Watch Checkatrade on ITV, 2 June 2006
Video courtesy of Meridian News
When a tornado damaged hundreds of Selsey buildings in 1998, cowboy operators travelled from all over the country to take advantage of the situation. Homeowners were deceived and there was no easy way for them to discern between genuine tradesmen and swindlers.
Local businessman Kevin Byrne discovered that little was being done to help the consumer, and that reliable information about the businesses was hard to find. He started Checkatrade, a free information service that runs on the basis of reputation. With all member businesses being recommended, vetted and monitored, the public were able to find the latest facts about trades and services in their area.
The system worked, and the service soon dealt with thousands of businesses. Trades and services were proud to be listed and shown to be trustworthy. What started as a local initiative is now an international service, improving the standard of work and delivering peace of mind.
A message from the founder
For too long cowboy tradesmen have been preying on consumers. Despite the good efforts of community organisations such as Age Concern, Citizens Advice Bureaux, Neighbourhood Watch and Trading Standards, the rogues are still out there.
We all prefer a recommendation from a friend or neighbour because we want to avoid the uncertainty involved in asking a stranger to come and work in our home. There are no guarantees of a good standard of work. There is no way to tell if you’re going to be ripped off. But failing a recommendation, what can we do? Anyone can advertise in the phone book or newspaper. The good and bad are listed together and it is left to chance what we will get.
That is where Checkatrade comes in. We separate the trustworthy from the dishonest with these simple principles:- Rogues do not want to be vetted.
- Rogues do not want to be monitored.
- Rogues do not want the results of their work made public.
Our stringent vetting filters the cowboys out at the start. Monitoring keeps our members on their toes. Whether they are being scored one or ten out of ten, the information is publicly available here and via our free Trade Appraisal Line.
So we need your help. Inform us of the standard of workmanship of any trades or services you have used. If you continue to recommend and warn us about who is out there, I give my commitment to keep on publicising this information. Together we can remove the uncertainty, raise the standard, and cut the rogues out of trading.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin Byrne, CEO and founder