Scams and Consumer Complaints: Your Rights as a Buyer

How to spot a scam, how to cancel a sale made at your door, your rights with gift certificates, and how to complain to the Attorney General or take a business to court in New Hampshire.

Checked against its sources October 12, 2026.

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At a Glance

New Hampshire’s Consumer Protection Act forbids unfair and deceptive business practices, and the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau enforces it. If a seller came to your door, you can usually cancel the sale until midnight of the third business day after it. A prize you are told you have won must cost you nothing. If a business cheated you, you can complain to the Bureau, and you can take the business to court yourself.

What happened?
- You bought something from a seller at your doorCancel in writing by midnight of the third business day.
- A business misled or cheated youComplain to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Bureau.
- A call or letter says you won a prize, for a feeA prize the law allows costs you nothing. Do not pay.
You can also take the business to court yourself, unless the sale was more than 3 years before you knew, or should have known, what it did.

Step by Step

What the law protects

Know what the law forbids
The Consumer Protection Act makes it unlawful for a business to use any unfair or deceptive practice. Among the examples the law lists:
- claiming a product or service has an approval, a certification, a quality or a benefit it does not have, or that the business is connected with someone it is not;
- selling used, reconditioned or secondhand goods as new;
- advertising something with no intent to sell it as advertised;
- false or misleading claims about a sale price or a price reduction.
The law: RSA 358-A:2
A prize should never cost you anything
If a seller tells you that you have won something, with words such as “Congratulations” or “You have won”, the law requires the prize to be yours without any obligation, delivered at no cost to you within 10 days. A “prize” that asks you to pay a handling, registration, redemption or delivery fee, or to buy something first, is not one the law allows. Do not pay, and report it (see “Complain to the Attorney General”, below).
The law: RSA 358-O:3, RSA 358-O:4
Cancel a sale made at your door
A sale of goods or services priced at $150 or more, made anywhere other than the seller’s permanent place of business, such as at your home, is a home solicitation sale. You may cancel it until midnight of the third business day after the sale. The seller must give you a receipt or contract that says so, with its name and address.
To cancel, mail the seller a written notice, preferably by certified or registered mail, or return the goods in person within that time. The seller must then return, within 15 days, everything you paid, any trade-in, and any note you signed. If the seller had already done work that changed your property, you get all your money back, or, if it can reasonably be done, you may ask instead for the property to be put back as it was. The seller must come for its goods or pay to have them returned, and once it has refunded you, you must let it have them back within the same 15 days. If it makes no effort to get them back within 90 days of the sale, they are yours.
The law: RSA 361-B:1, RSA 361-B:2, RSA 361-B:3
Gift certificates of $250 or less do not expire
A gift certificate with a face value of $250 or less may not carry an expiration date, and no gift certificate may lose value to a dormancy fee or any other service charge. Season passes are not covered.
The law: RSA 358-A:2

If a business breaks the law

Complain to the Attorney General
The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau enforces the Consumer Protection Act. It can ask a court to stop a business’s unlawful practice and to order money or property returned to the people it harmed.
A complaint is made in writing, on the Bureau’s consumer complaint form: online, after you create an account with the State for filing forms, or on the paper form, mailed or emailed. Give as much detail as you can, with every paper that bears on it, such as a car dealer’s paperwork. An attorney reviews it and may send it to the business to answer in writing. It is not a formal legal process, it can take time, and it does not guarantee an answer or a resolution; the Bureau cannot represent you or give you legal advice. If you are not satisfied, consider a private lawyer or small claims court.
File a consumer complaint (Attorney General)
The law: RSA 358-A:4, RSA 358-A:3
Take the business to court
You can sue a business that used an unfair or deceptive practice against you. If you win, the court awards your actual losses or $1,000, whichever is greater, and two to three times that if the business knew it was breaking the law, plus your court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. An agreement that gives up this right does not hold. The law does not reach a transaction more than 3 years before you knew, or should have known, what the business did.
A lawyer can tell you whether you have a case (below).
The law: RSA 358-A:10, RSA 358-A:3

Common Questions

What must a seller by mail, phone or online tell me?

A business that gives only a post office box, a mail drop or an answering service in its advertising must also give its legal name, the street address it actually works from, and a phone number for complaints, with some exceptions, such as a shop open to the public (RSA 361-B:2-a). A seller who will not say who and where it is is a warning sign.

What about contests and sweepstakes?

A sales promotion that tells you that you have a chance to win must say who runs it and every condition you must meet, and, in writing, each prize’s value, how many there are and your odds. The rule does not apply where you need only send in or phone in an entry, or where you never have to listen to a sales pitch or pay anything.

What about a bank, an insurance company or a utility?

Some businesses answer to their own regulator instead: for a bank, an insurance company or a utility, complain to the Bank Commissioner, the Insurance Commissioner or the Public Utilities Commission.

Who Can Help

The Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau takes complaints on its consumer complaint form; the Attorney General’s office answers at (603) 271-3658. For advice on your own case:

The New Hampshire Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral Service refers you to a lawyer who handles your kind of problem, for an administrative fee. Call 603-229-0002, weekdays 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM, or ask online.

Lawyer Referral Service