BBB - Better Business Bureau
I've seen a few posts lately mentioning the BBB so I thought I'd post a few facts about them as people seam to think they are something they are not.
1. The are a private company in no way affiliated with any gov't entity
2. As per # 1 they have no authority or power to do anything
3. They work for the businesses and not consumers. This an important point. They are funded by membership fees of the companies that are members in a direct conflict of interest relationship. If they piss off too many companies, none will continue to be members, and hence the end of the BBB
4. They strong arm businesses that refuse to join - kind of like a protection racket. How do I know? I worked for a small company that refused to join and was told by them that they would tell anyone that inquired about us that we refused to cooperate with the BBB. And they do indeed tell people this. (when you first get inquiries to the BBB, they are nice, they notify you about the questions, ask you to join, explain the benefits, etc. When you refuse to join, they get nasty.
5. When you are a member, you agree to their abitration when a conflict arises, all you have to do is to comply with that and you will get a good rating. Whether the consumer ended up happy or not.
6. How many people do you know that actually contact the BBB BEFORE they do business with a company?
Do not be fooled that threatening to "report a company to the BBB" is going to do anything. When we used to get threatened, it just resulted in a good laugh for us as most people will do who know what the BBB really is!
The FTC or Federal Trade Commission is who you really should contact regarding legitimate complaints against a company.
1. The are a private company in no way affiliated with any gov't entity
2. As per # 1 they have no authority or power to do anything
3. They work for the businesses and not consumers. This an important point. They are funded by membership fees of the companies that are members in a direct conflict of interest relationship. If they piss off too many companies, none will continue to be members, and hence the end of the BBB
4. They strong arm businesses that refuse to join - kind of like a protection racket. How do I know? I worked for a small company that refused to join and was told by them that they would tell anyone that inquired about us that we refused to cooperate with the BBB. And they do indeed tell people this. (when you first get inquiries to the BBB, they are nice, they notify you about the questions, ask you to join, explain the benefits, etc. When you refuse to join, they get nasty.
5. When you are a member, you agree to their abitration when a conflict arises, all you have to do is to comply with that and you will get a good rating. Whether the consumer ended up happy or not.
6. How many people do you know that actually contact the BBB BEFORE they do business with a company?
Do not be fooled that threatening to "report a company to the BBB" is going to do anything. When we used to get threatened, it just resulted in a good laugh for us as most people will do who know what the BBB really is!
The FTC or Federal Trade Commission is who you really should contact regarding legitimate complaints against a company.
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I've had to report one company to the BBB. Didn't do a dang thing. They sent the complaint to the businesss, they busted our church's chop in their reply, and blamed everthing on us. Like it was our fault the company owner went bankrupt and didn't deliver our photo directories. [xx(] He had no problem taking about $2500 of our members money before he declared though. 0 -
I went through the BBB for major problems with Ryland Home Builders. BBB sent letters, made attempts, but Ryland had no interest in good customer relations and blew them off. The local BBB web site at least noted them as poor to do business with, about all they can do. The house sucks by the way. 0
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