AUGUSTA – The Consumer Protection Division of the Maine Attorney General’s Office offers free Consumer Mediation Service. The complaint resolution program is for the use of Maine business and consumers and is staffed by trained volunteers. All mediations are conducted over the phone or by mail from the Attorney General’s Office in Augusta.

The service has more than 30 volunteers who have been trained as consumer mediators. New volunteers are trained in the spring and fall. During the first week of the training program, the mediators must attend a daily two-hour course in consumer law and mediation techniques.

After the initial training, they are expected each week to mediate consumer complaints for five hours on a twice-a week schedule convenient to them. Mediators also attend a weekly 90-minute consumer law class.

Volunteer mediators are expected to commit themselves to six months of duty in the Attorney General’s office.

The mediators share offices in the Consumer Protection Division. As they mediate disputes between the consumers and businesses, they consult with the complaint examiners and, if necessary, an assistant attorney general. In the last 12 months the service has returned $522,000 to consumers.

Students at the University of Maine at Augusta can receive three college credits for serving in the program. Interested persons should contact the UMA office of academic affairs and ask for registration information concerning CEO-117, Consumer Law Internship.

Those interested in learning more about this program should write or phone Assistant Attorney General James A. McKenna or Complaint Examiner Gladys Gugan or e-mail jim.mckenna@maine.gov.

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