New York Daily News -
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Sellers, be aware
BY MELISSA GRACE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Monday, August 9th, 2004
The city's Consumer Affairs Department has kicked off a five-borough effort to get merchants to abide by New York's consumer-protection laws.
During the agency's second annual amnesty day last Thursday, no violations were issued to businesses that had broken the law. But department Commissioner Gretchen Dykstra hit the streets to tell storeowners the proper way to display refund policies, issue legal sales receipts and clearly mark items for discount.
"Today, we're building on last year's successful efforts, pounding the pavement to reach out and aggressively educate city businesses about the Consumer Protection Law," Dykstra said.
In a companion effort called Business Education Day, 76 officials from the Consumer Affairs Department and the city's Small Business Services Department toured 10 neighborhoods, offering advice on staff training and how to do business with the city.
Last summer's Business Education Day had positive results, they noted. Citywide, 7,385 violations were issued by the Consumer Affairs Department in this fiscal year, 418 fewer than last year.
The maximum penalty for a first-time violation is $350. The most common violation is having items with no prices and refund policies not properly posted, officials said.
Along with their supervisors, inspectors from the four agency borough offices - Staten Island and Brooklyn share an office - also patrolled 250 store aisles along Jerome Ave. and 233rd St. in the Bronx. They went to midtown Manhattan and talked to shopkeepers in Jackson Heights and Jamaica in Queens, on Hylan and Victory Blvd. on Staten Island and on Flatbush Ave. and Broadway in Brooklyn.
On Williamsburg's bustling Broadway business district, an inspection team entered Broadway Shoes.
"He's pretty good. The only thing wrong is the prices on the shoes," said Moses Layne, an inspector from the Brooklyn Consumer Affairs Department office, of owner Alex Khalkagarov's failure to list the prices on the footwear in the shop.
Layne explained that prices must be clearly marked so that customers need not ask.
In the Loco Crazy 99 Cent store, Consumer Affairs Department Deputy Director Jonathan Mintz asked the manager if everything along an aisle marked 99 cents was indeed being sold at that price.
"Everything," confirmed Reza Haq, 39.
Next door, in the Unisex beauty salon, hairdresser Marivel Lara was informed it was illegal to offer different prices for one service depending on a person's gender.
"Men are not going to pay $30 for a haircut, like a woman!" Lara, 42 retorted.
Not everyone welcomed the unsolicited advice.
Entering a lighting store on Broadway, Mintz and Layne got an earful from a confrontational clerk.
Peering into the store's office, Mintz cheerfully said, "It's DCA Education Day. We are here to make sure prices are properly posted."
"Whatever you're asking," the clerk interrupted, "put it in writing."
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