Friday, October 24, 1997

Morales announces top 10 consumer complaints

AUSTIN (AP) -- Texans are complaining more about debt collectors than any other business in the state, according to Attorney General Dan Morales.

From Sept. 1, 1996 to Aug. 31, 1997, consumers filed 1,999 complaints against debt collectors with Morales' office.

That was just more than the 1,787 complaints filed against direct mail companies, last year's most complained-about industry.

Morales' annual list of the Top 10 complained-about industries, released Thursday, showed few changes. Dropping out of the worst of the worst list were telemarketing companies and mortgage companies.

Joining the Top 10 were business opportunity companies and credit reporting agencies.

Overall, consumers filed fewer complaints against businesses in the 1997 fiscal year than in the previous 12 months. Complaints fell from 32,057 to 27,492.

Reggie James, head of Consumers Union in Texas, said the slightly fewer number of complaints doesn't mean consumers had fewer problems with Texas businesses.

"It could say that people aren't picking up the phone or are having some problem with automated calling," he said.

James said Consumers Union is glad Morales continues to track complaints. But he said the same industries continue to show up on the list. That means more needs to be done to crack down on those businesses, he said.

"The focus needs to be on what we can do to address the deficiencies in state law," James said.

Morales said most of the complaints filed with his office involve specific transactions, not violations of consumer protection laws.

Of the complaints, Morales said 9,165 were resolved. Consumers collected more than $6.5 million from the settlements.

The attorney general's office filed 298 legal actions based on consumers' complaints, collecting $56 million in restitution, $715,000 in recoveries for charitable entities and more than $3 million in civil penalties during the 1997 fiscal year.

In addition to debt collection agencies and direct mail advertisers, the top 10 list of businesses and the number of complaints filed against them includes:

-- Used car dealers (1,610 complaints)

-- Long distance phone companies (1,575)

-- Auto repair shops (1,109)

-- Business opportunities companies (754)

-- Landlord-tenant disputes (682)

-- Credit card companies (633)

-- New car dealers (586)

-- Credit reporting agencies (547)