If a Maryland business has misled you, overcharged you, or refused to make something right, the Maryland Attorney General consumer protection office can step in as a mediator. The Consumer Protection Division enforces the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and works to resolve disputes between consumers and businesses without a lawsuit. It won’t act as your personal lawyer, and it can’t force a business to settle, but it can bring real pressure, and the state can impose civil penalties when a business is breaking the law.
What the Division Handles
The Consumer Protection Division investigates unfair, abusive, or deceptive trade practices and mediates complaints against businesses. Typical disputes involve misleading advertising, faulty goods and services, debt collection problems, and landlord-tenant issues.
Medical billing has its own dedicated unit. The Health Education and Advocacy Unit (HEAU) offers free mediation for disputes with health care providers, denied hospital financial assistance, surprise out-of-network emergency bills, and charges that exceed a good faith estimate given before planned treatment. HEAU also helps with denied private insurance coverage, plan terminations, Maryland Health Connection enrollment problems, access to medical records, and disputes over medical equipment. The unit cannot represent you in court or file a lawsuit for you.1Attorney General of Maryland. Health Education and Advocacy Unit
If you’ve been a victim of identity theft, the Attorney General’s office issues an Identity Theft Passport. The document helps resolve financial fallout and can prevent wrongful arrest if someone used your identity during a crime.2Attorney General of Maryland. Identity Theft Passport Contact the office early. Creditors tend to move faster once you have official documentation.
What Counts as a Deceptive Trade Practice
Section 13-301 of the Commercial Law Article defines the conduct that violates the Consumer Protection Act. The list is broad and covers business behavior that costs consumers real money:
- False or misleading statements, whether spoken, written, or visual, that tend to deceive.
- Claiming a product has a sponsorship, approval, or quality it doesn’t actually have, or claiming the business has credentials or connections it lacks.
- Advertising goods or services without intending to sell them as advertised, or without disclosing limited quantities.
- Misrepresenting the reason for a price reduction, or making false comparisons to a competitor’s price or the business’s own past pricing.
- Knowingly telling a customer that a service, replacement, or repair is needed when it isn’t.
- Hiding or omitting material information with the intent that the consumer rely on the incomplete picture.
A practice violates the Act whether or not any consumer was actually misled or suffered a loss.3Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Commercial Law Code Section 13-302 – Deception The violation exists the moment the deceptive conduct occurs.4Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Commercial Law 13-301 – Unfair, Abusive, or Deceptive Trade Practices
How to File a Complaint
Start by gathering documentation. You’ll need the business’s full legal name and address, the names of any employees involved, dates of the transactions, the dollar amount in dispute, and a clear description of what went wrong. Collect copies of contracts, receipts, and any written back-and-forth with the business. Note what you’ve already tried and how the business responded.
The office recommends filing online through its complaint portal. Registration takes an email address and a password, and you can upload documents and review everything before submitting.5Attorney General of Maryland. Maryland Consumer Protection Complaints Portal If you prefer paper, download the printable complaint form and mail, fax, or email the completed package to:6Attorney General of Maryland. Business Complaints
Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Protection Division
200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21202
Keep your originals and send copies. Certified mail gives you delivery confirmation.
What Happens After You File
Complaints are handled in the order received, and timing depends on current caseload. The division acts as an impartial mediator between you and the business. Unless you mark your complaint as informational only, the business receives a copy of what you filed.6Attorney General of Maryland. Business Complaints
That detail catches some people off guard. If you want to flag a problem without the business seeing your complaint yet, mark it informational when you submit. Otherwise, the mediator contacts the business and asks for a formal response, aiming for a voluntary resolution: a refund, a canceled contract, a corrected bill, or whatever fits.
Be specific about what you want. “I want a full refund of $350” gives the mediator a concrete target. “I want this fixed” does not.
What the Office Can’t Do
The Consumer Protection Division cannot be your personal attorney or give you legal advice about your situation. It cannot compel a business to cooperate with mediation.6Attorney General of Maryland. Business Complaints If a business ignores the mediator, the division can record that and potentially pursue enforcement, but it can’t force a settlement for you.
The office does not process anonymous complaints, because effective mediation requires the business to know who’s making the claim.6Attorney General of Maryland. Business Complaints Filing a complaint and hiring a lawyer are not mutually exclusive; you can do both at once.
Penalties the State Can Impose
When a business is violating the Consumer Protection Act, the state can bring real enforcement. A business faces a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation, and up to $25,000 for each repeat of a violation it has already been found to have committed.7Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Commercial Law 13-410 – Civil Penalties
These are civil penalties, recovered through civil actions or administrative cease-and-desist proceedings. When a business is running a pattern of deceptive practices across hundreds of customers, per-violation penalties add up quickly. That’s part of why filing a complaint matters even when your individual dispute gets resolved: your file may show the state a pattern.
Suing the Business Yourself
A complaint to the AG is not a lawsuit, and you don’t have to wait on mediation. Section 13-408 of the Commercial Law Article gives any person an independent right to sue to recover for injury or loss caused by a practice the Act prohibits.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Commercial Law Code Section 13-408 – Action for Damages
If you win, the court can award reasonable attorney’s fees on top of your damages.8Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Commercial Law Code Section 13-408 – Action for Damages That provision matters because it makes it financially realistic to hire a consumer lawyer for a case that would otherwise be too small to justify the cost. One exception: you cannot use Section 13-408 to sue a health care provider over their professional services.
For smaller money-only disputes of $5,000 or less, Maryland’s District Court handles small claims cases. These are simpler, don’t require a lawyer, and don’t allow pretrial discovery like written interrogatories, so they move faster.9Maryland Courts. Small Claims For many consumer disputes, small claims is the most practical path to getting your money back when mediation stalls.