Being badgered to buy a more expensive item than you want is irritating. In restaurants waiters, following the management’s script, often suggest a higher-priced dish or bottle of wine than the diner asked for. Even the friendly cashiers in Pret a Manger, the chain of sandwich shops, insist on asking: “Any coffee with that?” after a sandwich is proffered along with the words: “That’s all, thanks”.

No more sniffy sommeliers

It is perfectly acceptable for lunchtime diners not to drink wine. The right response is to accept the statement with grace. The wrong response is to send round a sniffy sommelier to double-check: “Any wine, sir?” and for them to depart with an expression doused in sour lemon.

Loyalty rewards for bank customers

Financial institutions tend to punish loyal customers, particularly when it comes to insurance. Refreshing, then, that from January 12, Santander will offer its mortgage-holders a current account free of overdraft, cashpoint, foreign exchange or debit card fees. Overdrafts will be charged interest at a market-beating 12.9 per cent. Bank loyalty cards, with money off for keeping a current account or taking out a loan, would undo some of the economic damage done by greedy bankers.

Overdraft charges capped at £12

The banks are talking to the Office of Fair Trading about capping their fees. Some level of charging is fair enough, but the fact that institutions paid out around £1bn to customers before the OFT began its test case suggests they knew unauthorised borrowing fees were too high. The banks should lower them to £12, the same level as the OFT’s cap on late credit card payments.

Competition Commission inquiry into energy

Independent analysts, consumer groups, the regulator, the Government and all three main parties believe that energy bills are too high. There is too little competition between the “Big Six” suppliers who own both generation and supply and control 99 per cent of the household market for gas and electricity. To settle the question once and for all, Ofgem should refer the industry to the Competition Commission for a thorough investigation into the post-privatisation structure of the industry. Labour is reluctant to do this, but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are in favour.

Adoption of traffic-light labelling

For the past three years, supermarket chains Tesco and Morrisons have fought a campaign against the most easy-to-understand food-labelling system. Instead of the Food Standards Agency’s traffic lights, they have argued for the percentage-based Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs). Which? and others have shown that the FSA’s colour-coded approach is best understood and this has been provided by independent research (which the industry ordered as part of its delaying tactics). Obesity costs the NHS £8bn and the country £14bn a year. Telling people, instantly, the healthiness of their food would help ease the problem but the Government, with its fears of being seen to nanny, hasn’t acted. The Conservatives, inexplicably, back GDAs.

A supermarket ombudsman

During its two-year probe into Britain’s supermarkets, the Competition Commission found evidence that they had been behaving aggressively towards suppliers. In seized emails, it found evidence of foul language together with demands for retrospective discounts and payment for stock lost or damaged after delivery. The regulator recommended the Government establish a Supermarket Ombudsman to ensure enough small businesses would survive to allow customer choice to flourish including cheap ugg boots,ghd hair stylers. After months of delay, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson should now implement this recommendation.

Quicker action against web fraud

Although it’s not recommended in careers lessons, defrauding shoppers is easy and rarely results in prosecution. The Office of Fair Trading closes down scams, but it often seeks only a court order belatedly stopping a business from trading. The culprits often go free. Acting on tip-offs last month, the Metropolitan Police froze 1,219 websites offering dodgy  Ugg Boots and fake Tiffany jewellery. But, again, officers admitted there was little hope of catching the culprits, many of whom appeared to be based in China. The police and OFT need to act more speedily as internet retailing expands.

An end to tipping

Tipping is a feature of everyday life which many people dislike, and which doesn’t make much sense. Why should hairdressers, waiters and cab drivers be tipped but not nurses, refuse collectors or shop assistants? Tipping disguises the actual cost of a service and causes awkwardness, on both sides. Businesses should pay workers a good rate for doing a good job, without encouraging the bowing and scraping of a bygone era.

A ban on billboard advertising

With commerce creeping into every nook and cranny of our lives, it’s time to give shoppers a break from the 625 adverts they see every day. Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, has banned billboard advertising under its Clean City Law. Its inhabitants say the city is now more attractive.