In a recent report released by the Consumer Federation of America, it discovered that hundreds of thousands of people are taking the time to complain about a retailer, a product or a service provider at sites such as My3cents.com, Complaints.com, Complaintsboard.com and Ripoffreport.com.

The report said that very few consumers who complain ever get a response about, for example, their checking account with excessive fees or the big box retailer with the crummy wedding registry policies. In fact, they don't really expect to get to get a response. Each of the sites has a disclaimer that it does not respond to complaints--it merely provides the forum.

So it appears that a lot of consumers are taking one of the team--we're posting our complaints without any hope of resolution (at least not on the complaint website) but hoping that others will see it and avoid the same mistake.

I'd like to hear from you if you have posted a complaint online about a Twin Cities company. Did you get any response from the company or from other consumers? Did you feel better having made your public complaint?

E-mail any responses to jewoldt@startribune.com or call me at 612-673-7633. Thanks.