How do I Resolve Consumer Problems?

According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the best plan is to prevent problems by being an informed consumer. Take time for consumer research before making decisions to save time and trouble later:

• Select the people you do business with carefully.
• Ask knowledgeable people that you trust for their recommendations.
• Whether you are buying a product or investing money, investigate a person or business before you do business with them.
• Call your Better Business organizations, consumer agencies, or the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to see if a complaint has been filed against the company.
• Educate yourself on all types of consumer issues by visiting consumer protection web sites, reading consumer protection brochures, watching consumer-related stories on television news, etc.

If you have a consumer problem, try to give the company a chance to resolve the problem. First, contact a manager or owner to see if the problem can be solved. Second, try contacting local consumer agencies or Better Business organizations to see if the problem can be settled on a local basis.

Local and Florida State Consumer Agencies

The goal of the local consumer protection agencies is to provide protection and education for consumers against economic losses resulting from unethical or illegal business practices. This is accomplished by having consumers file written complaints that are reviewed by investigators for mediation or criminal investigation and prosecution. Local agencies in Pinellas and Pasco County, Florida, are part of county government:

Pinellas County Department of Consumer Protection
15251 Roosevelt Blvd., Suite 209
Clearwater, FL 33762
727-464-6200

Pinellas County Department of Consumer Protection web site: www.pinellascounty.org/consumer. This web site provides online brochures on Identity Theft, Home Improvement Scams, etc., a database of consumer complaints against businesses, and a way to file a complaint online.

Pasco County Department of Consumer Affairs
West Pasco Government Center
7530 Little Road, S-140
New Port Richey, FL 34654

New Port Richey: 727-847-8110
Dade City: 352-521-5179

At the Florida state level, consumer protection is spread among dozens of agencies, so navigating the maze can be confusing. The main clearinghouse for complaints in Florida is the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. They can guide you to the proper state agency to address the problem. Call their toll-free number, 1-800-HELPFLA (1-800-435-7352), or visit their web site listed below:

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services web site: www.800helpfla.com. This site includes consumer alerts, brochures such as Identity Theft and Florida's Lemon Law, A to Z Guide to Florida State Government, Gift Givers Guide, links to other consumer web sites, forms for filing a complaint online, and a way to add your telephone number to the Florida "No Sales Solicitation" List.

The website of the Florida Attorney General has a section on consumer protection, www.myfloridalegal.com/consumer, which provides information on how to protect yourself from many types of consumer fraud.

Other Consumer Resources

The Better Business Bureau of West Florida is another resource for checking a company's record or filing a complaint in the Tampa Bay and West Florida area. You must try to resolve the problem with the company yourself before filing a complaint. The Better Business Bureau can help with communication between a company and a consumer, writing letters and offering mediation or arbitration in some cases. Call 727-535-5522 or 727-842-5459 or visit the Better Business Bureau of West Florida web site, www.bbbwestflorida.org. Consumers in other areas may wish to visit the national Better Business Bureau web site, www.bbb.org.

Sometimes legal help is needed by someone who has been the victim of a scam or high pressure sales pitch, although the best idea is not to purchase or sign a contract for anything unneeded, too good to be true, or dependent on the performance of someone else. You could find yourself in a legal contract, and a lawyer may be able to negotiate a reduction in the amount owed but may not be able to get the contract cancelled. One example of a situation like this is cosigning a car loan for a relative (perhaps your child or grandchild), who defaults on the loan and turns the car in or has it repossessed. If the car sells at auction for less than what is still owed on the loan, you could be billed for the difference.

Government-funded legal assistance is provided at no cost (donations accepted) for persons sixty and older who cannot afford the cost of legal help. These programs have been able to stop some scams and high pressure sales of unneeded home equipment or services, etc. in process or just completed against older individuals who did not understand the contracts they were signing. The legal assistance programs have helped consumers with other problems, also.

For legal assistance providers (legal services corporations) in Florida's Pasco and Pinellas Counties, see Search for Community Resources on our web site, look up "Legal Advocacy" in the printed Senior Resource Directory, or call 1-800-96-ELDER, (1-800-963-5337) for connection to local elder helplines around the state. Nationally, ask about government-funded legal assistance by calling the Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116 or visit the web site, www.eldercare.gov.

