It certainly makes sense that the two go hand in hand. Complaints about cell phone and TV providers rose steeply, and complaints about banks and Internet scams soared.
It’s hard to say whether there was more reason to complain last year compared 2008. But thanks to 10% unemployment, money sure was tighter and people had more time on their hands in 2009, a.k.a., the year of living cheaply.
Those are just a few of the factors accounting for a 42% rise in complaints about banks, per the NY Times. The Council of Better Business Bureaus reports that there were 29,920 complaints about banks in 2009, up from21,026 the year before. In all likelihood, runaway overdraft charges had to be right up there among the main reasons folks had gripes. Banks reaped in something like $40 billion in overdraft fees in 2009—about half of which came from $35 fees assessed when customers swiped their debit cards and didn’t have enough cash in the account to cover the charge.
The next highest rise in complaints, per the BBB, involved cell phone and TV programming providers. Again, no surprise customers are upset with these companies, which constantly seem to be in the business of surreptitiously jacking up rates.
Meanwhile, complaints about Internet scams more than doubled in 2009, per the Internet Crime Complaint Center (thanks WalletPop). The media loss in a scam was $575, while some of the scammed reported being taken for thousands of dollars.
Let’s hope that in 2010, there’s less reason to bitch. For now—and forever, really—it’s best to stay on guard so that at least you personally don’t have to complain.