How to File a New York Attorney General Complaint

Filing a complaint with the New York Attorney General is one of the enforcement paths described in New York’s consumer protection framework. If a business in the state has misled you, overcharged you, or refused to honor a contract, a complaint asks the Attorney General’s office to review the conduct and, in most consumer cases, attempt to mediate a resolution. This article covers who handles these complaints, how to submit one, what to include, and what the office can and cannot do once you file.

What the Attorney General does with a consumer complaint

The Office of the New York State Attorney General enforces the laws that protect consumers from fraudulent, deceptive, and illegal business practices. Its Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau reviews complaints and runs a mediation program that handles more than 12,500 cases each year, recovering refunds and other remedies for New Yorkers. Mediation is informal and voluntary: the bureau forwards your complaint to the business and tries to broker a resolution, but it cannot order a company to pay.

The office represents the people of the State of New York, not individual consumers. A complaint is not a lawsuit, and filing one does not make the Attorney General your lawyer. The office uses the patterns it sees across many complaints about the same company or practice to decide which businesses to investigate or take to court.

Which complaints the Consumer Frauds Bureau handles

The Attorney General’s complaint system is organized by category: consumer purchases and services, housing and real estate, technology and data privacy, health care, employment, finance and lending, civil rights, and charities. Everyday purchase and contract disputes, such as problems with retailers, home improvement contractors, auto sales, gyms, and online services, go to the Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau. Complaints that fit another area, like a data breach or an investment scam, are routed to the specialized bureau that handles that subject.

Debt collection complaints are also common. New York separately limits how long a collector can sue you on an old consumer debt, a window explained in the three-year statute of limitations for debt collection. A complaint to the Attorney General is one option when a collector uses abusive or deceptive tactics, while the limitations period governs whether the underlying debt can still be enforced in court.

How to file your complaint

There is no fee to file, and you do not need a lawyer to submit a complaint. Most people file online, but the office also accepts complaints by mail and answers questions by phone.

1. Pick the category and gather your paperwork

   Choose the category that fits your problem on the Attorney General’s complaint page. Before you start, collect the business name and address, the dates and dollar amounts involved, and copies of contracts, receipts, ads, and any messages between you and the company.

2. Submit the complaint online, by mail, or by phone

   The online form walks through the category, the business, and a description of what happened. If you prefer paper, a printable consumer complaint form can be mailed to the bureau, and the OAG Help Line at 1-800-771-7755 can direct you to the right form or bureau.

3. Describe the outcome you are seeking

   State plainly what you want, whether that is a refund, a repair, cancellation of a contract, or a stop to a billing practice. A specific, documented request is easier for a mediator to present to the business.

What to include in your complaint

The strength of a complaint usually comes from its documentation. Include the full legal name of the business, its address and any website, and the names of anyone you dealt with. State the dates the transaction and the problem occurred, the amount of money at stake, and a short, factual account of what happened in order.

Attach copies rather than originals of contracts, invoices, receipts, warranties, cancelled checks, and email or text exchanges. Keep your originals in case they are needed later. Complaints submitted without supporting records are harder for the bureau to mediate because the office has only your account and not the paper trail behind it.

What happens after you file

After you submit a complaint, the office typically acknowledges it and, for a matter it accepts for mediation, forwards a copy to the business and invites a written response. The bureau then relays offers between the two sides. Because participation is voluntary, a business can decline to respond or refuse to settle, and the office cannot compel payment through mediation alone.

Timelines vary from a few weeks to several months depending on the complexity of the dispute and whether the business cooperates. Not every complaint is mediated individually; some are logged and reviewed for patterns that may support a broader investigation. The office notifies you of the outcome of its handling, but it does not guarantee that you will recover money.

When the Attorney General can sue, and when you can sue yourself

Separately from mediation, the Attorney General has statutory power to take businesses to court. Under N.Y. Exec. Law § 63(12), when a person engages in repeated fraudulent or illegal acts or persistent fraud in carrying on business, the Attorney General may apply to the State Supreme Court, on five days’ notice, for an order stopping the conduct and directing restitution and damages. A parallel consumer statute, N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349, declares unfair, deceptive, or abusive business practices unlawful and lets the Attorney General seek an injunction and restitution. Before starting a section 349 case, the office must give the business notice by certified mail and at least 10 calendar days to respond in writing, unless it is seeking emergency relief in the public interest.

A complaint to the Attorney General is not the only route. Gen. Bus. Law § 349(h) gives a consumer who was injured by a deceptive practice a private right of action to sue in their own name for actual damages or fifty dollars, whichever is greater, and a court may increase the award up to three times the actual damages, capped at one thousand dollars, if the violation was willful or knowing, plus reasonable attorney’s fees. New York’s Department of State also runs a separate Consumer Assistance Hotline at (800) 697-1220 that fields consumer questions and complaints.