Abstract: Compared to more passive consumers, active complainers are upscale demographically and are more active information seekers. They are not more critical of the marketplace. They are more negative toward government assistance to consumers and more pessimistic about the effectiveness of consumer organizations. These findings mean that if they are to be fully effective, especially when operated by governments and consumer organizations, complaint-handling systems must be augmented by other intelligence-gathering instruments, must be more consumer-oriented, and must be positioned around target clienteles.

　　Subjects: ASSOCIATIONS, institutions, etc.; CONSUMER complaints; CONSUMERS -- Attitudes; CONSUMERS; CONSUMER cooperatives; CONSUMERS' leagues; ECONOMIC assistance, Domestic; MARKETS; Administration of General Economic Programs; MARKETPLACES