SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said that for the first time in the history of the office's Top 10 Consumer Complaint list, complaints related to gasoline pricing topped the list of consumer gripes.
The gasoline complaints by far topped the more traditional Top 10 categories such as home repair and automobile fraud.
Madigan announced that her office's Consumer Protection Division received 26,652 consumer complaints in 2005. Of those, 3,327 complaints, or 12.5%, were gasoline-related issues.
The AG's office received 10.8% more complaints of all kinds in 2005 than it did in 2004, when 24,050 consumer complaints were received. Madigan said this increase appears to be due to the outpouring of consumer complaints received following Hurricane Katrina. In the days following Katrina, gasoline prices jumped as high as $3.69. As a result of the huge price increases at the pumps, consumers flooded Madigan's consumer fraud hotlines with more than 3,000 complaints.
Surprisingly, before 2005, gasoline price issues had never reached the Top 10 list.
Hurricane Katrina blew the rest of the consumer complaint list away, with a record number of consumers contacting our Consumer Protection Division to complain about gas price gouging in the wake of this year's natural disaster, Madigan said. Overall, this list serves as a snapshot of the problems consumers faced in the marketplace in 2005 and our consumer protection priorities in the [AG's Office].
Complaints regarding gasoline pricing came in first on the list of Illinois consumer complaints for the first time ever. Complaints regarded gasoline pricing (3,290 complaints), including reports of high prices in the wake of natural disasters; billing (20), including reports that a gas station charged more for gasoline than the price posted on the pump; and quality (17), including reports that consumers received lower-grade gasoline than what they purchased.
The Top 10 consumer complaints of 2005 were gasoline (3,327), credit (3,275), construction: home improvement (3,025), telecommunications (2,602), promotions and schemes (1,767), motor vehicle: used auto sales (1,448), mail-order sales (1,237), financial services (847), motor vehicle: nonwarranty repair (728) and utilities (707).
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.