Filing a California Attorney General Complaint Against a Business

The California Attorney General enforces the state’s consumer protection statutes on behalf of the public, and a consumer complaint is the main way the office hears about a business before it decides whether to look further. This article covers that one channel: who it fits, how the form works, what belongs in it, and what it produces. The statutes and remedies sitting behind it are covered in California consumer rights.

What the Attorney General does with a consumer complaint

The office states the purpose in a single sentence on its consumer protection page: complaints “are used by the Attorney General’s Office to learn about misconduct and to determine whether to investigate a company.” The same page adds that the office “cannot provide legal advice or assistance to individuals.”

That framing explains almost everything about how the process behaves. The Attorney General litigates in the name of the People of the State of California, not on behalf of one shopper. Under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17204, an unfair competition action may be prosecuted by the Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, or certain city attorneys. A defendant found liable is exposed to a civil penalty of up to $2,500 for each violation under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17206, assessed in an action brought in the name of the People. The penalty runs to the state, not to the complainant.

Volume is what makes an individual complaint useful. One report about a deceptive charge is an anecdote; two hundred reports naming the same charge is the evidentiary base for a statewide enforcement action. The conduct most often described in these complaints falls under the California unfair competition law, which reaches any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act.

Check the complaint referral table first

Most California businesses answer to a licensing board or a specialized regulator rather than to the Attorney General directly. The office asks consumers to check its complaint referral table before using the general form, and to report the complaint directly to whichever agency regulates that business.

The table maps business types to their regulators. Licensed contractors go to the Contractors State License Board, and a California Contractors State License Board complaint runs through that board’s own intake and enforcement process. Insurers, banks, auto dealers, healthcare providers, and other licensed professionals each have their own destination. Vehicle defect claims usually turn on the manufacturer-facing remedies described under the California lemon law rather than on a general consumer complaint.

The Attorney General’s own form is the right destination when no other agency regulates the business, or when the conduct is broader than one license holder’s behavior. The office also notes that it “may need to refer my complaint to a more appropriate agency,” language the complainant affirms as part of submitting the form.

Suspected fraud or crime has a separate path. The consumer protection page directs those reports to the local district attorney’s office or city attorney, which prosecute criminal conduct that a civil consumer complaint does not reach.

How to file the complaint

One form covers both submission methods. The online version at the Attorney General’s Consumer Complaint Against a Business page is a single web page ending in a submit button. The mail version is the same content as a printable PDF, offered in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.

1. Identify yourself and any representative

   The form collects the complainant’s name, address, email, and phone. It also asks whether the complaint is being submitted on behalf of someone else, with options for an attorney, an advocate, a family member or friend, a housing or credit counselor, or another authorized representative.

2. Name the business precisely

   Company name is the only required field in the business section. Address, phone, email, and website are optional but make the business easier to identify, which matters when several entities operate under similar names.

3. Describe the transaction and the problem

   The narrative field asks for the product or service at issue, the dates involved, the names of any representatives dealt with, what an advertisement said and where it appeared, and when any contract was signed. The form also asks for the amount in dispute and what the complainant would consider a reasonable resolution.

4. Record prior contact

   Two questions cover history. One asks whether the business was contacted directly and, if so, the date, method, person, and result. The other asks whether the Attorney General’s office or any other agency has already received a report on the same issue.

5. Disclose pending legal proceedings

   A separate block asks whether the complainant is represented by a lawyer on the issue, whether either side has sued the other, and whether a legal proceeding involving the issue is pending. An affirmative answer triggers a follow-up field for the status and counsel’s contact information.

6. Attach documents and submit

   The online form accepts up to five uploads in pdf, doc, docx, xls, or xlsx format, each with a required description. Online submissions pass through a reCAPTCHA check. Mail submissions go to the Public Inquiry Unit at the address on the Attorney General’s contact page.

What belongs in the complaint, and what stays out

The form’s own instruction is specific about the narrative. It asks the complainant to describe the complaint “including: the product or service at issue and what the issue is; the date(s) of the transaction or issue; the names of the sales representative or other company representative you dealt with; if the product or service was not as advertised, what did the advertisement say, and when and where did you see it; if you signed a contract, when did you sign it.”

Dates, amounts, and names do the work here. A complaint reading “they overcharged me” gives the office nothing to correlate against other reports. A complaint naming the charge, the date it appeared, the advertised price, and where that price was published is a data point an investigator can match.

Attachments are capped in size and count. The visible instruction on the online form sets a limit of less than 4 MB per file across five upload slots, while a secondary help panel on the same page states 50 MB, so the conservative figure is the one to plan around. Documents that cannot be uploaded are handled by listing and describing them in the narrative instead.

What a complaint does not do

Three limits appear directly on the office’s consumer pages, and each one closes off an expectation consumers commonly bring to the form.

It does not produce legal advice. The affirmation attached to the form states that the Attorney General “cannot answer legal questions or give legal advice to me and cannot act as my personal lawyer.” For a referral to a certified lawyer referral service, the office points to the State Bar; for consumers who cannot afford counsel, it points to local legal aid.

It does not recover money. Statutory penalties under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 17206 go to the state. A consumer seeking a refund or damages pursues that separately, and for smaller amounts the usual route is small claims court, where the limit for an individual plaintiff is $12,500 as of 2026 (California Courts Self-Help). Private statutory remedies also exist: the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act allows an individual consumer to sue over specified deceptive practices.

It does not guarantee an investigation. The office decides whether to investigate based on what the complaints in aggregate show. No statute obligates it to open a file on any particular report, and no published timeline governs the decision.

After the complaint is submitted

Submitted complaints are assigned a Public Inquiry Unit number. That number is what the office’s forms ask for when a complainant follows up or submits related material later, so it is worth keeping with the transaction records.

The Public Inquiry Unit is reachable by phone at (916) 210-6276 or toll-free within California at (800) 952-5225, and by mail at the Attorney General’s Office, California Department of Justice, Attn: Public Inquiry Unit, P.O. Box 944255, Sacramento, CA 94244-2550, per the office’s contact page. Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers reach the office through the California Relay Service at 711.

Complaints authorize the office to forward the complaint to the business named. Some businesses respond to the complainant directly after receiving it. That response is not a mediated settlement and carries no enforcement weight; it is the business’s own account, provided to the office.