The Blue Van

Legal aid hits the road

In most big cities, small consumers complaining to service stations and businesses about slipshod auto repairs or faulty appliances as often as not might as well hoot at the moon. Many do not know about consumer complaint agencies or how to bring a small claims suit. The idea of hiring a lawyer is intimidating, and the legal fees involved in pressing a claim often turn out to be larger than the possible rewards. But in San Francisco, gypped citizens can bring their consumer gripes to a baby-blue 1953 van operated by the city--getting advice, and often redress, for absolutely nothing.

Known as the Complaint-Mobile, the van tours San Francisco, displaying a big sign asking: HAVE YOU BEEN RIPPED OFF? Men and women volunteers in the district attorney's consumer-fraud/white-collar-crime unit listen to the complaints of passersby, then mediate with merchants, doctors and the Like. Most complaints concern car repairs; others range from false advertising to ill-fitting hairpieces. One woman complained of a backache that came from wearing a bra supposed to increase her bust size. No complaint is too small: the unit once got back a 200 soda-bottle deposit for a small boy from his neighborhood grocer.

The Complaint-Mobile hit the road more than a year ago as a result of a $35,000 Law Enforcement Assistance Administration grant and an overage truck donated by United Parcel. It handled over 300 complaints in its first year, recovering $7,500 in restitutions. The Complaint-Mobile has received HEW funding for next year, and will add a small claims court educational project to its list of van services.

All of the volunteer Complaint-Mobile workers are nonlawyers. But, as Volunteer Ernie Wallerstein points out, just being able to "mention the D.A.'s office gives you clout." Explains former Assistant District Attorney Ray Bonner, 36, who originally conceived the Complaint-Mobile project: "Many people simply can't afford lawyers, and they don't need them. They simply have to demand their rights. Most businesses know that people do not complain and even if they do, they'll go away if they lose Round 1. We're just helping them get what they should be able to get for themselves. This is a government program that works, and it works without clogging the courts."

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