Chapter 4, Section 2 Consumer Complaints Personal Finance Chapter 4, Section 2 Consumer Complaints

Question Have you ever been involved in a consumer complaint? What happened?

Objective Identify ways to solve consumer complaints

Sources of Consumer Complaints Fraud: dishonest business practices that are meant to deceive, trick, or gain an unfair advantage Common Types: Telephone and mail scams Work at home schemes

Resolving Complaints 1. Return to the place of purchase 2. Contact Company headquarters 3. Help from a consumer agency: BBB 4. Dispute Resolution: Mediation: neutral 3rd party resolves the conflict. Not legally binding Arbitration: 3rd party, legally binding 5. Take Legal Action

Small Claims Court Small Claims Court: Deals with legal disputes that involve amounts of money below a certain limit State-State: $500-$10,000 No jury or lawyers

Class Action Legal action on behalf of all the people who have suffered the same injustice Money is divided if they win

Legal Aid Society One of a network of community law offices that provides free or low-cost legal assistance

Consumer Safety Commission Commission that helps protect consumers against unsafe products Should be contacted to find local dispute resolution programs

Math Problem 500 people from Utah participated in a class action lawsuit against the phone company. The judge awarded $1.5 million to be divided equally among the participants. How much did each person receive? What was the percentage of each individual’s award? $1,500,000/500 = $3,000; $3000/$1,500,000 = .2%

Group Assignment Groups of 2 Look up consumer complaints on the computers Find an interesting case and write a short report about the case