About Consumerline and how to contact the helpline
Consumerline is the consumer advice helpline for the Trading Standards Service. Consumerline answers consumer complaints and business enquiries on behalf of the Trading Standards Service in Northern Ireland.
What Consumerline does
The main areas Consumerline deals with are:
- faulty goods
- substandard service
- scams and e-crime
- doorstep crime
- pricing
- false or misleading descriptions of goods and services
- counterfeit goods
- consumer credit estate agency and the misdescription of property
- unfair contract terms
- package holidays
- weights and measures
Call the helpline
If you are a resident of Northern Ireland and need consumer advice or would like to report an issue, or your business is in dispute with a consumer - and you need some advice, you should contact Consumerline on:
- phone: 0300 123 62 62 (9.00 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Thursday and 9.00 am to 4.00 pm on a Friday)
- Contacting 08 and 03 numbers
Before you contact the helpline
You should have a pen and paper ready.
To help the adviser give you the most relevant advice, you should be ready to give them as much of the following information as you can:
- your postcode, contact telephone number and email address
- brief details of your problem, - for example when you paid for the item or the service, how much you paid, how you paid for it, whether you did so in a shop or online
The adviser cannot:
- make a complaint for you
- take legal action on your behalf
If the matter appears to give rise to a potential breach of criminal legislation enforced by the Trading Standards Service, Consumerline may refer details of your complaint to Trading Standards Service for consideration.
More details about what the Trading Standards Service can and cannot do are available at the following link:
Use an online web form
You can also use one of Consumerline's web forms to get in touch.
Consumerline aims to respond within five working days of receipt of a webform.
This online service is not available at weekends from 4.00 pm on Friday to 9.00 am on Monday.
Privacy notice
Find out how any personal information you give when using this service will be handled:
Make a complaint
The Department for the Economy (DfE) complaints procedure explains how you can make a complaint about he quality of its services, what standards you can expect when you do so, and what you can do if you at still not satisfied.