Help Me Hank: A look at the top 10 consumer complaints

Auto issues, home improvement top the list

DETROIT – Help Me Hank is revealing the top consumer complaints and a glimpse into where scammers may be targeting people.

The list was put together by the Consumer Federation of America. They look at thousands of reviews and complaints and put together the top list of the most common complaints for the year.

Topping the list is auto-related issues. That involves everything from bad repair jobs to misrepresentation in advertising car deals.

No. 2 on the list was home improvement and construction issues. The most common issue under that category was shoddy work, followed by failure to start or complete a job.

Coming in third was complaints about the retail industry, the main concern was false advertising and issues with gift cards.

The fourth thing on the list was landlord tenant issues. Those issues come up a lot in Detroit. Where sometimes a large company owns a number of buildings and the main issue is maintenance problems. The other issue involves not being able to get a deposit back from a landlord.

The other top problems include health insurance issues, credit card complaints, internet sales scams, health product misrepresentation, robocalls and rounding out the top 10 was door-to-door sales scams.


About the Authors

Hank Winchester is Local 4’s Consumer Investigative Reporter and the head of WDIV’s “Help Me Hank” Consumer Unit. Hank works to solve consumer complaints, reveal important recalls and track down thieves who have ripped off people in our community.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.

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