Top 5 Consumer Complaints, According To The Consumer Federation Of America

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- The Consumer Federation of America is out with its annual top 10 list of consumer complaints. The list comes from 38 consumer agencies and nearly 290,000 complaints for 2011. Consumers certainly are speaking up.

Here are the top 5 categories of consumer complaints:

1. AUTOS. Customers shopping for cars or going in for repairs were sold lemons, got into leasing and towing disputes and were shown false advertising.
2. Disputes over credit card billing and fees, mortgage-related fraud, predatory lending and abusive debt collectors.
3. Home improvement and construction companies that don't finish the job OR performed shoddy work.
4. Complaints about retail sales 
5. Complaints about utilities

Word to the wise from the CFA: pay by credit card. Don't pay upfront.
Also, get everything in writing before agreeing to a job.