by Jacob Goldstein

The Better Business Bureau just put out a tally of the customer complaints it received in 2009. Complaints about banks were up by 42%, to nearly 30,000. That put banks third on the list, behind the cell phone industry (37,477) and cable & satellite TV companies (32,616).

But to really appreciate how many things can go wrong in this world — how many goods and services there are to complain about — take a look at the BBB's 82-page list of all the complaints and inquiries it got from around the country last year:

An arbitrary sample from the low end of the list turns up complaints about:

  • Gazebos (four complaints)
  • Literary agents (six complaints)
  • Crane service (two complaints)
  • Oil well drilling (one complaint)
  • Fraternal organizations (nine complaints)
  • Boxes - corrugated and fiber (two complaints)
  • Greenhouse builders (three complaints)
  • Support groups (eight complaints)
  • Lobbyists (five complaints)
  • Ice (three complaints)