Helen Dewdney

Helen Dewdney is The Complaining Cow, a consumer champion for over 15 years. Author of three best-selling books, journalist, consultant and speaker, she writes the UK’s longest-running and most comprehensive consumer rights/service blog covering consumer rights, customer service and topical consumer issues by an individual.

With a no-nonsense direct style, and unorthodox attitude to conveying visionary messages, Helen is often seen and heard in the media covering the latest topical issues, consumer rights and customer service regularly appearing on national TV programmes such as BBC Breakfast, Sky News, Channel 5 News, BBC Radios 2, 4 and 5 She is a panellist on Jeremy Vine on Channel 5 and contributes to various documentaries, national, regional and local press and radio.

She also presents The Complaining Cow Consumer Show on East London radio.

In response to so many queries about how to deal with issues and the increased calls on her time to help people from her blog, Helen wrote her first book “How to Complain: The Essential Consumer Guide to Getting Refunds, Redress and Results” to cover the majority of consumer problems. It has been a bestseller since 2014 when it was first published. She published the second book, another best-seller “101 Habits of an Effective Complainer in 2019”. In 2024 following on from her success in the media, she wrote her third best-seller “How to Get Free PR For Your Business and Be Paid for It, 280 ways to gain media coverage and raise your profile.”

Helen was a children's services consultant and has no legal background. However, she has successfully gained many thousands of pounds back from companies in refunds, compensation and redress for friends, family herself and many others! On her website and social media and she shares her tips, advice and guidance on how to tackle companies providing faulty goods and poor service, demonstrating that you do not need to be a legal expert to assert your legal rights.

Diligent in her work as a consumer champion, she regularly responds to Government consultations and investigates consumer issues. Sometimes these cover issues that are complicated and gain little interest from the public or media but she feels it important to expose none-the-less. For example she co-authored the investigative reports Ombudsman Omnishambles and More Ombudsman Omnishambles which looked at the approval and oversight of Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes. She continues to expose failings in the sector. She also wrote the report Whirlpool - The Tumble Dryer Story Without The Spin.