Before You Submit a Complaint to the Ministry
Please take a moment to review the guide for submitting a complaint to the ministry. You should inform the business of your complaint by letter, email, or by phone before filing a complaint with us. We recommend doing so in writing.
If you have questions about your rights under the Consumer Protection Act or other laws administered by the ministry , please call Consumer Protection Ontario at:
Please note that the complaint process can inform enforcement decisions, improve rules, and may result in your concerns being resolved. While this process may not result in a direct or immediate benefit to you, your complaint helps improve consumer protection.
Submitting a Complaint to the Ministry
Please fill in all the details in this form. Mandatory fields are indicated by an asterisk (* ) and must be completed in order to submit the complaint.
We will let you know when we have received your complaint. If your submission indicates that a business may have contravened consumer protection laws administered by the ministry, and we determine that it is appropriate for our office to handle your complaint we will contact you regarding next steps. If your complaint is better addressed by another office, we may direct you to the appropriate entity.
Notice of Collection of Personal Information - The collection of personal information on this form is necessary for the proper administration of the consumer protection laws administered by the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and for law enforcement. The information will be used for the purposes of complaint handling and/or enforcement of consumer protection laws.
For more detail about the collection of information, please contact, in writing at: Manager, Marketplace Intelligence and Consumer Services, Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery, Consumer Services Operations Division, PO Box 450, Toronto ON M7A 2J6, or by telephone at 1-800-889-9768 or TTY 1-877-666-6545
Case file number
Your Information
1. Your Name and Mailing Address
Last name
First name *
Middle name
Street 1
Street 2
City/Town *
Province/State *
Postal/ZIP Code *
Country
2. Your Contact Information
Provide at least one of the following: Main phone, Mobile phone or Work phone, as well as an Email address.*
Main phone
Mobile phone
Work phone
Ext.
Email address *
Information for the Business You Are Complaining About
3. Contact Details of the Business. Please include at least one way we can contact the business.
If you have a complaint about more than one business, please fill out a separate complaint form for each business.
Business name *
9-digit Canada Revenue Agency business number (if known)
Street 1
Street 2
City/Town *
Province/State *
Postal/ZIP Code
Country
Please provide at least one of the following: Main number, Other phone, Email address.*
Main number
Other phone
Email address
Business website (e.g. www.ontario.ca)
Contact information of the person you were dealing with at the business.
Last name
First name
Middle name
Title
Information About Your Complaint
4. Have you informed the business of your concerns? *
Yes
No
If yes, did the business respond?
Yes
No
If no, please review
our guide for the steps that you must complete before you submit a complaint. Note: you must first write to the business directly before the ministry will act on your complaint.
5. Date of agreement or transaction, if applicable (yyyy/mm/dd)
6a. Total value of goods or services, contract, or agreement $
6b. Amount in dispute $
7. Method of payment
Cash
Cheque
Credit card
Debit card
Online payment service
Wire transfer
Not applicable
Other (Please specify)
8. How was the transaction carried out? (If relevant to your case)
Mail
Door-to-door
At a store/business (Over the counter)
Telephone
Online transaction (e-Commerce)
Verbally (i.e., No written contract)
9. What is your complaint about? (Max. 500 words) *
Provide additional details about your complaint that have not been captured by the questions above.
10. Have you taken legal action against the business?
Yes
No
11. What do you want the business or individual to do to resolve your complaint? (Max. 200 words)
e.g. Cancel the contract, remove the equipment (Furnace/AC/Water Filter/Heater, etc.), reduce or waive billing fees, repair or replace product, issue a full refund, provide goods or services as agreed in the contract, stop collections calls, correct credit report information, other (Please specify).
Supporting Documents for Your Complaint
12. Please attach supporting documents (These are needed to process your complaint)
Provide electronic versions of all documents you have to support your complaint. This includes:
A copy of the letter you have written complaining to the business , collection agency, credit reporting agency, debt settlement company, payday lender, or bailiff. Also include any response they have sent back to you . Your contract including terms and conditions or any other related agreements (if applicable). Copies of invoices, records of payments made, logs of calls from a collection agency, consumer reports or any documentation relating to the original debt relevant to your complaint. For the protection of your privacy and security of your information, do not submit any payment card information relating to credit cards or debit cards, banking information such as account numbers, or any other personal information such as Social Insurance Number, driver's licence number, Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) number, medical records or passport information to the ministry.
Do not submit copies of payment cards or identification documents as described above. If you are submitting statements, receipts or any other documents that include such personal information, please make copies of such documents and make sure credit or debit card or bank account numbers have been deleted or blacked out on those copies. Keep the originals and do not alter them.
Do not send us products that you have purchased, as they will not be returned.
Documents must be submitted in JPEG, Word, Excel or PDF formats.
Total attachments must not exceed more than 10 MB (megabytes) in size.
If you have additional documents that support your complaint but cannot be uploaded within these limits, please email the additional documents to
consumer@ontario.ca after submitting this form. To ensure your complaint gets processed properly, when sending additional documentation, include your file number and ensure that the email is not greater than
10 MB total. File names of the attachments, including extension, cannot be longer than 30 characters and should not include special characters (e.g., $ or %). If you are submitting the complaint form by mail, attachments should be included along with the complaint form.
We will review all documents provided to process the complaint.
How Did You Hear About Us?
13. How did you hear about Consumer Protection Ontario? (Max. 100 words)
(e.g. Internet, ministry web site, friends/family (no names), another government office, Better Business Bureau, Other (Please specify)).
Tell Us About Yourself (Demographic Questions)
(If you are completing this form on behalf of a business, please skip this section.)
The following are optional demographic questions. Demographic information is necessary for the ministry to identify trends and concerns with respect to how businesses interact with particular groups of consumers. This helps us develop effective laws and policies including with respect to enhancing consumer education and conducting risk-based enforcement of our consumer protection laws. Data collected will only be used or disclosed in aggregate, meaning that you will not be identified, and that answers to these questions will not be shared with the business.
1. Do you have any special needs or require any special accommodation?
Yes
No
2. What is your age range?
29 and under
30-44
45-59
60+
3. Which language are you most comfortable in speaking, reading and writing?
4. Did you move to Ontario from outside of Canada within the last 5 years?
Yes
No
5. What is your approximate annual household income?
Less than $ 25,000
$ 25,000-$ 49,999
$ 50,000-$ 74,999
$ 75,000-$ 99,999
Greater than $ 100,000
Important Notice
Notice of Disclosure of Personal Information and Consent
Please note the complaint form and any attachments (excluding demographic information) may be shared with the business for the purpose of complaint handling or enforcement. Your personal information will not be sold or shared for commercial purposes by the ministry.
Do you consent to sharing your personal information for this purpose? *
Yes
No
Your complaint may be shared with a law enforcement agency in Canada, such as another ministry (federal or provincial), an administrative authority or other regulatory entity in aid of an investigation.
Do you consent to sharing your personal information for this purpose? *
Yes
No
In some cases, we may determine that another government ministry (federal or provincial), administrative authority or any other regulatory entity is either better suited to, or may also, deal with the substance of your complaint.
Do you consent to sharing your personal information with another entity that we determine to be suitable to consider your complaint? *
Yes
No
