The ice maker in your refrigerator stops working and you can’t get anyone to fix it. You got a notice from a debt collector for a credit card account you didn’t open. You buy a car and it won’t pass inspection. What can you do?

You can call the Consumer Protection Unit at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office for help. The year 2023 marks the 50th year that the Consumer Protection Unit has been assisting residents who have a consumer problem that they cannot solve on their own.

The Consumer Protection Unit works in cooperation with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office on consumer assistance, advocacy and education. Case Coordinator Joanne O’Donoghue and I currently work with consumers in both Franklin and Hampshire counties and 17 communities in northwestern Worcester County.

Each year, our unit receives grant funding from the attorney general’s office for our consumer assistance program. If you have a problem with an item you’ve purchased, a service you’ve paid for, or a billing issue that you have been unable to resolve, you can file a consumer complaint with the attorney general’s office online at mass.gov/how-to/file-a-consumer-complaint or by filling out a paper form available from our office.

The complaint is then screened and referred to the appropriate agency, often our local consumer program, and then assigned to an advocate.

It’s important to know that our unit does not provide legal advice or legal representation. Rather, we work between the dissatisfied consumer and the business to reach a mutually agreeable resolution. If an agreement cannot be reached, the advocate will outline for the consumer other resources or options to seek settlement for their complaint.

Our efforts in 2022 succeeded in the recovery of more than $128,000 for consumers.

Education is another key part of our mission. We want consumers to know their rights. When someone is considering buying a car, for example, we can provide them with information about the state’s Lemon Law and Used Vehicle Warranty Law before they start car shopping so they are informed in the event that something goes wrong with the vehicle. This information and more can be found on the consumer page of our website www.NorthwesternDA.org or we can send consumers printed reference materials.

We also want to help consumers be prepared before buying a big-ticket item such as a car or an appliance or before hiring a contractor to do repairs on their home. We can walk a consumer through the steps to take when hiring a contractor, provide a sample home improvement contract, share information about how to check a contractor’s license, and how to check whether there have been any complaints against the business.

Protecting consumers from fraud, identity theft, and scams is another priority of our education efforts. Americans lose billions of dollars a year to fraud and scams. The scenarios and stories change constantly but the motive is the same — scoring easy money from unsuspecting individuals.

I looked back in our files and 10 years ago, many residents were receiving letters in the mail saying they had won millions of dollars and new cars in a sweepstakes. While we do get reports of these types of letters, these days fraud attempts tend to take the form of phone calls, text messages and emails.

We try to spread the word about these schemes and their many variations through this column, monthly consumer tips sent out to community organizations, and through in-person presentations. We also provide handouts and printed materials to help spread the word about scams and fraud.

We encourage you to reach out if you have a question or concern related to your consumer rights. If your group would like to schedule a presentation about a consumer-related issue, you can reach us in Northampton at 413-586-9225 or in Greenfield at 413-774-3186.

Anita Wilson is the director of the Consumer Protection Unit at the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.]]>