West Virginia Elderwatch Saves Consumers More Than $500,000
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2007-04-30 11:28:33.224463-04:00
West Virginia consumers have had more than $500,000 in cash and products returned to them thanks to a team of dedicated AARP Foundation volunteers.
More than 3,700 consumers age 50 and older have been assisted by 36 full-time volunteers for West Virginia ElderWatch in its first year of operation. The results were announced at an event recently honoring those volunteers.
"We are very proud of our volunteers and the assistance they provide to West Virginia's consumers," said Scott Adkins, Project Director for the AARP Foundation in West Virginia. "Our volunteers are serving West Virginia, one consumer at a time."
AARP Foundation officials hosted the event at the AARP West Virginia office in Charleston.
West Virginia ElderWatch is a program of the AARP Foundation and the West Virginia Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection refers all calls from consumers age 50+ to ElderWatch, where trained volunteers help the consumers fill out the consumer complaint paperwork and guide them through the process.
Volunteers spent more than 5,500 hours working for ElderWatch during its first year at a dollar value of $103,704. AARP Foundation Project Director Scott Adkins presented Attorney General Darrell McGraw with a giant check representing the funds saved by the volunteers' free labor. Additionally, the Attorney General's Office has been able to return money and products worth $576,665 to consumers as a result of ElderWatch's work.
Since ElderWatch was established, 3,287 consumer complaints have been processed through the program. The Attorney General's Office has seen an increase in returned consumer complaints from people age 50 and older since ElderWatch began assisting.
The complaint form sometimes intimidates people and consumers often did not return it to the Attorney General's Office prior to ElderWatch's involvement.
ElderWatch volunteers not only help people fill out the paperwork; they also track the complaint through the process and follow up with consumers so that they will know the status of their cases.
In addition to assistance filing consumer complaints, ElderWatch has held 21 workshops and trained 3,150 consumers in its 244 days of operation.
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