(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — In the year since Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray launched a new program to help small businesses and nonprofits recover dollars lost to deceptive business practices and scammers, more than 1,250 small businesses have sought assistance, resulting in the recovery or savings of more than $115,000.
“It’s clear that we have tapped into a need in the small business community,” said Cordray. “We have received complaints from businesses all over the state that were deceived or scammed. Many of those businesses have 20 or fewer employees and lack the resources to pursue disputes. Our office provided the required effort and leverage to right the wrongs of unscrupulous business practices.”
The program, which was launched by Cordray with a pilot project in July 2009, opened the Attorney General’s consumer complaint process to include complaints not only from individual consumers, but also now from small businesses and nonprofits. Since the pilot launch, the office has received complaints involving bad business practices that included deceptive advertising, billing disputes, unauthorized charges and shoddy workmanship or services.
In Central Ohio, including Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Pickaway, Ross and Union counties, the Attorney General’s office received approximately 250 complaints and recovered thousands of dollars for area small businesses and nonprofits.
Cordray highlighted the following success stories:
- A Powell vending distributor ordered a machine that failed to work and after several promises a new one was never delivered. The company filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s office, and the company received a $3,000 refund.
- An art studio and gallery in Grandview received a call requesting an address confirmation and was later charged $499 for a “yellow page” ad. The studio had no idea that by confirming the address that they were in fact agreeing to an advertisement. The Attorney General’s office was able to resolve the issue at no cost to the art studio.
- A Columbus consulting firm found unauthorized charges through an online account. In order to prevent identity theft, the firm attempted to cancel the online service and have the account deleted. The online company, stating a new policy, agreed to cancel the service but refused to delete the account. After contacting the Attorney General’s office, the firm received a refund for the services and the account was deleted.
"This program is not just about recovering dollars, it is about leveling the playing field for businesses that follow the law,” said Cordray. “Shady business practices do not happen in a vacuum. If a business is being misled, an individual consumer might be deceived by the same company. Opening up this process has enabled us to fully track trends ranging from poor customer service all the way up to fraud.”
Top complaints for the year include:
- Phony “yellow page” advertisements
- Unauthorized charges on telephone bills
- Bogus Internet and website services
- Extra fees from credit card payment processors
- Unauthorized credit card charges
- Failure to receive a service or product
Cordray encourages small businesses that experience unfair practices such as scams, deceptive advertising, shoddy workmanship, billing disputes, unauthorized charges or any illegal conduct to contact his office at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Business or (800) 282-0515.
For a fact sheet about the Attorney General’s small business consumer complaint pilot program, please visit www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/BusinessComplaintsFactsheet.
Media Contacts:
Kim Kowalski: (614) 728-9692
cell: (614) 893-6018
Holly Hollingsworth: (614) 644-0508
cell: (614) 353-7576