Consumer Complaints to the Office of the Attorney General Continued to Increase in 2021 — the Highest Volume Yet

Uptick due to the pandemic, and our office’s work to stand up for District consumers

It’s Consumer Protection Week — but at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), every week is consumer protection week because we are always standing up for District consumers to protect them from bad actors, scams, and fraud.

In 2015, our office launched its Office of Consumer Protection, which works on behalf of District residents to stop deceptive and unethical business practices. Since then, the office has been a leader in educating District consumers about their rights, investigating complaints reported by residents regarding potential violations of the District’s consumer protection laws, and when appropriate, filing lawsuits against businesses and individuals that take advantage of District residents. The office also assists consumers in resolving disputes through other means, such as by mediating disputes between consumers and businesses.

In 2021, We Received the Highest Level of Consumer Complaints Ever

As a result of our efforts to reach consumers and residents, the office received more complaints from consumers in 2021 than 2020, and significantly more than in 2019, pre-pandemic. For the first year ever, in 2021 we received more than 2,500 consumer complaints. In 2019 we received approximately 1,500 complaints and in 2020 received nearly 2,300. That amounts to a nearly 70% increase in two years.

This significant increase can largely be attributed to two factors.

• The COVID-19 pandemic directly resulted in an onset of several new consumer-related issues, including price-gouging and cancellation of services, as well as COVID-19 related scams.
• Our office invested in enhanced outreach during the pandemic to connect with more residents across all parts of the city.

In fact, my office received more consumer complaints in each of the last three months of 2021 than any other period in the last two years, besides April 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

Read on to learn more about the most common complaints filed by DC residents, how to contact our office, and how we can help you and your neighbors.

District Residents Filed Most Complaints About Refunds, Billing, and Scams

In 2020, our office saw a surge in complaints largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. The trend continued into 2021 as the pandemic continued to impact District residents. A significant number of consumer complaints received in 2021 concerned refunds (301 complaints), billing (177), and cancellation issues (45), which all reflect issues consumers continue to face during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery. When compared to the total number of complaints received, refund related complaints constitute 12% of all complaints, billing (14%) and cancellation issues (2%).

Examples of refund complaints include pandemic related complaints due to canceled events and travel as well as more traditional consumer complaints relating a business’ return policy. We continue to actively enforce the law for these pandemic-related issues. For example, in October 2021, our office filed a lawsuit against a wedding-venue company that refused to provide refunds to consumers for weddings that were cancelled due to COVID-19, despite promises from the company that they would be able to reschedule their event or receive a refund in the event of cancellation.

With respect to complaints regarding scams, the most frequently reported scams in 2021 included tech support scams, imposter scams, phishing scams, and lottery scams. Our office has resources for impacted residents available on our website.

Housing and Retail Industries Generated Most Complaints from Residents

Broken down by industry, complaints relating to apartments and rental units received the highest number of complaints (290 total complaints constituting 11% of all complaints). In particular, we received complaints regarding security deposits, as well as complaints from tenants regarding misrepresentations in advertising regarding the conditions of apartments and available amenities. Our office also received a significant increase in complaints regarding disputed water bills. Complaints regarding housing code violations are referred to our Social Justice Section for further investigation and enforcement.

We also continued to receive a large number of complaints regarding home improvement and contracting services. Examples include contractors not completing work at their property, shoddy repairs, and unlicensed and unpermitted work performed with consumers knowledge or consent. In some cases, we have brought enforcement actions against home improvement companies where it has received multiple complaints reflecting a pattern or practice of illegal conduct.

In 2021, we also saw an increase in banking and lending complaints (90 total complaints, constituting 11% of all complaints). This increase may be attributable to our continued enforcement in the FinTech space, including against online lenders that offer illegal loans to District residents in excess of the District’s interest rate cap. In 2020 and 2021, our office brought lawsuits against two such lenders, OppFi and Elevate, that offered loans with interest rates as high as 250%. We recently reached settlements in both cases, which will return at least $4.8 million in restitution to District residents and result in over $1 million in additional debt relief to consumers.

Residents Can Work with Our Office Without Taking Legal Action — and We Can Help Get Money Back in Consumers’ Pockets

The Office of Consumer Protection helps consumers resolve disputes with merchants without legal action through its mediation program. When consumers file complaints with OAG, they are automatically connected to a mediator in our office who will contact the consumer and then work with the consumer to try to negotiate a resolution with the business/merchant at issue. When consumers file complaints, it also helps us gains insight into the problems people are experiencing in the marketplace. This helps us to identify and prioritize problems for potential action. The result is better outcomes for consumers and a better marketplace for everyone.

We track when a consumer recovers money as part of this mediation program. In 2021, the office helped recover approximately $616,728 for District consumers through its mediation program. This amount reflects a nearly 50% increase from the $412,520 recovered through the mediation program in 2020.

This is in addition to the $5.35 million in restitution that our office recovered in 2021 through legal action.

How Can District Consumers File Complaints?

Consumers can file complaints with our Office of Consumer Protection by:

• Texting (202) 738–5212
• Messaging OAG using the chat feature at: oag.dc.gov/consumer
• Submitting a complaint online at: https://oag.dc.gov/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint
• Calling (202) 442–9828
• Emailing consumer.protection@dc.gov

In January 2021, our office launched several new ways for consumer to file complaints. We launched a new “chatbox” feature on its website and started to accept complaints via text. These features were implemented to lower the barriers to filing a complaint and expand the agency’s accessibility to more residents.

Spread the word about our office of Consumer Protection, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have a complaint about a business in the District. We are here to get results for all District residents.