisfactory response, get in touch with us.”
Online complaints can be submitted here, or email contact@consumercouncil.org.uk
You can call the Consumer Council on 0800 121 6022, Monday - Friday, 9am-5pm.
You can also write to the Consumer Council at:
Freepost
THE CONSUMER COUNCIL
The Consumer Council’s website here has a range of free online tools to help households manage their budget including an energy price comparison tool, home budget planner and fuel price checker.