Consumers made a record number of BBB inquiries.

Consumers turned to the nation’s Better Business Bureaus a record 9.6 million times last year, the bureaus reported. Overall, the business-sponsored agencies that handle consumer problems reported receiving 7.5 million requests for information on businesses and 2.1 million complaints about goods or services. About three-fourths of the complaints were eventually settled, the bureaus reported. Home improvement and remodeling firms were the focus of the largest number of prepurchase inquiries from consumers. The largest category, 15% of all complaints, involved products ordered from catalogues or out of newspaper or magazine advertising.