Other LanguagesWashington consumers don't like calls from debt collectors. Gripes about collection agencies have been rising in recent years but it took a single complaint to ultimately move the industry into pole position and bump out telecommunications, which previously held the top spot for at least a decade.
“Anyone who runs a business and meets a payroll knows it’s important for customers to pay their bills on time. That’s why collection agencies play an important role,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said as the Consumer Protection Division released its annual Top 20 list of consumer complaint categories today. “But no one likes to be on the receiving end of a collection call, especially in times like these. And it only takes a few shady collectors to make the entire industry look bad.”
Volunteers and staff in the office’s four Consumer Resource Centers process consumer complaints and attempt to resolve them through informal mediation. The service is provided at no cost to consumers or businesses and there’s no legal determination of who is right or wrong. The centers recovered $7.1 million for consumers last year.
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