In the long run, these so-called “everyday fixes” may not make as much difference to your wealth as increasing mandatory contributions on pensions or capping rents, but they will get rid of some day-to-day frustrations. Here are six other things he could fix while he is in the mood:
Ban booking fees on tickets
Buying a ticket for an event such as a gig or show doesn’t come with as many hidden costs as previously, thanks to consumer protection laws introduced last year. But the fact the fees are clearer does not make them all more palatable.
In the days when you could choose to go to a box office, or between having your tickets posted or emailed, there may have been a justification for some of the add-ons to cover different costs for the promoter, but when there’s no choice, it sticks in the throat. Retailers do not charge “transaction” or “order processing fees”, so why can they still be slapped on tickets?
Stop direct debit hikes when your energy bill is in credit
You pay your bill by direct debit and have been careful with your usage, so at the end of the winter, you are in credit – and then your provider tells you it wants to put up your monthly cost by £50. Of course, a rising price cap might mean you need to increase what you pay, but if you have already got a cushion, why should you hand over more?
According to the regulator Ofgem, providers held a total of £3.2bn of customers’ money in the year to March, with the average household £135 in credit. Yet some households on fixed tariffs with large balances are still told that their supplier wants to increase their direct debit. Yes, you can refuse, but the onus is on you as a customer to make the effort. Providers could be banned from raising direct debits by more than the price change, or when customers have built up a surplus that covers a set percentage of their bills.
Cut sneaky shrinkflation
We all know prices have been going up and sometimes a smaller pack for the same price is more welcome than having to shell out more, but when the cuts are sneaky, that’s bad for consumers.
In France and Austria, there are rules designed to make it more obvious to shoppers when they are getting less product for the same – or sometimes even more – money. Demanding a simple “new pack size” message on products would at least alert people to the change and mean they are making informed decisions about what they are buying.
Force companies to put a phone number on their homepage
You’ve got a problem with a company and you want to get it sorted – and then you realise you cannot find a number for it anywhere. There are communications companies that have no “contact us” link anywhere to be seen, and energy companies that send you all round the houses looking for a way to get in touch.
One of the recurring themes of Guardian Money readers’ problems is the struggle to find someone to help when something goes wrong. Clearly, once you have published a phone number, you need staff at the other end answering the phone and offering some joined-up thinking, so this is only the start of the solution – but at least customers would not feel like companies were trying to hide from them.
Bring forward plans to improve parking
Fines for charging an electric car, debt notices that should never have been sent, fees when you have tried to pay and the app has let you down … Guardian Money has heard from readers encountering all of these things and more when simply entering a car park. The government has promised to sort it out: a code of practice was drawn up several years ago but was not introduced, and a new consultation on it ended last September. Meanwhile plans for a nationwide app that would bring together all of the different parking company apps, making it easier to pay while out and about, were watered down.
Bringing forward and enforcing the planned code, so that drivers are not receiving bills for parking crimes they did not commit, would leave a welcome gap in the Guardian Money postbag.
Make insurers give you the best deal upfront
A lot has been done to improve the experience of renewing your insurance policies. Insurers are supposed to offer existing customers as good a deal as they do new ones, and your renewal letter tells you how much you paid last year so that you can see if the cost has gone up. And yet the annual dance continues: if you don’t call your insurer and query an increase, shop around or threaten to leave, you will probably end up paying more than you need to. It is a system that still penalises those who stay put.
