Virginia Attorney General Complaint: How to File and What Happens

Filing a complaint with the Attorney General is one of the enforcement paths described in Virginia’s consumer protection laws. This article covers what the Consumer Protection Section can and cannot do, how to tell whether your dispute belongs with the office, the mechanics of filing online or by mail, and what a complaint accomplishes compared with a private lawsuit.

What the Attorney General’s office does with a complaint

Consumer complaints in Virginia are handled by the Consumer Protection Section within the Office of the Attorney General. The office maintains a complaint intake system, a statewide toll-free hotline, and dispute-resolution programs under Va. Code § 2.2-517, which creates the Division of Consumer Counsel and directs it to receive and investigate complaints about deceptive or fraudulent consumer transactions and to act as a clearinghouse that refers matters to the agencies that enforce specific consumer laws.

The office’s main enforcement tool is the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, cited in Va. Code § 59.1-196 as the Virginia Consumer Protection Act of 1977. Under Va. Code § 59.1-203, the Attorney General (along with a Commonwealth’s attorney or a city, county, or town attorney) may bring an action in circuit court to enjoin prohibited practices, and in that action it is not necessary that damages be proved. The office acts in the name of the Commonwealth and the general public interest.

Check whether your complaint belongs with this office

The Consumer Protection Section handles a range of complaints against businesses operating in Virginia, but not every dispute falls within its jurisdiction. Its published complaint topics include collection agencies, credit services businesses, health clubs, lemon law disputes, landlord and tenant matters, towing, time-shares, travel clubs, and private disputes between individuals. Complaints about banks, insurance companies, and utilities are frequently routed to the specialized regulators that oversee those industries. The office provides an online Agency Search tool to help match a complaint to the correct agency before filing, as described on the Attorney General’s file-a-complaint page.

The subject of the dispute often points to the right path. A defective-vehicle problem may fall under Virginia’s lemon law for used and new cars, while a dispute over an old unpaid account may turn on the statute of limitations on debt in Virginia. Matching the complaint to the correct rule and agency at the outset reduces the chance the filing is forwarded elsewhere and delayed.

How to file your complaint

The office lists three stages: determine where to file, complete a complaint form, and submit it for review. The online complaint form is the office’s preferred method because it is the quickest to process, and printable forms are available in English and Spanish for consumers who cannot file online, per the Attorney General’s file-a-complaint page.

1. Confirm the office handles your dispute

   Use the office’s Agency Search and its list of common complaint topics to confirm the complaint falls within the Consumer Protection Section’s jurisdiction. Complaints outside its authority are forwarded to the appropriate federal, state, or local agency, which adds time if the wrong office receives the filing first.

2. Gather your documents

   Assemble photocopies of contracts, receipts, warranties, advertisements, and any written correspondence with the business. The office scans paper complaints, so submissions are copies rather than originals, and the printable form asks filers to staple materials only once.

3. Complete the complaint form

   Fill out the online complaint form, or download the printable English or Spanish version. A printed form must be signed and dated; the office returns unsigned forms for a signature before it can act on them.

4. Submit and keep a copy

   Submit the online form, or send a completed printable form to the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia, Consumer Protection Section, 202 North Ninth Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, or by fax to 804-225-4378. Keep a copy of everything filed.

For questions before or after filing, the office runs a Consumer Protection Hotline. As of 2026, the number is 1-800-552-9963 for callers within Virginia and 804-786-2042 for callers in the Richmond area or outside Virginia, staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the Attorney General’s file-a-complaint page.

What happens after you file

The office reviews each complaint and contacts the filer if anything is missing. When a complaint falls outside its authority, the office notifies the consumer and forwards the matter to the agency that can act on it. For disputes it does handle, the Consumer Protection Section offers alternative dispute resolution, a voluntary process in which the office contacts the business and tries to broker a resolution without litigation.

The office also keeps records of complaints and their disposition. Under Va. Code § 2.2-517, those records are open for public inspection, except for information such as trade secrets or customer names that is held confidential unless disclosure is needed to enforce the law. Because mediation is voluntary, a business can decline to participate or to refund money, and the office cannot force an individual settlement. Where it sees a broader pattern of unlawful conduct, the office can pursue the enforcement action authorized by Va. Code § 59.1-203.

Getting money back: complaint versus lawsuit

A complaint asks the government to review and, where possible, mediate or enforce. Recovering a specific dollar loss is a separate track. Under Va. Code § 59.1-204, a person who suffers loss from a Consumer Protection Act violation can bring a private action to recover actual damages or $500, whichever is greater; if the violation was willful, the court may award up to three times actual damages, or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees and court costs. That private case runs independently of any Attorney General complaint and is explained further in the guide to what the Virginia Consumer Protection Act bans and how to sue.

Smaller money disputes are often filed in Virginia’s general district and small claims courts rather than pursued through a state agency. For scams, imposters, and fraud that cross state lines, consumers can also report to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which feeds a national law-enforcement database but, like a state complaint, does not itself return money to the filer.