THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 21, 1996 TAG: 9606210536
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 60 lines
Legislators got an earful after the state pulled the plug on its toll-free, consumer hot line a year ago.
So, beginning July 1, Virginians will get what they have demanded: the return of free calls to the state's consumer affairs office. They will also get extra investigators to handle complaints on everything from shady contractors to bad-apple telemarketers.
``They felt they were being put off,'' said Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville. ``We had several people come in and say that, even when they got past the hot line, they couldn't reach anybody.''
Several consumer advocates and legislators criticized J. Carlton Courter III, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. They said he steered the department's resources from the consumer side and toward agriculture services.
``When the cuts came to the department, the stepchild took the beating first,'' Van Yahres said.
Courter said the budget cuts were beyond his control. Plus, he said the department has its priorities, and monitoring shams is high on the list, but not No. 1.
``One of the highest priorities with consumers is making sure their food is safe and free of pesticides,'' he said. ``Then, as resources allow, we protect consumers from fraud and sham artists. We've never abandoned those requirements.''
Some Virginians noticed the changes.
Jim Darnell said he purchased blue buckets at a going-out-of-business sale last year only to find he didn't get a bargain.
What the Orange County resident found was a layer of price tags. With each tag he peeled off, the price shrank and his anger grew.
The state office sent a warning letter to the company, which ``just thumbed their nose at it,'' said Darnell, who is also the vice mayor of the town of Orange. After that, nothing happened.
While some critics have pointed to Gov. George F. Allen, he is not entirely to blame. Cuts to the consumer affairs office began under former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and continued during the Allen administration.
Wilder also cut the hot line during his administration.
Under the governors' downsizing and the agency's subsequent restructuring, the number of consumer affairs employees dropped from 27 full-time workers in 1992-1993 to 14 in this fiscal year.
Of those remaining, none were investigators who could look into complaints, said Jean Ann Fox, president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.
Allen did not include funding for the consumer hot line in his budget plan for 1996-97, nor did he restore any of the positions. But the General Assembly, before the session's close in March, approved money for operating the toll-free number and 11 additional positions.
The consumer affairs office will have 25 full-time positions in the fiscal year that begins July 1. About $54,000 is set aside for the hot line. ILLUSTRATION: TO CALL
The toll-free hot line to Virginia's consumer affairs office will be
(800) 786-2042. The toll-free number will not cover the Richmond
area.
KEYWORDS: HOT LINE CONSUMER AFFAIRS by CNB