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March 8, 2010

Complaints to BBB up nearly 10 percent

The Port Arthur News

BEAUMONT — According to an annual report released today by Better Business Bureau, consumer complaints across North America to the organization increased by 9.7 percent in 2009. Not only did BBB receive nearly 1 million complaints filed by disgruntled customers last year, consumers turned to the non-profit more than 65 million times for help researching businesses across North America.

“Amidst the housing crisis, high unemployment rate and the chaos on Wall Street, the last year has not been easy on consumers and the increase in complaints to BBB reflect this troubled economy,” said Michael Clayton, President/CEO of the Better Business Bureau in Southeast Texas. “Now more than ever, struggling families should rely on BBB to find businesses they can trust and to help their voice be heard in the marketplace.”

The cell phone industry received the largest number of complaints in 2009 with 37,477, a 2.1 percent increase over last year. The cable & satellite TV industry ranked second with 32,616 complaints, an 8.7 percent increase over the previous year. Rounding out the top three, banks received 29,920 complaints, a 42.3 percent increase over the previous year.  Southeast Texas experienced a 34.7 percent increase, with New Car Auto Dealers, Roofing Contractors, and Major Appliance Dealers topping the list with the largest number of complaints in 2009.

“For the second year in a row, banks experienced a significant increase in complaints coinciding with 140 bank failures in 2009,” said Clayton. “Trust in the financial sector is already extremely low and the dramatic increase in BBB complaints against banks reflects the growing discord between consumers and the industry.”

While the cell phone industry, cable & satellite TV industry and banks received a high volume of complaints, two of the three industries saw improvements in their resolution rates over the previous year. Cell phone companies resolved 97.4 percent of complaints; the cable & satellite TV industry resolved 97.2 percent. The resolution rate by banks declined slightly to 95.2 percent.

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