Auto industry again tops complaint list

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MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS <-- source
Monday, August 1, 2011
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Drum roll, please.

The industry that gets the most gripes from consumers for the second year in a row: auto.

That’s according to the annual survey by the Consumer Federation of America, National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators. The ranking is based on more than 252,000 complaints lodged with regulators in 18 states.

Consumer complaints about the auto industry involve leasing, towing disputes, faulty repairs and misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars.

Here are the other top complaints from the survey:

Credit/debt
Billing and fee disputes, mortgage-related fraud, credit repair, debt relief services, predatory lending, and illegal or abusive debt collection practices.

Tied for third — home improvement/construction and retail sales
(shoddy work, and failure to start or complete the job) and Retail sales (false advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates, and failure to deliver).

Utilities
Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, internet, electric and gas service.

Services
Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure o have required licences, and failure to perform.

Internet sales
Misrepresentations or other deceptive practice, and failure to deliver online purchases.

Household goods
Misrepresentations, failure to deliver, and faulty repairs in connection with furniture or appliances.

Landlord/tenant

Unhealthy or unsafe conditions, failure to make repairs or provide promised amenities, deposit and rent disputes, and illegal eviction tactics.

Fraud
Bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, work-at-home schemes, and other scams.

Home solicitations
Misrepresentations or failure to deliver in door-to-door, telemarketing or mail solicitations.

This article was published on page B5 of the Monday, August 1, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Click here to Subscribe.