Find professional experts waiting to help you fight back against the company that has wronged you
File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau immediately
Generally, the Better Business Bureau is your quickest and most accessible way to seek resolutions with abusive companies. Sometimes they can be the only tool you need to achieve resolution – but frequently, as with the regulators, they can move rather slowly, so reaching out to them early is key.
After you file a dispute, the Better Business Bureau acts as your advocate and intermediary with the company:
- They will submit your complaint directly to the company on your behalf
- The company must respond or their BBB rating will decrease
- After they respond with a suggested remedy, you can either accept or reject it – either way, the BBB will continue to advocate for you with the company
- Most companies will comply for fear of losing their high rating with the BBB or risking complete discreditation.
Estimated time: 15-20 minutes
Don’t go it alone: find a qualified lawyer!
National Consumer Law Center: How To Get Legal Assistance
When it comes to legal assistance, there are more options than just traditional lawyers, including pro bono (free) legal aide and other potential avenues. The National Consumer Law Center (a non-profit organization) maintains this fantastic directory of all such resources, including various attorney lists and searches.
National Association of Consumer Advocates: Search For A Member Attorney
If you want to succeed against a company who has defrauded or otherwise victimized you, the family law office down the road from you might not be the best-suited to help you (or, in some cases, might not be able to help you at all). The National Association of Consumer Advocates is an association of lawyers across the United States who specialize in helping consumers fight back against abusive companies.
If subject to an Arbitration Clause, find a lawyer forming a Mass Arbitration action against this company
More often than not, many American facing disputes with companies find out that their dispute is governed by an Arbitration Clause in the contract they signed. Basically, such an arbitration clause prohibits you the consumer from suing the company in court, instead requiring you to undergo private arbitration to resolve any disputes that arise. Companies routinely include such clauses in their contracts to limit the possibility of these disputes becoming public, to limit your power as a consumer, and ultimately limit how much you can hold them accountable financially for their misdeeds.
However, it’s starting to backfire on some companies as mass arbitration actions are starting to gain in popularity. Mass arbitrations are situations where a legal firm or association of firms organizes a large number of individual consumers to file all of their arbitration claims at once with the company. Because these arbitration claims represent significant time and expense to the company (as normally consumers do not proceed with them at all, let alone en masse), frequently a company will begin negotiations to change the arbitration action into a class action structure, allowing the case to proceed to court.
The single best way to find such a lawyer today would be to go to a search engine like Google or Bing and search for the name of the company along with “mass arbitration” or “class action lawsuit.”
As an example of what you are likely to find, here is a legal firm specializing in Mass Arbitration – Liddle, Sheets, & Coulson, P.C. in Detroit, MI – and their sign-up page for a Mass Arbitration action against a solar panel installation company: