Demographic Characteristics of Canadian Consumer Complainers

A survey of over 17,000 Canadian consumers who had written a letter of complaint to one of several government or consumer service agencies in 1972 found that the average consumer complainer is a middle aged, well educated, affluent, managerial‐professional man or woman. The study also found that 49 percent of complaint letters are written by only 24 percent consumer of complainers and that consumers who write several letters of complaint are also well educated, affluent, and have managerial/professional occupations. These findings suggest that care must be taken in using consumer complaint data to identify the nature and severity of consumer problems in the marketplace or as a foundation for government policy and programs.