Shops mislead public on TV's digital switch

IT IS the great digital television switchover coming to a screen near you.

But consumer watchdogs in Scotland have found that TV shops are giving lamentably poor advice to customers, some of whom could be needlessly forking out hundreds of pounds on equipment they don't need.

With the Borders TV area the first part of Scotland going digital in November, the Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) sent a squad of 'mystery shoppers' into more than 50 stores across the country to find out how preparations for the switchover were progressing. The shops ranged from major supermarket chains to small electrical stores.

Ten of the shoppers were wrongly told they needed a new digital TV set costing hundreds of pounds to take advantage of the new system that will replace the old analogue signal. In one Dundee shop, the customer was told it would not be possible to convert TVs more than three years old to digital and they would have to be replaced.

Fourteen of the shoppers were misinformed about the video recording equipment they would need.

And only six of the retailers knew about a help scheme set up by the Government to assist the elderly and low-income groups to make the switch.

Digital boxes that will convert old televisions to the new system start at around £25.

Staff were also uncertain about when the switchover would occur. One in a major department store in Edinburgh said: "Could be any time in the next four to five years."

Another assistant in an electrical chain in Kilmarnock said: "Not sure – could be next year."

Even among the retailers who had signed up to a Government-backed scheme for training digital approved advisers, information given to customers was "variable" and "inaccurate", the SCC said.

Trisha McAuley, head of corporate resources at the SCC, said the amount of confusion among retailers about the switchover was "very surprising".

"Telling people they need a new telly is just ludicrous," she said. "We are talking about major stores that everyone uses, so really there is no excuse.

"People are going to go to their retailers to ask questions, particularly older people who may not use or have access to the official websites carrying this information, so the retailers really have to up their game."

At present, one in four households in the UK cannot get digital television via their aerial and some still cannot receive channel Five.

Starting later this year and ending in 2012, TV services in the UK will go completely digital. The switchover will take place TV region by TV region as the old analogue broadcast is switched off.

In Scotland, the Borders will be first, followed by the north of the country and then the central belt. The last area to be converted will be one covered by the Blackhill transmitter, between Glasgow and Edinburgh, in 2011.

The UK Government says the switch will increase the number of channels available to viewers throughout the country while releasing the old system for other commercial uses.

But any TV set that is not either already capable of receiving the digital signal or is not converted to receive it when the switchover takes place will no longer receive TV programmes.

Although Digital UK, the company set up by the Government to roll out the switchover, has now decided to send specialists to the Borders to help train retailers, the SCC says it should have been done sooner.

"A retailer accreditation scheme is already in place, but 12 of the retailers involved in our survey gave out wrong information," McAuley said.

The survey forms part of the SCC's submission to the Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee, which is currently investigating the impact of the switchover on vulnerable groups.

Jim Tolson, the Liberal Democrat communities spokesman, said: "Given the Scottish digital switchover is due to begin in November, it's astounding that retailers seem to know so little about the technology.

"Stores should be working with Digital UK and the governments in Holyrood and Westminster to ensure that their staff provide the right advice to people about the digital switchover, particularly those who are older and more vulnerable."

The decision by Digital UK to send specialists to help shop assistants in the Borders follows a report into the UK's first trial switchover in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

John Askew, Digital UK manager for Border TV region, said: "One of the key findings in the Whitehaven report is that retailers have a vital role to play in helping us prepare the UK for switchover."

Switched on

When the switchover starts, Selkirk will be in the front line. How ready is the Borders town for the digital revolution?

Keith Miller, 59, said: "We are well aware of the switchover. My mother's got a digibox and she's 82. But she's like everybody else – always complaining that it's a load of rubbish that's on."

Charity shop worker Leigh Thomson, 38, said: "I know a TV salesman and he says everyone's buying new tellies, especially the old folk. You might expect them not to know about digital, but they are geared up for it."

Caroline Penman, 36, a mother of three, says the town has been blitzed with publicity. "It'll be good because the television reception does need improving."

Andrew Heatlie, a 54-year-old maintenance engineer, said: "A lot of older people believe they have to fork out for really expensive televisions and they are worried. They don't realise you only need a fairly cheap set-top box."

Peter Ross