rctay said:Years ago I took an old car in for repair at garage. The bill was double the estimate, and I told the owner I was going to report him the the BBB. He replied, "Do what you want, I don't care because I'm not a freaking member of no BBB."
The language is an approximation. As I drove off he yelled, "Hay boy, don't forget to call the AA and KKK too"

That's why you need to send your complaints to Attorney General and TV News Stations & media. Have you watched on TV how funny those bad small business owners look on TV when they are chased by a bunch of reporters and interviewers in Dateline NBC or TV News Stations, etc? I bet they will have nightmare about it for a year.

And they never know again whether you are another reporter with a hidden camera or just a regular customer.

Here's a tip when dealing with service providers such as roofing, painting and plumbing companies. In most states, there is a specific county agency that deals with the licensure of tradesmen. At the state government level, all the county agencies report to a single state agency which deals out penalties and enforces laws related to the 'fair and compensable service practices' of all tradesmen. Knowing this will benefit you greatly and will save yourself quite a bit of trouble.
Let's say that you need to have the exterior of your house painted. The first thing you should do is get the license # of any company you may be interested in. Run that license # by the people who are in charge of your county's licensure board, IN PERSON, and ask to see the file on the company. Whether or not that company has any complaints doesn't matter...demand to see the file as it contains the owner's name, business address, and other names the company may operate under. Make a note of the information you find (photocopies are a great idea).
Once you have narrowed down your choices, review the information you found with the tradesmen himself/herself. Tell them that you want a quality job and look forward to giving them a positive reference. Most honest tradesmen will take your review of their background in stride and you'll truly find out if they will be someone you wish to hire.
Take pictures of the area of work. Make notes of what work will be performed (for yourself) and demand the tradesman do the same, for your records, on the contract.
Once they finish the job, wait a few weeks and if everything looks good then consider writing a thank you note to the owner of the business.
If the job turns out poorly, file a complaint with the county licensure board based on the notes you've kept of the job.
Here in Florida, there are so many fly-by-night operations that take advantage of the elderly or uneducated (a majority of homeowners, unfortunately!) it's not funny. With the information you've just learned, I hope you will be ready to defend yourself against shoddy workmanship and sham artists moonlighting as tradesmen.

I call on the entire FW community to make this the best possible consumer protection thread ever!! Post your ideas, comments and most importantly....resources. Whether it's state specific or nationwide, your ideas are greatly appreciated! FW is as much about deals as it is about giving the consumer a powerful voice.

Probably a silly question..but WHO do you file a complaint with BBB against? Store? Rebate clearing house? or manufacturer? Store seems like the only one that would care...but rebate clearing house is actually responsible for screwups? When you call about a rebate you are talking to a csr in some clearing house usually(some companies process their own rebates but most don't) Credit card chargebacks same thing...the one screwing up isnt where the original charge was so you have no leverage..that is the problem...we need leverage with the clearing houses...like a BIGGGGGGGGGG stick

Very good thread! Thanks for the work TheDealMaker.

I now know where to file complain against OfficeSax' rebates. They're Rude!

um how about Staples and the whole z680 fiasco... pissing me off

silverleaf said:Do all of these sites (BBB, FTC, etc.) require a physical address? I have a few complaints about rewards websites that I have no physical address for? I did a BBB complaint and see that they require a physical address. I tried whosis.com on one but no info.
Great thread! A number of websites have bilked me out of small amounts; it wasn't worth it to complain until you gathered up all this info. How far back in time do you think I can go with complaints?

They have several ways to search for a company in BBB. One is using their name, and second one is their phone #, and the other one is web address. Once you got the search result, there should be already a physical address there.

bump

pop in a phone number in google's search box and you'll usually get the address....

I got screwed over a couple months back by a company out in California (I'm in NY)

They performed a service for me .. Re-Chroming an automotive wheel ... and it came back horrible. It actually looks worse now than it did when I sent it out.


I tried to dispute it with the company, and was told off rudely. I even have pictures of it before shipping AND after (I'm paranoid and document everything). They made up some lame excuse about it "never coming out perfect".

Their website has a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee ... the manager/owner of the place said .. "Well, I'm 100% Satisfied with the job .. so .. there you go ... 100% Satisfaction".

I contacted the BBB, my state Attorney General, and the California-Automotive-something-or-other (Can't remember right now and too lazy to get up and find my folder with all this stuff in it)

All 3 of them contacted the 'business' and the 'business' told them to cram it up their respective tailpipes. All three then sent me a nice letter saying they "contacted the merchant but no resolution is possible".

My credit-card company then contacted them (I put a stop-payment and dispute on it) ... and GAVE them their money. Credit-card company quoted some rule (that is on every credit card) that purchases made outside 100miles of your billing address are not protected and elligible for dispute resolution.

So .. they made off with $167 of my money .. PLUS they destroyed my car's wheel ... I had to purchase another (retail of $456) to replace it .. because frankly .. I don't want to drive around with 3 nice pretty wheels and one that looks like someone took a pair of pliers to.

Basically ... if a merchant/business wants to just say F-off .. they can. He doesn't care what the BBB or anyone thinks of him .. he just wants his money ... and he got it. It cost me three times as much to fix what they did wrong, and cost me all that time and effort to complain and try to get it resolved.