HOME-IMPROVEMENT SCAMS TOP CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

An 85-year-old widow from the Richmond area opened her door to a man soliciting roof repair work.

Water was leaking from her roof into the bathroom, and the man offered to fix it for ,000.

The widow paid him the money, and the man took it and disappeared without doing any work.

"That type of scam is common," said Jim Guffey, deputy director for enforcement at the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation in Richmond, which licenses and regulates contractors.

So common, in fact, that home improvement rip-offs were the top complaint of consumers nationwide last year, reported a recent survey by the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators and Consumer Federation of America, both of Washington. It was also the fastest growing complaint category, they said.

DPOR's Guffey said Virginia consumers filed more than 4,000 complaints against contractors the past two years. "The majority of the complaints are home improvement-type things," he said. Dishonest contractors abandon jobs, misapply funds, abscond with money, fail to fix things under warranty, work without a license and violate building codes.

How can consumers protect themselves against home improvement scam artists?

* Deal only with licensed contractors.

* Get estimates and verifiable references.

* Verify the contractor's licensing status with DPOR.

* Ask if any complaints are filed against the contractor.

* Insist on a written estimate and detailed contract.

* Jot down a description of the person, vehicle and license number.

* Report suspicious activities to your local police department.

* Quickly file a complaint with DPOR, (804) 367-8500.

Home improvement complaints ranked among the top five during the past six years, the survey reported. They nudged out auto sales complaints in 1999 to become No. 1, then rose to the top again in 2001.

Home improvement contractors were the most likely to go out of business, often leaving consumers with no recourse even after they made a deposit. And they most likely reopened under another business name, reported the NACAA/CFA survey. They beat out health studios and furniture stores for closing up shop and disappearing on consumers.

The second biggest number of consumer gripes were directed at household goods, including defective appliances, electronic equipment, computers and furniture.

Automotive sales complaints, many involving financing, fell to third place last year.

Rounding out the top eight were automotive repairs (improperly done or not done at all); credit and lending (predatory mortgage lending, credit-card fees and billing, advance-fee loans, payday loans and other expensive small loans); business practices; services; and telecommunications (cell phone and landline).

In a dead heat for the 9-12 rankings were complaints about collections, pyramid schemes and business opportunities, recreation and vacations.

The 41 consumer protection agencies nationwide that participated in the NACAA/CFA survey also reported the worst scams in their states during 2001.

In Virginia, nearly 700 consumers complained to the Office of Consumer Affairs in Richmond about the telemarketer American Savings Discount Club of Portsmouth, which bilked them out of nearly 0 each in a fraudulent advance-fee loan promotion, said agency manager Andy Alvarez.

Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, the Federal Trade Commission and other states successfully sued the company for million in Norfolk and netted .5 million for the victims.

In Alexandria, the local consumer affairs office said it received numerous complaints from Hispanic consumers that auto dealership salesmen had coerced them into signing contracts written in English. Unable to read and understand the contracts, they complained they were overcharged for vehicles or vehicles were misrepresented.

The infamous Nigerian money scam - in which victims are promised a chunk of money for parking millions in Nigerian money in their bank accounts - continued to snare new victims during 2001, the study reported. The scam, with all its variations, is so big, said NACAA/CFA, that, by some estimates, "it is the fifth largest industry in Nigeria and has accounted for more than billion in illegal income for the scammers."

Watch out for the latest twist: an e-mail from "Dr. Bill Akulunon, the accountant of the Federal Ministry of Youths, Sports and Culture," promising that you'll be "adequately compensated" if you allow a deposit of million into your bank account. Consumers provide "Dr. Bill" money or a bank account number and get wiped out. Chances of recovering losses from the Nigerian scams are "virtually nonexistent," said NACAA/CFA.

The 42 agencies that participated in the study said they received 324,361 complaints in 2001 and recouped 8.8 million for victims.

The agencies said they are getting a lot more complaints - 23 percent more in 2001 than the previous year - with only a 7 percent increase in their budgets.

Jean Ann Fox, CFA's director of consumer protection, said efforts to protect consumers are hampered by weak federal laws that pre-empt stronger state laws. "States should be able to enact stronger protections and to close loopholes exploited by industries, such as rent-to-own [mortgage lending] and payday lending, that attempt to evade state protections," she said.

Are you wondering what happened with the elderly widow from Richmond who got scammed out of ,000 by the home improvement salesman? The man was convicted of fraud because he was unlicensed, ordered to repay the woman and to spend three years in prison, said DPOR's Guffey.

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