A company that offered to clean floors for $8.99 a room, then billed a Lawrence woman more than $300 for two, is among the first customer complaints to be cleaned up by Douglas County’s new Consumer Protection Unit.

The unit, launched in July by the Douglas County Attorney’s Office, has fielded 25 requests for assistance from consumers complaining about problems that normally would be forwarded to the Kansas attorney general for review, investigation and potential prosecution.

Among them: The Lawrence woman who said she had been overbilled by a Kansas City-area cleaning outfit, which had been attracting customers with promises that the firm failed to deliver on, said Charles Branson, district attorney.

“After we became involved, it was resolved with a full refund to the complaining party,” said Branson, who declined to name either the company or the customer, saying there could be further proceedings. “They decided to clear that account and make a full refund.”

Now that the unit is up and running, Branson and others in the office are putting together a Community Alert Network to expand the unit’s reach. The goal is to use education and information to prevent scams, frauds and other problems before they can harm county residents.

Network members – churches, social service agencies, neighborhood associations and others – will receive periodic updates about potential problems, so that the information can be disseminated to the people each organization serves.

Plans also call for adding the information to the Web site for Branson’s office, www.dgcoda.com.

The unit handles a wide array of consumer complaints, Branson said, including those related to charitable solicitations, door-to-door sales, home improvements, magazine sales, travel and vacation timeshare packages, investments and pyramid schemes.

Bob Claus, chief assistant district attorney, is working as the unit’s lead attorney, and Phyllis Payne is drawing upon her own check-investigating experience and expertise to serve as the unit’s lead investigator.

In the end, Branson said, consumers should feel confident that they have advocates willing to check out their case and take it wherever it may lead.

“It gives people a local access point to try to resolve consumer issues,” Branson said. “When we’ve got something that could be a fraudulent transaction, we have the power to step in and try to right that.”

Call for help

To make a consumer complaint or to seek more information about Douglas County’s new Consumer Protection Unit, call the Consumer Protection hotline at 330-2849. Information also is available at www.dgcoda.com.