The New Mexico Consumer Protection Board

The New Mexico Consumer Protection Board is part of the Attorney General Office and works to educate consumers and if that fails provide mediation between the consumer and business. For a brochure or a complaint form go to the web site for the New Mexico Attorney General Office.

The New Mexico Consumer Protection Board offers various brochures to help protect you from fraud or other unlawful business. They have brochures including telemarketing fraud, buying a new or used car, cell phones, charity fund raising promotions, home improvement scams, plus many others. A very good book for all consumers, even though it is aimed at the youth is "New Mexico's Youth Consumer Survival Guide". It is perhaps the best one to start with. Besides youth specific information such as in New Mexico you are able to obtain credit in your name at age 18 and all contracts you sign after turning 18 are valid, this brochure offers many tips and guides to surviving and more importantly avoiding consumer fraud. My favorite is 'ask questions, lots of questions. It is the best way of preventing problems. Just make sure you get the important answers in writing. Take your time, if the seller is honest he isn't going anywhere. Read the contract and if you sign get a signed copy. Do not agree to anything without a written contract.

The Board also has a registry of charitable organizations. They can tell you if a charitable organization is registered in New Mexico, and how much of your dollars will actually go the helping as opposed to fund raising and executive salaries.

Besides brochures, the Consumer Protection Board has consumer advocates who will come to speak at your club, school, or church event. Topics include, but are not limited to, fraud against the elderly, charity solicitation, and consumer skills for teens. My staff can tell you if we have received complaints about a business, when the complaint was filed, the nature of the complaint and its resolution.

If you want to use the mediation service offered by the Consumer Protection Board, it has to be done before you start any law suit against the seller. In either case, lawsuit or mediation, you must try first to resolve your problems with the seller. This not only makes sense, but it is the quickest way to resolve your complaint. If the company is honest they will try to make it right. You will soon know which category the seller falls in. If it isn't the honest category, then get a complaint form. The Board must receive your complaint within four years of the transaction. If the division has jurisdiction, the complaint is assigned to a consumer advocate. The advocate will try to work with the business to reach an agreeable settlement. If the business refuses to negotiate, the advocate may give you other possible courses such as a private attorney, small claims court, or transfer to another state agency that can handle the complaint.