Another service to help victims of consumer-related crimes (and other crimes) in Pinellas and Pasco County, Florida, is the Senior Victim Advocate Program of the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, Inc. This program provides a person to help you coordinate your efforts and to see you through the emotional stress of being a victim of crime, getting legal help, going to court, etc. Call the Senior Helpline at the numbers listed above for referral. Many law enforcement agencies and other organizations also provide Victim Advocates. Use the Florida state and national helplines listed above to ask about victim assistance programs in your locality.

The St. Petersburg Times Action Line columnist investigates consumer complaints. For help in resolving a consumer issue that you have been unable to resolve yourself, call the St. Petersburg Times Action line at 727-893-8171. It is newspaper policy to answer every complaint. To view recent consumer-related articles, go to the Action page of the St. Petersburg Times web site, www.sptimes.com/Action. This section of the St. Petersburg Times web site also includes a Guide to Consumer Services, which lists contact information for resources to help resolve consumer complaints.

Some people in the Tampa Bay, Florida area report that they were able to resolve a consumer problem, after trying unsuccessfully to resolve the complaint themselves, by calling the 8 On Your Side Investigators from NBC News local affiliate, WFLA News Channel 8. For recent stories and a list of telephone numbers (Better Business Bureaus, etc.) helpful to consumers, visit the Tampa Tribune/WFLA web site, www.tbo.com, and select Consumer. Among the subjects of their investigations are contractors who did shoddy work, a travel agency that left passengers dry-docked, and companies that used free dinners to sell expensive products that didn't work for consumers who bought them.

Another television station with a team of Investigative Reporters whose purpose is exposing wrongdoing and corruption is ABC Action News local affiliate, Channel 11, in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. Visit the ABC Action News web site, www.abcactionnews.com, and select Investigators for sample stories. Other television stations offer investigative reporting and consumer tips. Watch the news on several stations in your area until you see announcements.

Listed below are several national web sites helpful to consumers and victims of crime:

• First Gov For Consumers: www.consumer.gov. This federal consumer information resource covers new products, food, money, health, transportation, and more in easy-to-read format. To find the U. S. government's central site for identity theft information, select Identity Theft on the First Gov For Consumers home page or use the specific address, www.consumer.gov/idtheft. Read publications, print an Identity Theft Affidavit form, and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission online.

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC): www.ftc.gov. Click on For Consumers for articles on a wide variety of consumer topics, publications such as A Guide to Funerals, a link to the Identity Theft site listed above, an online form for complaints, and information about how to add your telephone number to the new National "Do Not Call" Registry. The FTC also has a toll-free number, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) for general help and an Identity Theft Hotline, 1-877-ID-THEFT (1-877-438-4338), with identity theft counselors as well as recorded information.

• National Center for Victims of Crime: www.ncvc.org. This site provides a toll-free helpline, a virtual library, and information about public policy, civil litigation, and related information for victims of crime.

• National Fraud Information Center: www.fraud.org. This is a source for information about telemarketing and Internet fraud. Scams against businesses are also covered.

• U. S. Department of Justice: www.usdoj.gov. This site includes information on elder justice and victims of crime.

For links to more web sites, some of which provide consumer information on topics such as caregiving, health care, nursing homes, and insurance, see our list of Caregiver Web Sites. For information about how to prevent unsolicited calls from telemarketers (a frequently reported consumer problem) and how to reduce your chances of being a victim of identity theft (a consumer problem that can be overwhelming), see the topics listed below:

Unsolicited Calls From Telemarketers

Receiving unsolicited calls from telemarketers is a bothersome consumer problem, and it can be dangerous in certain circumstances such as:

• when the person being called gives an unscrupulous caller personal information that can be used for identity theft.

• when the person being called is high-pressured or scammed into paying for products or services that are unneeded, unaffordable, inferior, or non-existent.

You can stop most unsolicited telemarketing calls for one small annual fee in Florida or free nationally. Solicitation is still allowed by certain exempt organizations such as charities, newspapers, and political parties. For more about how to add your home or mobile (not business) telephone number to the Florida "No Sales Solicitations" List or the new (in July 2003) National "Do Not Call" Registry, see The Four Stages of Caregiving, Stage Two, section 7. Stop those annoying telemarketing calls.

