"How to track down a trader you can trust" - by Beth McLoughlin, The Dorking Advertiser - Thursday June 9th 2005

Cowboy builders and rogue traders are regularly exposed by consumer associations for ripping off householders.

But they can affect legitimate businesses too, as the average consumer becomes unsure which business to trust.

A Leatherhead-based scheme by Surrey Trading Standards rooted out cowboys with a decoy House of Horrors where traders who had been the subject of complaints were targeted.

The county council has now set up Buy with Confidence, a scheme that lists traders it believes can be trusted.

Hannah Pope, an administrator at South East Tree Surgeons, in Beare Green, said that despite the rigorous process of signing up to the scheme, it was worth it.

"They sent us a letter asking if we wanted to be a member and we replied," she said. "But it was quite intense dealing with what we were asked to provide. We had to be insured and to provide 10 references, from both clients and suppliers. Checks were also done to make sure that none of us had a criminal record. We just had to show that we are reputable, law-abiding, honest and decent traders who look after our customers."

The company, which is owned by Graham Kenward and employs one full-time member of staff and several other regular contractors, is also a member of a similar private scheme, Checkatrade. Miss Pope said they already derived a lot of business from that scheme, and many clients had horror stories about unskilled workers ripping them off.

"A lot of the time, it's people who just knock on the door offering work," she said. "Someone called the district council recently about a tree that had come down over the road near a school in Bookham. "When we got there, there were chainsaw marks in the tree, were someone had cut it down. It was dangerous so the council asked us to remove it, but the taxpayer had to pay for that."

It is estimated by Trading Standards that people nationwide lose out by about £10 million each year to cowboys. For businesses, another advantage of a listing in the county's Buy with Confidence scheme is the chance it offers of standing out from the crowd.