Rhoda's story: Rogue traders

Gloria Hunniford: Rhoda is a woman on a mission, determined to make sure that no-one in her area gets caught out by pushy salesmen or unscrupulous scamsters.

Rhoda: The idea is to stop people being scammed by cold callers, cold telephone calls, rogue traders, anything like that.

Gloria Hunniford: And she has a very good reason to take part. She fell foul of a rogue trader and it cost her thousands of pounds.

Rhoda: When I bought the property it needed completely updating. A man came a long and said he was a local plumber, so we got together to discuss what needed doing. It was a mistake to have him in and have no-one else. I know now that you should have at least three, three quotes.

Gloria Hunniford: He offered to do her plumbing and building work for £10,000.

Rhoda: I was very naive to accept his word because he didn’t produce any certificates. I should have insisted on seeing the certificates.

Gloria Hunniford: Rhoda was left with an illegally fitted boiler, a wrongly installed loo that flooded twice, dodgy electrics. In fact just about everything the builder did breached some sort of regulation and needed to be replaced.

Rhoda took the tradesman to court and eventually managed to get some of her money back, but she was keen to make sure that nobody else goes through what she did. Which was why she eagerly signed up to become a consumer champion.

So, we asked for the top tips that after her own experience, she now passes on to others.

Rhoda: If you’re having work done, make sure that you have the work that you want doing written down and signed by the person who’s doing it.

When you get a quote, that’s a fixed figure. It can’t be altered unless you discuss it further.

Remember never feel pressured in your own home. If you’re not happy tell them to leave.

I don’t want people to be so untrusting that they don’t trust anybody, you’ve got to trust people, but you’ve got to be very careful.