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Consumer Affairs

Consumer Information

The website of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs at www.nyc.gov/html/dca offers a number of pamphlets of interest to consumers. Click on "Publications". Topics include:

• Guide to Used Car Purchases
• Buying and Selling Electronics
• Shopping by Mail or Phone
• What You Need to Know About Employment Agencies
• What You Need to Know About Immigration Service Providers
• Debt Collection: Your Rights and Responsibilities
• The Problem with Pay Day Loans
• Internet Scam Guide
• Healthy Homes
• NYC Consumer Law in Brief

For any publication that is not currently available online, send your request along with a self-addressed #10 legal-sized (or larger for more than one request) envelope with appropriate postage to:

New York City Department of Consumer Affairs
Free Publications Unit
42 Broadway, 8th Floor, Community Division
New York, NY 10004

For a guide to Business Licenses, check out the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs guide at the above address. Click on "Licensing". You can download license applications and learn how to apply for a license and the time required to receive one. Among the licenses included are:

• Catering Establishments
• Home Improvement Contractors and Salespeople
• Laundromats and Jobbers
• Locksmiths and Apprentices
• Newsstands
• Secondhand Dealers, Auto
• Street Fairs – 30 day

The Federal Citizen Information Center offeres free and low-cost brochures on many health and personal finance topics, some in Spanish: www.pueblo.gsa.gov. Four weeks for delivery.

The New York Public Library has conveniently compiled a collection of websites listing New York Consumer Law Resources. Go to the Library's Best of the Web page at www.nypl.org/links. Click on "Government & Law", then click on "New York Consumer Law Resources" for a list of such topics as Aging, Children, Consumer Protection, Court Guides, Credit, and Landlord-Tenant issues.

For New York City government information and services, call 311. Use this information service to:

• Report loud noise, potholes, blocked driveways, broken streetlights or other neighborhood problems
• Locate public hospitals and clinics
• Find contact information for utility companies
• Locate a towed vehicle
• Find public school information
• Learn about programs designed for small businesses
• Get subway or bus information
• And much more.

311 operates anytime of day or night and services are provided in over 170 languages. From outside the city, call 212.NEW.YORK. TTY number is 212.504.4115. For emergencies, call 911.

Most neighborhood branches of New York City's public libraries have magazines, including Consumer Reports, to help you evaluate consumer products. Many also have consumer brochures or buying guides that can help you, as a consumer, protect yourself against being ripped off.

Counseling

MONEY MANAGEMENT BUDGET AND CREDIT COUNSELING

55 Fifth Avenue, 13th Floor, Manhattan 10003
Telephone: 212.675.5070
www.moneymanagement.org
A non-profit organization that offers counseling for people with financial or credit problems. Also helps clients to prepare budgets and counsels them on how to establish credit. Call Mon.-Fri. 9-5. Spanish also spoken. Accessible to people with disabilities.

Consumer Complaints

The following two agencies receive calls on problems encountered in dealing with merchants, answer consumer-related inquiries, and make proper referrals when necessary:

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

If you believe you have been a victim of consumer fraud in New York City, you can:

• Write the Department of Consumer Affairs, Complaints, at 42 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10004
• Call the Department of Consumer Affairs, Complaint/License Hotline at 311. If the matter falls within the jurisdiction of DCA, you will be sent a Complaint Form to fill out.
• File a complaint online. It make take up to thirty days for processing.
• For a Service Complaint Guide explaining what to do when you have a service complaint, go to the DCA website at www.nyc.gov/html/dca and click on "File a Complaint".

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, CONSUMER RESPONSE CENTER

CRC-240, Washington, DC 20580
Call toll free 877.382.4357.
www.ftc.gov/bcp/index.shtml

Call 311 anytime for help with emergency needs if you are on public assistance and have had your gas or electricity turned off.

To remove your phone number from telemarketing lists and receive no further such calls, telephone 888.382.1222 or go to www.donotcall.gov. Spanish also spoken.

Food

GREENMARKET

Telephone: 212.788.7476
cenyc.org/site/pages/GMKT/schedule.htm
Greenmarket coordinates and promotes 44 farmers markets offering fresh, seasonal produce and other food across New York City. There are markets in all five boroughs. Call for a free map and schedule of the city's Greenmarkets, or download it from the group's website.

COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA)

Just Food
208 East 51st Street, 4th Floor, Manhattan 10022
Telephone: 212.645.9880
www.justfood.org
Community Supported Agriculture groups (CSAs) bring together neighborhood residents to buy organic vegetables and other local food direct from farmers, bypassing the middleman to keep prices reasonable. Some CSAs accept Food Stamps and have payment plans for low-income New Yorkers. Just Food is a non-profit organization coordinating the CSAs in New York City. Contact them to see if there is a group in your neighborhood.

FOOD CO-OPS

A co-op, or consumers cooperative, is a business that is jointly owned and run by its customers. The cooperative grocery stores in New York have variable membership rules (some require members to work shifts, while others offer discounts to members who work) but all attempt to make healthy food available and charge less than regular supermarkets would charge for the same products. Call the co-op nearest you for a description.

East New York Food Co-op
419 New Lots Avenue, Brooklyn 11207
Telephone: 718.385.6700

Flatbush Food Co-op
1318 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn 11215
Telephone: 718.284.9717

Park Slope Food Co-op
782 Union Street, Brooklyn 11215
Telephone: 718.622.0560

4th Street Food Co-op
58 East 4th Street, Manhattan 10003
Telephone: 212.674.3623

The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers smart shopper tips on its website, fnic.nal.usda.gov. Pamphlets include "Meal Planning and Shopping," "Cook It Quick! Making a Meal With What's on Hand," and "4 Ways to Make Safer Food Selections". Write them at the Food and Nutrition Information Center, National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 105, Beltsville, MD 20705.

Clothing and Housewares

There are many areas throughout the city specializing in inexpensive clothing, furniture, and household items. Fourteenth Street, Third Avenue in el Barrio, and Orchard or Canal Streets on the Lower East Side are but a few examples for Manhattan. Asking around is the best bet. The telephone book's Yellow Pages have a listing under "Second Hand Stores," and this includes some Goodwill and Salvation Army outlets. Don't be surprised to find a top-name designer jacket in next-to-new condition selling for as little as $5 at one of them. Also for clothing, check in the Yellow Pages under "Military Goods–Retail," for a listing of Army and Navy surplus stores.

For a listing of Salvation Army Thrift Stores in the Greater New York area, visit website:
www.salvationarmy-usaeast.org and click on "Store Locations."

You can also find people selling used furniture, clothing and other items cheap on the Internet, using a free classified ad service such as Craigslist. Go to newyork.craigslist.org.

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