Other LanguagesAs part of our mission to protect the people of Washington, the Attorney General's Office provides informal mediation between consumers and businesses at no cost to either party. Consumer inquiries and complaints are handled by professional staff, trained work-study students and supervised volunteers who work at our Consumer Resource Centers in Seattle, Bellingham, Tacoma and Vancouver.
Last Friday, in conjunction with National Consumer Protection Week, we invited reporters to tour our Consumer Resource Center in Seattle. Sneak a peek inside and see our friendly, helpful staff in action by viewing Connie Thompson's story on KOMO TV. KIRO TV aired a short feature and newshounds from the Seattle P-I, KING 5 and KOMO radio dropped by, as well.
Each year, these centers handle more than 150,000 phone calls from consumers and process an average of 20,000 written formal complaints. Not only do we attempt to resolve every complaint, but the information that consumers provide helps us identify problems in the marketplace that can only be corrected through enforcement.
Our Consumer Resource Centers recovered more than $5 million for consumers last year. We're always looking for great volunteers to join our team. And in case you missed our daily tips last week, here's a link to all of them.