Consumer Information Guide

Local

  • Boone Electric Cooperative
    Boone Electric Cooperative serves Boone and portions of Randolph, Callaway, Howard, Audrain and Monroe counties.
  • Callaway Electric Cooperative
    Callaway Electric Cooperative serves rural Callaway and southern Montgomery counties.
  • Centralia Utilities
    Provides electric, water, sewer and refuse collection services to the residents of Centralia.
  • City of Ashland
    Information about city government, events, maps, services, schools, utilities and more.
  • Columbia and Boone County – Ratings of Food Service Locations
    Department inspection ratings of all food service establishments in Columbia and Boone County. Ratings include convenience stores, daycares, grocery stores, restaurants, schools and taverns.
  • Columbia Utilities
    Information about utilities in Columbia, including payment options and utility assistance programs.
  • Fulton Utilities
    Provides electricity, natural gas, water and sewer service to residents of Fulton.
  • Holts Summit Utilities
    Information about electricity, water, natural gas, sewer and refuse collection services in Holts Summit.
  • Sturgeon Utilities
    Information about electricity, water, natural gas, sewer and refuse collection services in Sturgeon.

State

  • Missouri Attorney General’s Office
    Consumer Protection Hotline (800) 392-8222
    Comprehensive site for consumer information, publications, and services, such as the Missouri No-Call List, Check a Charity, Consumer Complaints, Protecting Seniors, Identity Theft & Data Security and Landlord-Tenant Law.
  • Missouri Cold Weather Rule
    The Cold Weather Rule prohibits disconnection of registered low-income elderly or disabled customers’ utility service from November 1 through March 31 when the temperature is forecasted to be below 32 degrees.
  • Missouri Department of Insurance
    Insurance Consumer Hotline (800) 726-7390
    Handles complaints against insurance companies and will verify credentials of insurance agents. This site provides a vast amount of information on auto, homeowners, health, life, long-term care and workers’ compensation insurance.
  • Missouri Division of Finance
    Handles complaints concerning mortgage bankers, debt collection and harassment, credit bureaus, finance companies and state banks.
  • Missouri Investment Protection Center
    Investor Protection Hotline (800) 721-7996
    The Secretary of State’s office will answer questions about investment companies, their agents, broker-dealers and investment products. Complaint forms are also available via this website.
  • Missouri Public Service Commission
    Utility Consumer Hotline (800) 392-4211
    Manufactured Housing Hotline (800) 819-3180
    The Missouri Public Service Commission regulates investor-owned electric, natural gas, water and sewer and telephone companies. The commission will investigate complaints against public utilities including service problems, overcharges and manufactured housing defects.

Regional and National

  • Consumer Reports
    Consumer Reports features unbiased ratings and recommendations on thousands of products and services in categories including Cars, Electronics, Appliances, Home & Garden, Babies & Kids, Money and Health.
  • Better Business Bureau – St. Louis Bureau
    The St. Louis Bureau provides service for Boone and Callaway Counties. The Better Business Bureau handles formal complaints about businesses and offers a free consumer arbitration service to settle disputes between businesses and consumers.
  • Consumer Search
    This comprehensive website contains reviews and articles on a wide variety of consumer products in the categories of Home and Garden, Fitness and Sports, Technology, Family and Pets, Health and Beauty and Kitchen.
  • Report Fraud
    This is the federal government’s website where you can report fraud, scams, and bad business practices.
  • Consumer Finance Emergency Resources
    This is a collection of tips and advice to protect from, recover from, or avoid scams targeting your finances in relation to natural disasters.
  • USA.gov Consumer Product and Service Complaints
    This is a website with information on how to file complaints about products, services, and online purchases.

Consumer Alerts and Recalls

  • Recalls.gov
    This is the comprehensive site for all government recalls. Six federal agencies have joined to provide recall information for consumer products, motor vehicles, boats, food, medicine, cosmetics and environmental products.
  • U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
    Established to protect the public from risks associated with consumer products. This site includes product safety alerts, recalls and a Product Incident Report Form.

Credit Information and Identity Theft

  • Credit Cards
    A comprehensive site for credit card information from Bankrate.com allows you to compare rates of all major credit cards.
  • Credit Repair for Bad Credit
    Credit repair articles from Nolo Press, a respected publisher of legal self-help books. Topics include credit and debit cards, dealing with creditors, repaying debts and student loans.
  • Credit Reports
    Annual Credit Report Request (877) 322-8228
    The official free website to help consumers obtain a copy of their credit report. This site allows an individual to request a free credit report once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
  • Identity Theft Resource Guide
    This publication from the Missouri Attorney General’s office provides information on how to protect against identity theft and what victims of identity theft should do.
  • IdentityTheft.gov
    The Federal Trade Commission’s step-by-step guide to recovering from identity theft.
  • Missouri Attorney General – Credit Repair
    Advice from the Missouri Attorney General’s office on how to avoid becoming a victim of credit-repair scams.

Unwanted Mail and No Call List

  • Catalog Choice
    This free service allows consumers to decline receiving unwanted paper catalogs.
  • Missouri No-Call List
    Register for the No-Call List (866) 289-9633
    The No-Call law allows Missourians to reduce unwanted telemarketing calls made to their homes or cell phones by signing up for the No-Call list, which is managed by the Attorney General’s Office. There is no cost to be added to the list.