Salt Lake City government has launched its new Consumer Protection Complaint Portal. The user-friendly portal serves as a centralized hub for residents to submit consumer-related complaints and empowers residents to actively participate in protecting themselves and their neighbors from deceptive practices.
“Salt Lake City is dedicated to ensuring an ethical and fair business environment and invites residents to use the portal to voice concerns, report scams and seek assistance related to consumer issues,” the city said in a release.
Through the portal, residents can specify the business and business type (e.g., retail, automotive, housing, etc.) against which they are filing a complaint and detail their grievances. Within five business days, Salt Lake City staff will reach out to the resident with resources and information about the next steps regarding their specific complaint, the city said.
“Salt Lake City residents and visitors are entitled to a fair and ethical consumer experience and deserve a local government that is on their side,” said Mayor Erin Mendenhall. “With the launch of this new consumer protection portal, we hope to work with residents and businesses to improve the experience for everyone and develop resources to protect residents from predatory business practices and scams.”
Mendenhall said city staff will use complaints to identify specific businesses and practices that warrant better regulation and to identify trends in complaints. All of this will lead to better protections against unethical business practices, she said. The city can also partner with residents who have had negative experiences to develop resources and educational campaigns around specific practices to protect others better.
The initiative aligns with the city’s commitment to housing stability and the overall well-being of its residents. Acknowledging the ongoing threat of displacement faced by many residents, special attention will be given to housing-related complaints.
“We sometimes forget about renters as consumers of a business product,” said Blake Thomas, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Community and Neighborhoods. “But renting is a business transaction just like buying any other good or service, and this portal helps the city follow through on the commitments made in ‘Thriving in Place’ to increase protections for renters in the city.”
Residents can find the portal at https://www.slc.gov/housingstability/consumerprotection/.