Consumer Fraud-A Personal Experience

While I have never been personally affected by consumer fraud, my grandparents went through such an experience about 8 years ago. They were an older couple (in their 70s) and very trusting of everyone. My grandpa had always talked about having their driveway paved, but he had never gone through with it. Then a company visited his house and offered their paving services to his small driveway. He immediately agreed with little thought about the details. When he asked about prices, they were very broad and elusive, but he trusted them and they had good references and a professional appearance, so he bought their services.

After the paving was completely finished, they brought him the price quote and it was much higher than they had originally told my grandpa. Their rationale was that the beginning price was an estimate and they encountered more issues and used more time and equipment than they had planned on. As a middle-class senior citizen, my grandpa did not have the time, money, or energy to fight them on it, so he ended up paying them the high price.

The company in this situation was definitely an “on-the-street” business. They showed up, did the work, took the money and left the area. I also thought they were very thoughtful about who to target for their services (an elderly couple). If I were investigating this situation, I would use the assistance of advocacy groups and legal assistance groups. Because my grandparents were in no shape to be entering an extensive legal battle, I think these would be the best option. Their legal assistance would provide access to records and documents within government that would hopefully be able to track down the fraudulent company, even if their name had been changed.

I would also contact the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General to see if any complaints similar to ours had been made. These organizations would be able to help me access the information I would need to prove the company’s wrongdoing and move forward with legal action.

My mom has also been involved in a consumer fraud scam. She purchased a hand scrub supply for two months from a kiosk in the mall and was actually charged for five months. She didn’t realize it until the last set of charges had come through and by that time, the kiosk was not in the mall.

In this case, I would also contact the Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau because they would be able to find the information about the company and also try to warn other consumers about the fraudulent activity. I think this would be the best option because they would have the most opportunities for the necessary legal action.