Identity Theft

Identity theft is a problem that is addressed by consumer agencies from local to national for a reason: identity theft is devastating to a victim, and many people are not aware that they can take steps to lessen the chances of becoming a victim.

Identity theft can happen to anyone. Skilled identity thieves use low and high tech methods to steal wallets, mail, trash, personal information shared on the Internet or available in homes, or files from offices where a person is an employee, customer, or client. Sometimes they scam people through e-mail by posing as legitimate companies or government agencies, and sometimes they pose as a business or landlord to get a person's credit report.

Here are some of the things identity thieves may do to you if you become a victim:

• Run up charges on your credit cards after changing the mailing address for bills or run up charges on new accounts opened in your name.
• Establish telephone/wireless accounts or take out auto loans in your name.
• Open bank accounts in your name and write bad checks or make counterfeit checks or debit cards and drain your account.
• File for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they incurred under your name.
• Give your name to police during an arrest and fail to show up for court so that an arrest warrant is issued in your name.

Here are some tips to make it harder for a thief to steal your identity:

• Once a year, order and review a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus: Equifax: www.equifax.com, Experian: www.experian.com, and Transunion: www.transunion.com.
• Place secret passwords (not your mother's maiden name or part of your Social Security Number) on credit cards, bank, and phone accounts.
• Secure personal information in your home, especially if you have outside help or service work is being done.
• Keep your wallet in a safe place at work, and ask your employer about information security.
• Don't give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or on the Internet unless you made the contact or know who you're dealing with. To guard your mail, promptly remove mail from your mailbox, get the post office to hold your mail when you are away, and deposit outgoing mail in collection boxes or at a post office rather than in your home mailbox.
• Guard your trash by shredding personal information.
• Carry only the credit cards you need, and do not carry your Social Security card (leave it in a safe place).
• Give out your Social Security number only when absolutely necessary. Ask why it's needed, how it will be used, what law requires you to give it, and what will happen if you don't give it.
• Pay attention to billing cycles. Follow up with creditors if you don't get a bill, since someone may have taken over your account and changed the mailing address for bills to avoid detection.
• Update virus protection software for your computer, use a firewall program if you have a high-speed connection such as cable, use a secure browser to guard the security of online transactions, try not to store financial information on a laptop, look for web site privacy policies, and deplete personal information from computers before disposing of them. For more information, see "Site Seeing on the Internet: A Traveler's Guide to Cyberspace" on the Federal Trade Commission web site, www.ftc.gov.

If you are a victim of identity theft, take these three steps immediately:

• Contact the fraud departments of the three major credit bureaus listed above, have a "fraud alert" and a request for creditors to call you before opening any new accounts placed in your account, and ask for a credit report in writing now and every few months.

• Contact the security departments of your credit card companies, banks, etc., and close your accounts. Change your password and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) when opening new accounts, get a new ATM card if it was stolen (call within two days of discovering your loss), ask your creditors for fraud dispute forms if they have them or write a letter if they don't, and stop payment on stolen checks. There are toll-free numbers to call to find out whether the identity thief has passed bad checks in your name and to ask check verification companies to notify retailers not to accept your checks. For a list of these numbers, go to www.consumer.gov/idtheft and select Identity Theft: When Bad Things Happen To Your Good Name. On the same web site, select ID Theft Affidavit for a form to use to notify banks and creditors of new accounts opened by the identity thief. If your Social Security (S. S.) card was stolen or your S. S. number was used, call Social Security toll-free 1-800-772-1213 or find local office information on the Social Security web site, www.ssa.gov.

• File a police report in the community where the theft took place and ask for a copy to use when notifying creditors.

It is also good to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Go to www.consumer.gov/idtheft and select File a Complaint (this is a special form for reporting identity theft, not the general one for complaints on the FTC web site). Identity theft, a type of fraud, is a federal crime. The information on the FTC Identity Theft Complaint Forms is shared through secure means with law enforcement agencies nationwide. While this won't resolve the individual consumer problems the identity theft caused, it may help with apprehension of identity thieves before they do further harm to you or others.

Throughout the process of resolving identity theft problems, keep written records and make a chart to keep up with your progress. For more about what to do to resolve your credit card issues, see "Electronic Banking and Credit, ATM and Debit Cards: What to Do If They're Lost or Stolen" on the Federal Trade Commission web site, www.ftc.gov.