麻豆社

Trading Standards have issued new warnings about the potential dangers of counterfeit goods. It鈥檚 a growing problem - products such as counterfeit make-up, ghd straighteners and even Nutribullets are often advertised on social media and could pose a risk to user safety as they haven鈥檛 undergone any rigorous safety checks or quality control. 聽

A recent survey by Electrical Safety First estimated nearly 100,000 of us in Wales bought a counterfeit electrical item last year. Trading Standards have told X-ray that fake electrical items are often missing the vital safety components found in the real thing; this can lead to the item overheating and cause fires.

At the end of 2016, X-ray was given exclusive access to a joint Trading Standards operation in Wales in which a million pounds worth of fake goods were seized from vans on the M5 near Worcester, on their way to be sold at Bristol Fruit Market. From there, many of the items would have been re-sold in Wales.

Rhys Harries from Swansea Trading Standards says it鈥檚 not just the quality and safety of products we need to be concerned about if we buy counterfeit goods:

鈥淚t all comes back to organised crime and obviously the people at the top who are importing this product at a really cheap price and putting a brand on it are making a huge profit on it, so there's only one winner then really.鈥�

Trading Standards Officers are now working their way through the items, in the hope of prosecuting those behind this dangerous and lucrative trade.

Getting your windows done isn鈥檛 a small job. So when you decide to get new ones put in, you鈥檇 like them to be expertly fitted, especially when you go for a firm that boasts of such a reputation.

Alison Jones from Bridgend and Emma Nurse from Swansea were reassured by Anglian鈥檚 promise of 鈥�50 years鈥� expertise鈥�.

However, since ordering their windows, they鈥檝e experienced months of problems.

In both cases the windows weren鈥檛 the correct size so the fitters couldn鈥檛 install them correctly. They鈥檝e been left with gaping holes, damaged frames, draughty rooms and a LOT of expanding foam!

鈥淚鈥檝e got holes where they cut the window sill either side of the window which I鈥檓 really upset about because it鈥檚 original to the house," says聽Alison.

X-Ray sent surveyor Tim Davies along to Alison鈥檚 house to give his expert opinion.聽

鈥淚t defies belief really that they got it so wrong,鈥� he said, after examining the gaps."

Emma Nurse told X-ray that Anglian fitters were supposed to take two days to replace her windows 鈥� so she was surprised when they did the whole job in just four and a half hours. The following morning, Emma and her partner were shocked to find problems with five of the eight windows. The fitters even wedged one window frame with pieces of wood from the garden!聽

The waiting has also affected family life because Emma鈥檚 step-daughter has asthma and often can鈥檛 stay with them because the house is too cold.

鈥淭his is a new start in our life鈥� she said, 鈥渕aking our family home and Anglian are just absolutely ruining our dream.鈥� 聽

When Alison and Emma complained to Anglian, they say they made little progress, so they asked X-Ray to help. Anglian told X-Ray they were 鈥渆xtremely sorry鈥� for having 鈥渇allen short of the high standards we strive to achieve鈥�.

They鈥檝e since sent a team of fitters, surveyors and managers to sort out the mess with both cases.聽