RD179 - Annual Report on the Consumer Affairs Activities of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for 2004


Executive Summary:
The Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) in the Division of Consumer Protection serves as the clearinghouse for the collection, investigation, or referral of consumer complaints. OCA's legal authority to receive and investigate complaints regarding illegal, fraudulent, or deceptive business practices is provided in Title 3.1, Chapter 3.1 of the Code of Virginia.

OCA is committed to providing timely and professional services to consumers, businesses and regulated entities alike. To facilitate those services, OCA is divided into four functional areas whose respective duties and responsibilities are further described in this report. In addition to consumer counseling and the investigation of consumer complaints, OCA also administers seven regulatory programs, provides dispute resolution services, and conducts consumer awareness and education initiatives. During the year, OCA staff:

• Received 5,217 new written complaints, and closed 5,363 complaints, including several carried over from the previous year, which resulted in $1,971,235 worth of consumer recoveries.

• Handled 35,485 calls to the Consumer Protection Hotline on a wide range of consumer issues while maintaining an average caller wait time of 15 seconds.

• Conducted 29 significant public outreach efforts, including 13 major presentations to different entities to civic associations, professional organizations, and senior citizen groups.

• Maintained in excess of $48 million in surety posted by regulated entities, which is typically used to refund consumers for the unused portion of their contracts if the regulated entities go out of business.

• In conjunction with staff in the agency's Information Systems Office and the Virginia Information Providers Network, successfully launched an on-line registration program for sellers of legal services plans.

• Granted 5,461 registrations to regulated entities, tracked 723 professional solicitation campaigns, and monitored the opening of 80 new health spas and the closure of 24 others.

• Provided the public with information about charitable organizations in order to help individuals make informed decisions about their donations, including responding to 492 requests for information involving 1,446 organizations.

This report also includes graphics depicting the number of complaints received every year since 1999, the top ten complaint categories for 2004, a listing of localities in Virginia generating 100 or more complaints, and an organization chart.