# Is there such a body as the White House Office of Consumer Affairs?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 3, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854 "2015-08-03T04:39:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kushami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c5a1d2/32.png) [@kushami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushami)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854/1 "2015-08-03T04:39:52Z")

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I am editing a textbook on customer service, and while looking for information on customer behaviour, I came across this factoid in numerous places:

A dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. – White House Office of Consumer Affairs

However, I cannot find the source for the information. And, I can’t even find such a body as the White House Office of Consumer Affairs.

Can anyone advise?

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**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854/2 "2015-08-03T05:28:08Z")

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Apparently it is, or was, real. I found one reference from [whitehouse.gov](http://whitehouse.gov) from when T. Michael Kerr was appointed Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management. It said that he worked in that office under Carter but the link was dead. I googled _carter administration “White House Office of Consumer Affairs”_ and found reference to it [here](http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/richard-m-nixon-consumer-champion-021615.html), [here](https://books.google.com/books?id=M3Nfy-DThPUC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=Carter+Administration++%22White+House+Office+of+Consumer+Affairs%22&source=bl&ots=dalW57FDI3&sig=xIMxUz2xio6NzOzbuC2Sq-0ZbiM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAmoVChMI8YXEppSMxwIVg9OACh2AZAbv#v=onepage&q=Carter%20Administration%20%20%22White%20House%20Office%20of%20Consumer%20Affairs%22&f=false), [here](http://www.jerrykopel.com/a/peterson.htm) and [here](http://www.nclnet.org/history).

It was apparently started under Johnson. That last link says “NCL is focused on four key priority areas: … including reinstating the Office of Consumer Affairs in the White House” so I guess it’s not a thing anymore.

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**Author:** ![kushami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c5a1d2/32.png) [@kushami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushami)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854/3 "2015-08-03T07:57:57Z")

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Thank you for your help. Sounds like it is not a recent piece of research in that case, and would therefore be hard for me to source (I’m in Australia). I’ll search for something I can reference a bit easier.

Thanks again!

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-body-as-the-white-house-office-of-consumer-affairs/726854/4 "2015-08-03T20:54:14Z")

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From _Consumer Reports_, Sept 2015 issue, pg 7:

> [@](#):
>
> a Customer who is eventually satisfied tells 10 to 16 people, … a dissatisfied customer tells about 28 people.