Statewide Report on Consumer Complaints for 2003

Denver—Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar today announced the 2003 Colorado Top Ten Consumer Complaint List.

The 2003 Colorado Top Ten Consumer Complaint List is comprised of information gathered through a number of sources, including the Colorado Consumer Line, which was implemented in January 2001. The Colorado Consumer Line (1-800-222-4444) is a statewide partnership between the Attorney General’s Office, the Better Business Bureaus serving Colorado, and AARP ElderWatch to better help Coloradans resolve the thousands of consumer complaints filed annually and to improve consumer services.

This year’s Top Ten List includes the following most complained about industries:

1.Television-Cable and Satellite

2.Collection Agencies

3.Telephone Companies

4.Auto Dealers-New and Used

5.Direct Marketing

6.Mortgage and Escrow Companies

7.Moving/Storage Companies

8.Printing/Copying/Typesetting Companies

9.Auto Repair

10.Consumer Credit/Lending

This list does not include complaints filed pursuant to the Colorado No-Call law.

The Attorney General's office is monitoring both Qwest's and EchoStar's compliance with consumer protection settlements reached with these companies in 2002 and 2003, respectively.The settlements involved certain marketing and sales practices that the companies engaged in.There has been a decrease in the volume of complaints on the issues addressed by the settlements.

In its regulation of collection agencies and debt collectors, the Attorney General’s Office issued 67 cease and desist letters to unlicensed collection agencies, issued 11 letters of admonition, and imposed a total of $40,551 in administrative fines on 9 collection agencies. The Attorney General's office suspended the license of one collection agency for 10 days after it failed to comply with a consumer’s cease communication request, and is defending a lawsuit alleging that collection of child support is not a “debt” subject to the Colorado Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Complaints about Mortgage and Escrow Companies, and about Consumer Credit/Lending moved to the Top 10 for 2003. Last year, 5,306 Colorado consumers who participated in the Attorney General’s settlement of a lawsuit with Household International, Inc. and its subsidiaries received $8,662,695 in settlement payments. Other consumer credit and lending complaints resulted in refunds of excess charges to consumers of $108,666. In addition, the Attorney General’s Office obtained a default judgment for $900,000 in restitution and penalties against Credit Corrections, LLC for violations of Colorado’s Credit Services Organization Act by collecting advance fees for “credit repair” services.

Complaints about moving and storage companies continue to be on the Top 10 list for 2003. It is anticipated that the implementation of House Bill 03-1289 by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will provide greater consumer protections and reduce problems in the moving and storage industry in Colorado.

The Colorado Consumer Line and the services offered by the BBB’s reported more than 20,000 consumer complaints closed in 2003, and more than 850,000 Better Business Bureau reliability reports requested over the telephone or through the Bureaus’ websites. The Colorado Consumer Line received more than 36,500 calls in 2003.

The Better Business Bureaus participating in the Colorado Consumer Line are the Denver/Boulder BBB; Four Corners/Western Slope BBB in Farmington, New Mexico; Mountain States BBB in Fort Collins; BBB of the Pikes Peak Region in Colorado Springs; and Southern Colorado BBB in Pueblo. AARP ElderWatch is based in Denver.