Program aids small business

Staff report

youngstown

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray met Friday with members of the Mahoniong Valley business community to provide an update on a program that allows small businesses to make consumer complaints.

The program, launched by Cordray’s office in 2009, aims to help small businesses and nonprofit organizations recover money lost to deceptive business practices and scams.

More than 1,400 small businesses have sought assistance from the program in the last year, and $132,000 has been recovered or saved, according to a press release.

“This program is not just about recovering dollars; it is about leveling the playing field for businesses that follow the law,” Cordray said in a statement. “Shady business practices do not happen in a vacuum. If a business is being misled, an individual consumer might be deceived by the same company. Opening up this process has enabled us to fully track trends ranging from poor customer service all the way up to fraud.”

Top complaints include phony “yellow page” advertisements, unauthorized charges on telephone bills, bogus Internet services, extra fees from credit- card-payment processors, unauthorized credit-card charges and failure to receive a service or product.

Small businesses that believe they could be victim to unfair practices should contact the attorney general’s office at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Business.

The session was at Youngstown State University’s new Williamson College of Business.