NCJ Number
87156
Date Published
1979
Length
73 pages
Annotation
This preliminary report on the consumer dispute process in Milwaukee, Wis. examines the dynamics of this process and the major organizations involved in it.
Abstract
A common brokerage function was found to run across the dispute forums and many of the secondary brokerage organizations (organizations that have some role in channeling consumer product and service complaints). That function is as a 'go-between' who moves disputes toward informal resolutions rather than invoking the advocacy skills of the attorney or the formal adversary system of the courts. Broker-advocate organizations and dispute processing forums appear to spend a lot of time with consumer disputes that can be corrected by contacting the 'right' person in a business organization. They act as facilitators who, by virtue of their office, experience, and contacts, bypass layers of personnel that consumers cannot avoid. A major function of the broker-advocates and the dispute forum go-between is to translate consumer complaints into manageable and resolvable conflicts. Most often this is done by toning down rhetorical language, by suggesting a monetary benchmark at which to aim for settlement, or by offering other tangible measures that can serve to stimulate solutions. Resolving individual consumer complaints is the secondary concern of many broker-advocates and dispute processing forums. The Better Business Bureau, for example, handles disputes, but its primary function is to legitimate the capacity of businesses to deal with their own problems of legitimacy with consumers. Contact 6 (TV station consumer department) uses disputes to increase viewer loyalty, while regulatory agencies use disputes to assist in achieving other primary agency goals, suggesting that a substantial amount of effective consumer assistance results indirectly from enforcement, inspection, and rulemaking requirements imposed on agencies. Twenty-four references are listed. (Author summary modified)