Disputes over automobile towing and landlord/tenant problems were the top two fastest-growing complaints received by consumer protection agencies last year, according to the a survey of consumer organizations.
Abusive debt collection practices, telephone service billing issues and work done by unlicensed contractors rounded out the top five fastest growing issues brought to the agencies by consumers.
Those concerns were among the data reported Wednesday by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators (Nacpi) in the annual report about consumer complaints. The survey included 40 state and local consumer agencies.
“Many of the complaints are concerned with economic hardships people are now facing,” said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at CFA. “In addition to those problems, new types of scams and new payment methods that are being exploited by fraudsters pose challenges for consumers and consumer agencies.”
Many consumer agencies are facing budget cuts and reductions in staff. The staff also has to deal with changes in technology and with fraud schemes that are created in the aftermath of disasters, noted Amber Capoun, Nacpi president.
The largest number of complaints received by the consumer agencies last year centered around automobiles, including misrepresentations in advertising or in the sales of new and used cars, lemons, faulty repairs, leasing problems, and towing disputes, the report said.
Shoddy work and the failure to start or finish home improvement and construction projects logged the second highest number of complaints at the consumer agencies.
Disputes over credit and debt came in third. These complaints included everything from billing and fee disputes, to mortgage-related fraud, predatory lending, and illegal or abusive debt collection tactics.
Service problems or billing disputes involving utilities, which included telephone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas were next.
Rounding out the top five in number of complaints were disputes over retail sales, including false advertising, defective merchandise and problems with rebates, coupons and gift cards.