General Complaint Process
The Types of Complaints We Handle
As with all agencies, our office must set priorities. In carrying out our statutory responsibilities, there are four criteria the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) must consider to determine the extent to which we can address the issues raised in your complaint. This checklist may also help you, as a consumer, decide in advance how best to pursue your claim:
Does the situation meet the definition of a “consumer transaction”? With few exceptions, we are restricted to handling complaints arising out of transactions that involve a purchase, lease or rental entered into for personal, family or household purposes.
Does it affect the public good? By law, we are unable to address an individual situation that does not affect parties beyond the two directly involved. Sometimes we must refer citizens to magistrate court or recommend seeking counsel from a private attorney.
Is there is an ongoing pattern of the alleged improper behavior? If our records do not contain sufficient evidence that the company has engaged repeatedly in unfair or deceptive acts affecting the public at large, we will take no action other than monitoring their future activities.
Does another state or federal agency have specific jurisdiction to handle this type of complaint? If so, by law we must refer your complaint to that department for action. For example, all issues involving insurance should be sent to the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. The Secretary of State's Office, the Department of Banking and Finance, and the Department of Agriculture are just a few of the other agencies to whom we refer complaints when appropriate.
What OCA CAN do:
- Investigate consumer complaints alleging fraud.
- Mediate between consumers and businesses.
- Obtain reimbursement from businesses for consumer losses.
- Obtain settlements from businesses regarding their future activity in the marketplace.
- Issue fines of $2,000 per violation per day against businesses that violate consumer protection laws.
- Seek enhanced or double penalties from violators whose victims are elderly or disabled.
- Order businesses to stop any unfair or deceptive activities by issuing cease-and-desist orders.
- File legal action against businesses or individuals operating in violation of Georgia law and seek injunctive relief, court-ordered civil penalties up to $5,000 per violation per day, and other remedies as appropriate.
- Pursue criminal charges against individuals or companies who commit fraud through identity theft, telemarketing, home repair, or a computer network such as the Internet.
What OCA CAN'T do:
- Give legal advice or act as your private attorney.
- Provide information about the reputation of a particular business or individual, although this may be available from the Better Business Bureau.
- Handle a complaint filed by one business against another, except in very limited circumstances.
- Handle a complaint where another state or federal government agency has primary authority.
Try to Resolve Your Problem with the Company First
Often a dispute can be resolved by talking to a person in a position of authority at the business, such as a manager or even the company president. They want your business and know it is usually easier to resolve a dispute and keep a good customer than it is to find a new one.
In the case of disputed charges on your credit card bill, you must act quickly to preserve your right to challenge a charge. This means not only working with the merchant to rectify the situation, but also notifying the credit card company directly, in writing, within 60 days of the initial billing date. More information on how and where to file your dispute should appear on the back of your credit card statement.
Help with Your Problem
To help you get your complaint to the right place the first time and save you valuable time, we offer suggestions on how to go about resolving many common consumer issues on our web page titled Subject of Your Inquiry or Complaint. Before you take the trouble to submit a complaint, please check first to see whether your particular concern is listed there. If it is, you can learn the appropriate place to report your problem and whether OCA is the designated agency to handle it. In that event, or if you do not find the issue listed but it meets the above qualifying criteria, please return to this page for further instructions.
If the problem involves an allegation of an unfair or deceptive business practice or otherwise falls within our responsibility—and you are still dissatisfied after making every effort to discuss your disagreement with the merchant—you may send us your complaint, and we will take appropriate action.
Filing Your Complaint
Posted on this web site is a Consumer Complaint Form developed for your use. Although you are not required to use our form, you must submit your complaint to OCA in writing. It must set forth the problem chronologically and must be accompanied by copies of relevant documents such as invoices, contracts, or previous correspondence with the business. All written complaints submitted to us will receive a response.
We will accept faxed complaints if they are not more than five pages in length, including the attachments, which must be legible. We request that longer complaints and those involving documents with light or small print be mailed instead of faxed, to avoid unnecessary delays due to illegibility. Our fax number is 404-651-9018.
Unfortunately, we are unable to accept unformatted e-mails. In the near future it will be possible to contact us directly via our general Internet web form. When you do so, please also forward hard copies of your documents to us by mail, clearly identifying your name, the company name and the date you submitted the online complaint form.
If you are eligible to file a Lemon Law complaint concerning problems with your new vehicle and have read the guidelines for following the Lemon Law process, you can already take advantage of the convenience of our special online Lemon Law complaint form. We encourage consumers to use any electronic complaint forms provided on this site to submit complaints or inquiries to us.
Information You Should Include
The facts you supply with your complaint should answer these basic questions:
What? Describe as completely as you can the problem you are having with a product or service you purchased, leased or rented. The description should include enough information for us to understand the situation and why you believe it is a problem. For example, were you told something that was untrue? If so, describe what you were told and why you believe it was untrue. Is something defective? If so, explain what was wrong.
Who? Identify the business you are having problems with by name and current address. Identify also all the individuals with whom you have dealt in your attempt to resolve this problem.
How? Identify the method of approach to or from the business. For example, did you respond to a print ad, or did you receive a telephone solicitation? Did you visit a store or order on the Internet?
Where?/When? Identify the location where the problem occurred and the date (or the first point in time, if it took place over several days, weeks or months). These two pieces of information are crucial in determining whether we have jurisdiction to address the dispute.
What resolution are you seeking? Explain how you believe the dispute should be resolved, such as by issuance of a refund, cancellation of the contract, or repair of the item. Since we mediate many of the complaints we receive, we need to know what resolution you desire.
How can we contact you? It is of vital importance that you give us your mailing address, an e-mail address and a daytime phone number so that we may respond to you.
What Happens When We Receive Your Complaint?
We will review it, respond to you and take action as appropriate. We may refer it to another agency or, depending on the nature of your claim, we may communicate with the business involved before responding to you. OCA does not act as a judge in the dispute and cannot force the business to reimburse you or comply in any other way. The matter may escalate to an investigation if the company has shown a pattern of similar violations that fall under our jurisdiction.
Most communication regarding complaints is by letter. However, since we receive a large volume every day and a thorough review of your complaint could take some time, please understand that you may not receive an immediate reply from our office. We ask for and appreciate your patience during this time. To help us help you, please refrain from calling for status reports.
You can be assured that your concerns are always very important to us and that we will follow up on your allegation to the fullest extent that the law allows. Whether or not we are able to take action against the company, your complaint is valuable in informing us about problems facing Georgia consumers and about companies who may be operating fraudulently in our state. Even if you have resolved the matter, informing us of this fact and forwarding a statement of your experience, with relevant documentation, might help us establish a pattern of unlawful business practices against this company in the future.