It’s not surprising that the top consumer complaints for 2020 in Georgia involved the pandemic in some way. The latest report from the annual survey of state and local consumer agencies conducted by Consumer Federation of America (CFA) saw many new kinds of complaints including price gouging of food, paper goods and personal protective equipment; COVID-related scams; and businesses failing to refund consumers for cancelled events and travel, according to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
Georgia’s AG’s Office was one of 34 agencies from 18 states that participated in the survey. They were asked about the most common complaints, the fastest-growing complaints and the worst complaints received in 2020. In addition, the report identified new kinds of consumer problems, agencies’ greatest achievements and new laws enacted in the agencies’ jurisdictions last year to protect consumers. Collectively, the 34 agencies handled 280,413 complaints and recovered or saved more than $262,973,073 for consumers in 2020 through informal mediation, administrative action, and lawsuits. Georgia served 55,170 consumers complaints in 2020
“We are proud that in spite of the influx of complaints and the change to teleworking, our office was able to record $76.3 million dollars in recoveries, savings and benefits last year,” Carr said.
The report gave a comparison of top complaints in Georgia and in the nation — with many appearing in both categories, including car sales, health services and credit and debt issues.
The top 10 consumer complaints in Georgia were:
1. Debt Issues (debt collection, loan companies, credit report problems, title pawns, payday loans, credit card providers, credit repair, debt adjustment)
2. Used Car Sales
3. Price Gouging/Public Health State of Emergency
4. Landlord/Tenant Issues
5. Automotive Repairs
6. Employment Issues
7. Home Improvement/Repairs (home improvements, home repairs, security systems, roofing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, pest control, swimming pools)
8. Health-Related Services/Billing (medical services, billing by provider or in-house 3rd party collector, personal care services, pharmacy, hospital inpatient billing, home health services, health sharing plans, DUI/alcohol/drug risk reduction programs)
9. New Car Sales
10. Utilities (cell phones, landline phones, bundled services, cable, satellite, electricity, internet/email, natural gas, garbage, recycling, water/sewer, propane)
The top 10 nationally were:
1. Auto: Misrepresentations in advertising or sales of new and used cars
2. Home Improvement/Construction — failure to start or complete the job, failure to have required licensing or registration.
3. Landlord/Tenant
4. Credit/Debt
5. Services: Misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licensing or registration, nonperformance.
6. Utilities
7. Retail Sales: False advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, etc.
8. Travel: Misrepresentations about cost, amenities or other aspects of travel packages,
9. (Tie) Health Products/Services
10. (Tie) Pandemic: price gouging, refunds for cancelled events and travel, financial issues, problems getting repairs and other services, etc.
