The Palm Beach County Consumer Affairs Division recovered more than $1.1 million in refunds, goods and services for citizens in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, the most in its 34-year history. The record $1,135,138 was returned to consumers through cooperative negotiation and mediation efforts by the Consumer Affairs investigative staff, said Director Dennis Moore.
“The amount returned to consumers is almost twice as much as last year and more than three times as much as in 2003,” said Moore. “Most of the recovered monies were from hurricane-related complaints and those types of consumer problems are still being reported to us.”
Two-thirds of the mediated dollars recovered involved consumer disputes with private contractors ($768,598) followed by housing services ($63,255), housing sales ($55,200), credit ($53,611), retailers ($40,384) and landlord/tenant issues ($26,145). Other top recovery categories included auto leases, furniture sales, auto sales, auto repairs, TV/electronics and home service contracts.
Complaints involving storm shutter companies represented more than half of the contractor-related monies, $402,687, for an average refund per case of $3,005. Complaints against roofers resulted in $135,138 in refunds, while recoveries from screen enclosure installation/repair companies tallied $69,369.
Overall, 2,418 complaints were investigated by Consumer Affairs in FY 2006 with 693 of them resulting in a monetary settlement. “That’s actually a very good ratio,” said Moore. “It means a lot of potential lawsuits are staying out of the courts and residents are getting on with their lives.”
In cases where money was recovered, the average settlement was $1,638. Refund amounts ranged from of a high of $51,500 in a housing deal to a low of $2 in a cab fare dispute.
To register a complaint with Consumer Affairs or for more information, please call 712-6600 or go to www.pbcgov.com/consumer.
Note to editors: supporting graphics available at:
pbcgov.com/newsroom/1006/pdf/MediatedDollarsRecovered06.pdf
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