Attorney General's News Release

July 12, 2007

Missourians have new consumer tool to look up 100,000 complaints online as Nixon unveils “Know MO” Web page

St. Louis, Mo. — Missourians can now go to the Attorney General’s Web site to look up consumer complaints from a database of approximately 100,000 complaints. Attorney General Jay Nixon unveiled the “Know MO” Web site today and said the information would help consumers make more fully informed decisions about their spending. A link to Know MO can be found at ago.mo.gov.

“Missourians can now find information very quickly and conveniently about 100,000 complaints my office has received since the beginning of 2004,” Nixon said at a news conference today in St. Louis, where he demonstrated the ease of searching the Know MO database. “This is a resource that can help them make better decisions when they are buying merchandise or contracting services.”

Consumers can search for the name of an individual or business in a database going back to Jan. 1, 2004. The search results will show how many complaints were registered under a specific name or a specific location. Complaints might show up under different variations of the name or under different addresses; in other cases, two or more different businesses may have similar names that would show up by entering one name. By clicking on the specific name, consumers will be able to see the date of each complaint and the category under which the complaint is listed.

“Our Consumer Protection Division staff receives thousands of calls and e-mails every year asking if we have complaints against a certain person or company,” Nixon said. “By using Know MO, Missourians now can look up that same information instantly any time of the day or night.”

Each year, the Consumer Protection Division of Nixon’s office receives more than 100,000 questions and complaints via e-mail, telephone, mail and fax. As new complaints are received, they are added to the online database, so consumers have access to an ever-expanding source of information. Consumers may file complaints any time online at ago.mo.gov or they can call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-392-8222 on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

In the first six months of 2007, Nixon’s Consumer Protection Division has already returned more than $3.3 million to consumers by mediating complaints. Last year, the division returned a record $5.4 million to consumers through mediation.

Visit Know MO

Inquiries from consumers should be directed to consumer@ago.mo.gov or 1-800-392-8222 (from within Missouri) or 573-751-3321 (outside Missouri).

All media inquiries should be directed to Press Secretary John Fougere.

E-mail      Phone: 573-751-8844         Fax: 573-751-5818