A CONSUMER'S ARSENAL

A do-it-yourself handbook of consumer initiatives in the unending battle of Us vs. Them--door-to-door salesmen, fly-by-night ""schools,"" irresponsible retailers, comer-cutting manufacturers, bored complaint departments, mad computers. Dorfman, a former Consumer Reports editor and author of Consumer Survival Kit (1975), begins by outlining rudimentary complaint logistics: flexible escalation from a well-planned phone call through successive appeals to the manufacturer, the local Better Business Bureau, the appropriate state or federal consumer protection agency, Small Claims Court, consumer associations, media hot lines. Part II is a state-by-state survey of avenues of recourse, with some useful detail: the unusually broad legal rights of tenants in Pennsylvania, the difficulty of getting results from New Mexico's tiny, unbudgeted, harassed Consumer Protection Division, the status of some important pending legislation, the range of probable waiting times. Part III is an alphabetical run-through of 50 common consumer problems from ""Age Discrimination"" to ""Vocational Schools,"" with specific suggestions for preventive and remedial measures. Brisk, encouraging, a little rosy (""In most cases you will win""--and collect!--in Small Claims ""if you have a valid case""), but eminently usable.