The Texas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division accepts consumer complaints through an online portal, and the statute it enforces most often is covered in the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. This article covers the complaint itself: which of the three online forms applies, what information the form asks for, what the division does after a submission arrives, and where a complaint stops being the right tool.
What the Consumer Protection Division does with a complaint
Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.46(a) declares false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices in trade or commerce unlawful and makes them “subject to action by the consumer protection division under Sections 17.47, 17.58, 17.60, and 17.61 of this code.” Complaints are the division’s main window into which businesses are engaged in those practices.
The division’s enforcement power runs through injunctions rather than individual refunds. Under Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.47(a), when the division has reason to believe a person is engaging in unlawful practices and that proceedings would be in the public interest, it may bring an action in the name of the state for a temporary restraining order or an injunction. The same section requires the division to contact that person at least seven days before instituting the court action.
That structure sets the outer limit of what a complaint produces. The Office of the Attorney General states in its complaint filing FAQ that it “is prohibited by law from serving as your personal attorney or providing legal advice or interpretations of the law to individuals,” and that “[t]he only lawsuits which the OAG may file are on behalf of the State of Texas and in the public interest.” The office may contact the business named in a complaint to gather more information. That contact sometimes resolves the individual dispute and sometimes does not.
After a submission, the portal sends an automated email carrying a complaint number. The FAQ describes that number as “strictly for reference,” meaning it does not indicate that any determination has been made or that a case is open. Complaints are reviewed for informational purposes so the office can monitor business practices statewide, and staff contact the consumer again only if they need more.
Which complaint form covers your problem
The portal opens with a short set of routing questions and sends you to one of three forms. The division’s consumer complaint filing page describes each one:
- General complaint. False, misleading, or deceptive business practices. The listed examples include billing and refund problems, not receiving what you paid for, misleading advertising, predatory sales tactics, unlawful debt collection, scams, price gouging, misuse of charitable funds, and disaster-relief complaints.
- Privacy complaint. Personal information unlawfully collected, shared, or mishandled by a business, including concerns tied to data breaches.
- AI complaint. An artificial intelligence system developed or deployed in a way that violates Texas law, including systems that manipulate behavior, discriminate unlawfully, or improperly use biometric data.
The general form carries the widest range of disputes because of the statute behind it. The division’s consumer rights page calls the Deceptive Trade Practices Act “[t]he primary tool the Office of the Attorney General uses to protect Texas consumers.”
What to gather before you open the form
The complaint system cannot save a form in progress, and using the browser’s back button clears the submission. The whole complaint gets completed in one sitting, which makes preparation the difference between a usable complaint and a vague one.
The form asks for a clear statement of the problem with relevant dates. According to the filing instructions, the information that belongs in that statement includes the name of the business or individual, their full address with ZIP code, transaction dates and amounts, contract information, payment information, business websites and email addresses, and the steps already taken to resolve the problem, naming anyone spoken to and how to reach them.
Supporting documents are optional but often clarify a complaint. The division accepts common document, image, and audio or video formats, with a maximum file size of 25MB and up to 10 files per complaint, as set out on the same filing page.
Filing the complaint online
Open the complaint portal
The Consumer Protection Division’s complaints are filed at the online complaint portal, reached from the “File Your Complaint Online” button on the division’s filing page. There is no paper form posted alongside it.
Answer the routing questions
The portal asks a few questions to determine which of the three forms fits the situation. The questions that follow differ depending on that selection, so a general complaint and a privacy complaint ask for different details.
Write the statement of the problem
This is the substance of the complaint. Give the sequence of events with dates and dollar amounts, identify the business precisely, and describe what was promised against what was delivered. Vague statements give the division little to monitor and little to act on.
Attach supporting documents
Contracts, receipts, advertisements, and written exchanges with the business carry the complaint further than a description of them. The division allows up to 10 files with a 25MB maximum file size, in the formats listed on its filing page.
Submit and save the confirmation
A confirmation email arrives with the complaint’s unique number. Keep it. That number is what the office asks for if you contact it later about the same complaint.
Complaints that belong with a different agency
Not every consumer dispute in Texas runs through the attorney general. Problems with banks, credit cards, credit reporting, mortgages, student loans, and debt collectors are handled through the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint process, which forwards complaints to the company and tracks the response. Fraud, scams, and bad business practices are also reported to the Federal Trade Commission through ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the FTC’s reporting portal.
Debt collection generates two questions the complaint portal does not answer. Whether a collector can still sue on an old account turns on timing, covered in Texas statute of limitations on debt collection. A consumer already served with a collection suit faces a court deadline that a complaint does not pause, described in how to answer a debt collection lawsuit in Texas. Complaints about a defective new vehicle move through a separate administrative process under the Texas lemon law rather than the consumer complaint portal.
A complaint is not a private lawsuit
A complaint to the attorney general and a private suit under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act are separate tracks, and filing one does nothing to the other. A consumer bringing a private DTPA damages claim has a notice obligation first: Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.505(a) requires written notice to the defendant at least 60 days before filing suit, describing the specific complaint in reasonable detail along with the economic damages, mental anguish damages, and expenses, including attorney’s fees, reasonably incurred in asserting the claim.
The private claim also has an outside deadline. Under Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.565, DTPA actions must be commenced within two years after the deceptive act occurred, or within two years after the consumer discovered or reasonably should have discovered it. That period extends by 180 days if the plaintiff proves the delay was caused by the defendant knowingly acting to induce a postponement of the suit.
Filing a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division does not toll either clock. The two-year limit runs from the underlying act, not from the date the office reviews a complaint.
Frequently asked questions
Will filing a complaint with the Texas attorney general get my money back?
Not directly. The Consumer Protection Division brings actions in the name of the state, primarily for injunctive relief under Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.47(a), and the complaint FAQ states the office cannot serve as a consumer’s personal attorney. The office may contact the business for more information, which occasionally resolves an individual dispute. Recovery of money by a consumer generally comes through a private claim or a small claims case rather than through the complaint.
How long does the office take to respond to a complaint?
The FAQ states that an automated email acknowledging the complaint and assigning a number arrives after submission, and that the office contacts the consumer again only if more information is needed. No response timeline is published, because complaints are reviewed for informational purposes rather than processed as individual cases.
Can the business see the complaint I filed?
Potentially, yes. Complaints and related information filed with the Consumer Protection Division are records open to the public under Texas law, and the office may contact the business named in a complaint while gathering information. That is one reason the division tells consumers to leave account numbers and other sensitive identifiers out of the form.
Is there a Spanish version of the complaint process?
Yes. The Office of the Attorney General publishes a Spanish-language version of its filing guidance at Presente una queja de consumidor, covering the same forms and the same preparation steps as the English page.
Does filing a complaint pause the DTPA deadline for suing?
No. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.565 requires a private DTPA action to be commenced within two years of the deceptive act or of its reasonable discovery, with a 180-day extension available only where the defendant knowingly induced the delay. An administrative complaint is not a lawsuit and does not stop that period from running.
What if my complaint involves a debt collector rather than a seller?
Unlawful debt collection is listed among the practices covered by the general complaint form on the division’s filing page. Collector conduct is also reportable to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which routes complaints to the company for a response. Neither route affects a pending collection lawsuit, which follows the court’s own deadlines.