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Survey Report Consumer Federation of America National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators North American Consumer Protection Investigators 2009 Consumer Complaint Survey Report July 27, 2010 Consumer Federation of America National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators North American Consumer Protection Investigators 2009 Consumer Complaint Survey Report Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Troubling Trend Continues: More Complaints, Fewer Resources 4 Top Ten Complaints 5 Complaints Tied to the Recession 19 Fastest-Growing Complaints 25 Worst Complaints 28 Biggest Achievements 33 Biggest Challenges 36 New Laws Needed 37 Methodology 38 Appendix A: Participants in 2009 Consumer Agency Survey 40 Appendix B: How Consumers Can Protect Themselves 43 2 Executive Summary State and local agencies are vital components of the consumer protection system in the United States. The issues they deal with run the gamete from sleazy auto sales to shoddy home improvement work, bare-knuckled debt collection tactics to bogus health products and services, fraud on the Internet to gouging at the gas pump. Unlike most federal agencies, state and local consumer agencies usually try to mediate individual complaints. Many of them also have administrative, civil and/or criminal authority to stop abuses and recover money for consumers. Some also accept complaints from businesses. All provide advice and education about consumers’ rights and businesses’ responsibilities. In addition to curbing unfair and deceptive practices, state and local consumer agencies protect the public health from bogus medical products or services and unlicensed practitioners. Since they operate “where the rubber meets the road,” these agencies are often the first to hear about unfair and deceptive practices and the quickest to take action. To provide a national snapshot of the challenges faced by consumers and state and local consumer agencies, Consumer Federation of America periodically conducts surveys in cooperation with the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators. This report is based on surveying 33 state, county, and city agencies from 18 states across America. The surveys cover a one-year period, in most cases January through December 2009.1 Unfortunately, the trend that we reported from last survey continues: at many agencies, complaints went up in 2009 and the resources to help consumers went down. These are challenging times for consumers and the agencies that serve them. State and local consumer agencies need and deserve public support to protect consumers and the integrity of the marketplace. Key Findings Of the 28 agencies that responded to our question about budget cuts, 71 percent reported that they experienced cuts last year, compared to 47 in our previous report. More than half of the agencies reported that they received more complaints last year than they did in 2008. Complaints about credit and debt rose from #3 to #2 in the top ten. The fastest-growing complaints in 2009 were about bogus offers to help save consumers’ homes from foreclosure. The agencies received more than 300,000 individual complaints and obtained nearly $110 million in restitution or savings for consumers. 1 Some agencies keep records on a different basis, such as July through June; all were asked for data for the most recent 12-month period available. 3 Inadequate budgets and staffing was the biggest challenge that many agencies faced. State and local consumer agencies said that new laws are needed to: o Curb debt collection abuses o Protect consumers from unfair practices in financial services; o Address problems with free trial offers o Hold “lead generators” responsible for steering consumers to fraudulent Web site operators o Improve enforcement against errant doctors and other practitioners of “healing arts” o Regulate home improvement contractors and protect consumers from subcontractors’ liens o Deter scammers from using money transfer services to get payments from their victims o Provide a 3-day “cooling off” period for car purchases o Help consumers facing foreclosure o Protect consumers when businesses fail to deliver promised goods or services o Place more limits on the use of “robo calls” o Deter gas gouging o Regulate towing companies o Give local consumer agencies more power to enforce laws Troubling Trend Continues: More Complaints, Fewer Resources As state and local governments have been squeezed by declining revenues from sales taxes, property taxes, and other sources, consumer agencies have suffered the consequences. Of the 28 agencies that responded to our question about budget cuts, 71 percent reported that they experienced cuts just prior to or during the survey period, compared to 47 in our previous report. These cuts resulted in loss of training opportunities (experienced by 70 percent), staff reductions (60 percent), elimination of programs (10 percent), and furloughs (50 percent). Furloughed employees were obliged to take time off unpaid – time that they could have spent investigating, mediating, and prosecuting complaints, and conducting educational outreach. In addition to furloughs, which are essentially pay cuts, some consumer agency staffs had their salaries reduced; for instance, by 5-8 percent at the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Because of a hiring freeze at the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection in Maryland, departing staff members were not replaced, while at the same time the agency was given additional responsibilities. Several agencies cited the loss of staff due to layoffs or other factors as a loss of crucial expertise and institutional memory. Staff members often develop specialized knowledge over time – for instance, about home construction, jewelry grading, auto repairs, or mortgage agreements – and it is difficult for others to fill their shoes. 4 In some cases, educational outreach has been severely affected by budget cuts. For example, the Broward County Division of Permitting, Licensing and Consumer Protection eliminated its community education programs and stopped producing brochures and other educational materials. It also curtailed the proactive inspections that were regularly conducted to ensure that businesses are complying with requirements such as posting their refund and return policies. Last year as we prepared this report we learned that the Nevada Consumer Affairs Division was being shuttered; this year the Virginia Beach Consumer Affairs Program did not participate in the survey because it was cut from a staff of three to one investigator and is operating on an extremely limited basis. The Hillsborough County Consumer Protection Agency in Florida was in danger of being eliminated and happily survived, but moved to more cramped space to cut costs. At the same time that resources were reduced, 58 percent of the agencies reported that they received more complaints in 2009 than they did in the previous year. The average increase was 23 percent, but in some cases the increases were much higher; for instance the Pinellas County Department of Justice and Consumer Services had a 52 percent increase in complaints as a result of several large cases that it was involved with last year. Complaints to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs rose by 62 percent. Despite these handicaps, the agencies handled 300,895 individual complaints last year and obtained $109,605,264 in restitution or savings for consumers. However, this does not paint the whole story. Many state and local consumer agencies have set up special hotlines to help consumers who are facing foreclosure. For example, the Summit County Office of Consumer Affairs in Ohio also created a foreclosure assistance program and saved homeowners $86,989 through loan modifications and corrections to their escrow account in 2009 – an amount that was not included in its figure for total money recovered/saved for consumers that year. It is also important to realize that the complaint numbers do not include the calls, letters and emails that state and local consumer agencies receive from consumers who are seeking advice about how to resolve problems themselves or avoid being victims of fraud. For instance, the Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs was contacted by more than 35,000 consumers last year, 6 times the number that actually made complaints. Businesses also contact state and local consumer agencies for advice, and they benefit when complaints against them are resolved without the need for formal legal action. Top Ten Complaints in 2009 Following are the top complaint categories that most frequently appeared in the agencies’ top ten lists. Their ranking in the top ten in 2008 is noted in parenthesis. 5 1. Auto: (1) Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars; lemons; faulty repairs; leasing and towing disputes 2. Credit/Debt: (3) Billing and fee disputes; mortgage-related fraud; credit repair; debt relief services; predatory lending; illegal or abusive debt collection tactics 3. Home Improvement/Construction: (2) Shoddy work; failure to start or complete the job 4. Utilities: (4) Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas services 5. Retail Sales: (5) False advertising and other deceptive practices; defective merchandise; problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates; failure to deliver 6. Services: (6) Misrepresentations; shoddy work; failure to have required licenses;
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