Top 10 Consumer Complaints in America
If you drive, you probably already know the number-one consumer complaint in America last year.
That's right, it's cars -- which includes misleading ads, lemons, and faulty repairs -- that led the pack last year according to a new survey (PDF) by the Consumer Federation of America, the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators.
The poll of 31 consumer-protection agencies in 18 states asked about the most common, fastest growing and worst complaints they received last year, as well as their biggest achievements and challenges. The agencies surveyed received more than 252,000 complaints in total last year and collectively obtained in excess of $208 million in restitution and savings for consumers.
I'll have more on the survey later. But today, I wanted spend a little time on the top complaints.
No doubt, there's something about a hot set of wheels that turns on the fraud gene, if that's even possible. Consider the recent case brought by the United States District Attorney in Georgia against a car dealer who is alleged to have committed bank fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
In one of the schemes, he's said to have purchased more than 30 cars from other dealers either on consignment or by sending the dealers insufficient fund checks. He then sold the cars to customers online through eBay. The evidence showed that he pocketed over $490,000, and never provided the customers with titles to the cars, or paid the other dealers, according to the government.
The man's name? Philip Swindall.
No, really.
Here, then, are the top 10 consumer complaints.
1. Auto That includes misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing and towing disputes.
2. Credit/Debt Billing and fee disputes, mortgage-related fraud, credit repair, debt relief services, predatory lending, illegal or abusive debt collection tactics.
3. Home Improvement/Construction and Retail Sales (tie) The "home improvement" category includes shoddy work, failure to start or complete the job. Retail sales covers false advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates, failure to deliver.
4. Utilities Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas service.
5. Services Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licenses, failure to perform are included in this category.
6. Internet Sales Misrepresentations or other deceptive practice, failure to deliver online purchases.
7. Household Goods Misrepresentations, failure to deliver, faulty repairs in connection with furniture or appliances.
8. Landlord/Tenant Unhealthy or unsafe conditions, failure to make repairs or provide promised amenities, deposit and rent disputes, illegal eviction tactics.
9. Fraud Bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, work-at-home schemes, and other scams.
10. Home Solicitations Misrepresentations or failure to deliver in door-to-door, telemarketing or mail solicitations, do-not-call violations.
All except one of these categories is new for 2010: fraud, which came in at number 9.
"Fraud is an especially challenging problem because scammers often target U.S. consumers from foreign countries," says Anna Huddleston-Aycock, president of North American Consumer Protection Investigators. She says that makes law enforcement a challenge.
Huddleston-Aycock notes that consumer protection agencies are using new technologies such as Twitter to warn the public about scams and prevent victimization.
What it means
There are two takeaways from this list â€" one for businesses, the other for consumers.
Let's start with customers. Know this list and you'll know where the scams are. And also, you'll know when to be extra vigilant (like when you need to buy or repair a car).
The other point to be made affects any company in these industries. Customers are pretty smart, and eventually they will know â€" if they don't already â€" that an industry is a little scammy. That means your clients are probably already on their guard, and they expect to be taken advantage of.
The truly successful businesses will work hard to earn their customer's trust, assuring them that they're different from the competition.
And in this case, different is better.
Related:
Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate, syndicated columnist and curator of the On Your Side wiki. He's the author of the upcoming book Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals, which critics have called it "eye-opening" and "inspiring." You can follow Elliott on Twitter, Facebook or his personal blog, Elliott.org or email him directly.Photo: Ziggy_Mo/Flickr