The state Agriculture & Consumer Services Department, the clearinghouse for consumer complaints in Florida, received 38,000 written complaints in 2009, about 1,800 more than last year, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson announced today. The department used the complaints to obtain nearly $5.9 million in goods, services or cash refunds for consumers in 2009.

Here’s the list of the most frequent complaints:

1. Unwanted telephone sales calls (6,500 complaints)

2. Telemarketing complaints involving the “Do Not Call” law (3,609)

3. Travel/vacation plans (2,781)

4. Credit/banking (2,774)

5. Communications (2,302)

6. Problems with car sales & accessories (1,644)

7. Complaints about care repair shops (1,625)

8. Medical issues (1,543)

9. Landlord/tenant disputes (1,523)

10. Complaints about real estate brokers/salespeople (1,197)

Bronson encourages consumers to file a complaint if they feel they have been wronged by a business by calling the department’s helpline at 1-800 HELPFLA or 1-800-FLAYUDA for Spanish-speaking operators. People can use those same helpline numbers to find out the complaint history of a business. Consumers can also file complaints online by visiting www.800helpfla.com.

Tags: Charles Bronson, complaints

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 1:32 pm and is filed under state agencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.