Ohio Small Businesses Turn to Cordray for Assistance
(CINCINNATI) - 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 1,400 small businesses have sought assistance, resulting in the recovery or savings of more than $132,000.
(Media-Newswire.com) - ( CINCINNATI ) — 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 1,400 small businesses have sought assistance, resulting in the recovery or savings of more than $132,000.
"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 the Cincinnati area, including Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren counties, the Attorney General's office received 128 complaints and recovered or saved thousands of dollars for area small businesses and nonprofits.
In a meeting today with the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Cordray highlighted the following success stories:
A Cincinnati exterminating company was charged $320 to advertise on the T-shirts of a local basketball team. While the company's credit card was charged, the advertisement was never completed. With the Attorney General's assistance, the company was refunded in full. A Maineville hair salon bought a receipt printer from a company in New York. When the printer was delivered, the salon's staff realized that it was not compatible with their computer. The salon repeatedly called the New York company for a return address in order to return the product, but all calls were ignored. When the Attorney General's office intervened, the salon was issued a full refund. A Cincinnati doctor's office was charged an extra $300 on a contract for a lock and installation. After the office filed a complaint with the attorney general, a specialist helped obtain a full refund for the office. "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.
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