Vermont Consumer Assistance

The Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) is the complaint-handling branch of the Vermont Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division. Contact them if you have a problem with goods or services you purchased in Vermont.

But, before you have to call them why call and find out what they have in consumer education material that may prevent you from needing their complaint services. They will tell you of your rights as a consumer and they keep track of recently reported scams in Vermont. There are pamphlets on subjects like buying a used car, the lemon law, telemarketing, and buying over the Internet. If you are thinking about doing business with a specific company they have a complete complaint history of any company doing business in Vermont. If they received one or more complaints against a business in the last five years, they will tell you the number of complaints, the nature of the complaints, and whether the business settled or not.

Before you file a complaint with CAP you must try to resolve the problem yourself. If you don't know how or your first attempt failed, call CAP and they will give you suggestions on how to resolve your complaint yourself. If what they suggest also fails, file a complaint .Your complaint should include the following information, a brief summary of your complaint, important dates and names of individuals you dealt with, copies of any documents such as contracts, warranties, repair orders, or estimates, and a statement of what you want done (a full refund, replacement, etc.).

The Consumer Assistance Program will send a copy of your complaint to the business and ask them to contact you within seven days. You will receive a letter explaining the process and asking you to contact CAP in 14 days to tell them what has happened. If the business hasn't contacted you by then, CAP will contact the business again. More than half the complaints are resolved but if the business disputes your complaint, you may be referred to a private attorney or small claims court.

The CAP is also sponsored by the University of Vermont. Students in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences provide valuable support to the staff at CAP in responding to complaints and providing consumers information and assistance. To contact the Consumer Assistance Program write to them at 104 Morrill Hall, UVM, Burlington, VT 05405 or call (802) 656-3183.