The Consumer Federation of America, in association with the North American Consumer Protection Investigators regularly publishes reports about consumer experience and consumer protection.
The report lists the top 10 consumer complaints in the country based on surveys done in various cities. Here are the top 10 products and services that consumers have had the worst experience with in the recent past:
1. Automobiles
2. Debt Collection and Restructuring
3. Home Improvements
4. Utilities
5. Retail
6. Services
7. Online Sales
8. Household Items
9. Rental Agreements
10. Health Care
The sale of faulty cars, poor repair work, false promises made through advertisements on used and new cars and disputes concerning car leases are what consumers are complaining most about.
Most people are annoyed by advertisements that misrepresent car companies and the cars on sale. These advertisements talk about services and car features, which are either highly exaggerated or are on offer only on certain terms and conditions.
Defective automobiles are also one of the common annoyances. People invest a lot of time and money into finding the right car, and to have faulty cars sold to them is nothing short of harassment.
Inferior automobile repair work is another aspect consumers have complained about. In addition to these common problems, disputes with automobile dealers about leases have caused distress to consumers.
2. Debt Collection and Restructuring
Illegal and intimidating debt collection methods, predatory lending, and billing and fee collection disputes are some of the many complaints consumers have with this business. Due to recession, many financial companies had to change their collection strategies against the interests of the consumers.
Understandably, this has led to a growing number of complaints over the past couple of years. Law firms have also been criticized for troubling debtors, breaching confidentiality and for collecting incorrectly ascribed debts.
Scams related to foreclosure rescue have also infuriated consumers. Companies that promise their customers relief from mortgages often end up giving advice or offering restructuring packages that lead to more problems for the borrower.
Due to the housing market slump, many people opted for the services offered by these companies in the hope that they will be able to stop foreclosure. After receiving their fees, these companies did little or nothing for their clients. These mortgage modification scams led to the Federal Trade Commission launching ‘Operation Loan Lies’ to counter the situation.
Carelessly done home improvement and construction work by companies have angered home owners. There have been many cases where people have been conned into paying large initial amounts and the work has been no where close to the quality they expected. Customers have had experiences where home improvement companies start a job and leave it mid way without completing it.
These fraudulent companies have also often made initial estimates and then charge their customers as much as twice the quoted amount. These customers are forced to live in partially completed or badly remodeled homes. Fraudulent contractors have also lost workers on refusing payment for the services rendered by them, leaving homeowners in the lurch.
Consumers have had a lot of trouble with billing of gas, phone, internet, power and cable services. Among these, cable and telephone companies were the most complained about. Customers trying to cancel services with their telephone and cable operators have to spend a lot of time on the process and are sometimes even refused cancellation.
Many utilities companies offer their employees incentives for holding on to customers, making it difficult to switch from one service provider to another.
Dissatisfied consumers mention being deceived with wrong information through advertisements at retail stores. Defective merchandise has also caused a lot of anger amongst consumers. Coupon, gift card, rebate and gift certificate related issues is another reason consumers have problems in the retail category. Shops not offering home delivery services and those offering these services, but failing to deliver items on time have been some other problems that people have faced.
Customers have felt cheated with incorrect information about their service providers who have made wrong claims about their efficiency and quality of work. The most frequently made false claims are related to the charges for the services provided.
Service providers often quote high prices and make false promises. There have been many cases where companies have carried out work like plumbing, or even financial advisory, without having the requisite licenses.
Online sales can sometimes turn out to be a very bad experience for customers. Many companies misrepresent their products and services on their website. Consumers make their payment online and find themselves owners of faulty products or products that do not have the advertised features.
Customers are often charged for products that are marketed as free for trial. Hidden transportation and delivery charges have also been an area of concern. The worst scenario is where fraudulent companies take their customers’ credit card numbers and bill them unfairly.
Being sold products that are faulty and damaged is one of the main issues that consumers have in this category. After being sold products about which they have been given wrong information or partial information, customers find themselves unable to use the product the way it should have been used. Kitchen appliances and electronic equipment are the prime culprits in this category.
Initial deposit and rent related arguments, unlawful eviction methods, failing to carry out repair work and not making the promised changes in the house are a few reasons why tenants are displeased with their landlords.
Some consumers have been forced to live in unhygienic, and at times unsafe, conditions due to inflexible lease contracts. There are several aspects about a house that the tenant might be unaware of during the initial viewing.
Only when he has lived in the house for some time, he may realize that the conditions are not as advertised, but it’s too late by then. In such a situation, many landlords refuse to let the tenant terminate the lease contract without a penalty. Several companies also make false promises to their customers about the services offered in serviced apartments and then fail to deliver.
Many consumers have had bad experiences with health care companies, which promise that their products have certain features that will help the customer, without any scientific evidence of those claims. Generally, a spike in such scams is seen when there are epidemic scares.
This way, consumers are lured to buy the health care product without realizing that it may do no benefit to them at all. People have also voiced their dissatisfaction with unlicensed health practitioners who claim to know more than they actually do, putting the patient’s health at risk.
The incidence of all these issues has increased significantly in the last 2-3 years with companies struggling to survive because of the recession, and consequently lowering their quality. Consumer awareness is extremely important to make sure that you don’t fall prey to any of these scams.
Always be cautious when signing a contract or purchasing a product, and make sure that the company you are dealing with has a good reputation in the market.
