Cuts at SC Dept. of Consumer Affairs Will Slow Response to Your Complaints

It was a busy day at the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs Thursday. The agency sponsored a “shred day”, when consumers could bring in any personal documents they had and get them shredded for free.

“We get tons of complaints against identity theft and shredding your documents is one of the best ways to protect yourself,“ said Maria Audas, spokeswoman for the agency. Ellen Helman of Columbia brought in several bags of papers. “I would have sat at my desk and shredded all these things with my little paper shredder that does three sheets at a time, so this is a real time saver,“ she said. The agency had two shredding trucks there, each of which uses industrial shredders to handle entire trash can loads at a time.

And on top of shred day, the agency was collecting donations of school supplies for South Carolina children. Some people who brought papers to shred were donating supplies, while others drove up just to drop off notebooks, pencils and crayons.

But every day is now a busy one at the agency. Two years ago, it had a staff of about 80. But after budget cuts, including laying off 24 employees last week, Consumer Affairs has about half the staff it used to.

The agency handled about 8,250 complaints last year and recovered about $1.5 million for consumers. Since the caseload will be the same and the number of employees there to handle them has been halved, it’ll take longer now for the agency to take care of any consumer complaints you have.

“We certainly do ask for some patience with your complaints. We’re still going to handle them in as timely a manner as possible, but we do ask for a little understanding as well,“ Audas says.

Agency employees volunteered last year to take a pay cut, which each person taking 15 furlough days as a way of saving money and preventing layoffs. But it wasn’t enough to make up for the agency’s budget deficit.