Complaint websites useful, consumer group says

Over the past decade, consumer-gripe websites have become an Internet mainstay, a place for customers to share opinions on what works and, mostly, what doesn’t.

But how well do the leading complaint websites themselves work? Last week, an old-fashioned bricks-and-mortar organization, the Consumer Federation of America, delivered a mixed verdict: The best sites are great for helping consumers voice irritation but not so great for helping them address it.

Stephen Brobeck, the federation’s executive director, said the group decided to examine more than a dozen complaint websites in part because they show up so frequently in Web searches.

Not very long ago, aggrieved consumers had few options beyond griping to friends or relatives, filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau or state attorney general or suing, Brobeck said. Now sites such as My3cents, Complaints Board and Ripoff Report offer an alternative.

Though some sites, such as My3cents, offer consumers the chance to post positive comments, the sites have special appeal to the disgruntled.

“They’re unhappy, and they want to vent,” Brobeck said. “And this is a very low-cost way to vent with potentially high impact.”

The report identified six sites as “especially popular and potentially useful.” They are Complaints.com, My3cents.com, ComplaintsBoard.com, PissedConsumer.com, ConsumerAffairs.com and RipoffReport.com.

It singled out My3cents on several grounds, including its high volume of recent postings and its inclusion of tips on resolving complaints – a rarity among the sites.

“In an ideal world, these websites could be much more robust,” Brobeck said. Susan Grant, the federation’s director of consumer protection, said the best sites can help potential customers of the large, national companies most likely to appear in the sites’ databases.

To see the federation’s report, go to http://go.philly.com/cfa.