Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
How, then, does state government get off deciding that we are no longer entitled to as much access to consumer protection and consumer information as are folks in state government's domicile, the Richmond area? And not just us, but Northern Virginians and many Eastern Virginians, too.
State lawmakers and officials of both the Allen and Wilder administrations would, of course, vigorously deny that they have downgraded the status of consumers outside of Richmond. But, in effect, that's exactly what they've done, by eliminating an 800 toll-free line to the state's Division of Consumer Affairs, the agency responsible for administering more than 30 consumer-protection laws in Virginia.
The toll-free line - knocked out by former Gov. Doug Wilder's budget cuts; then temporarily restored by legislators - now is apparently gone for good. It disappeared on July 1 because the self-described "populist" Allen administration didn't seek funding for it, and the legislature rejected attempts to put the funds in the state budget.
Now, in a related development, the administration's ``restructuring'' of the agency is also expected to reduce the staff that's available to handle the steady volume of consumers' calls. By next July, the current staff of 23 may be down to 15 - about the same as in 1978, before the legislature passed many of the consumer laws that the agency oversees.
With employment significantly scaled back in virtually all state offices, it would be misguided to suggest that the consumer division take no hits. But eliminating the 800 number is a hit that consumers outside of Richmond will take on the chin.
All told, the agency logged more than 140,000 calls last year from consumers with complaints or requests for information and assistance on matters ranging from auto repairs to charitable solicitations to health-spa contracts. About 36,000 - at a clip of about 3,000 a month - were made on the toll-free line before the legislature pulled the plug.
Though clearly many consumers throughout the state call on their own nickel, it stands to reason that the greater distance they live from Richmond the more likely they are to rely on getting through on the 800 number. It's obvious also that lower-income consumers in the state's far corners depend on free-line access. (The agency does not serve only consumers. It also serves businesses, providing them with information and often working quietly to mediate and defuse disputes that might otherwise give the businesses a public-relations black eye.)
The decision to cut the toll-free line is not only unfair - it's shortsighted. It almost guarantees that more consumers, not knowing where else to turn, will overload toll-free lines to the attorney general's office. (The customary role of the attorney general's consumer division is to represent and take legal action on behalf of consumers as a class, not to deal with individual complaints.)
The result may also be more overload for the courts. If the consumer agency's help is too hard to come by, more litigious-minded consumers may hasten to sue the heck out of somebody.
by CNB