The more thorough (and/or OCD) a consumer is, the more things he or she will want to know about a company. Prices, exchange policies, and friends' experiences may all come into play. And so might Better Business Bureau credentials, which is why business owners should consider becoming members.
For better or for worse, the BBB doesn't have a huge amount of power; consumers know they won't see anyone wearing its symbol arresting crooked businessmen. Individuals also know that not-great companies can join the BBB, which might make business owners not want to bother with the membership process.
Here's an idea, then: if you're doing so well that taking the time to join would be an inconvenience, by all means ignore the BBB. If there's a fair amount of dead time at the office, consider adding this to a "to do" list. Or just ask your customers what they make of the issue, since they're probably similar to people on the cusp of becoming your customers.
Anita Campbell concludes that, on the whole, BBB membership is "one more piece of evidence to take into account."
People with a special focus on ecommerce should also know that "[w]ith websites little things matter. Sometimes one small bit of evidence of trust is all it takes. That's why I think being accredited by the Better Business Bureau and displaying the BBBOnline insignia have value, even for online businesses with no brick and mortar component," Campbell continued.
The BBB has all sorts of additional information to help people decide about joining. The organization's minimum accreditation standards should probably be among the first things potential members consider.
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The BBB is a company just
The BBB is a company just like Wal-Mart -- a company that seeks a profit. It has no legal authority over another business, and most importantly, there is an obvious conflict of interest problem. The BBB takes "membership" donations from businesses in order for the business to maintain a "satisfactory" record. This means that businesses are the BBB's source of income. But businesses are their object of complaint. So, if a consumer complains to the BBB, the consumer is complaining about their source of income. This is a serious problem and has led to many formal complaints against the Better Business Bureau. The BBB is the biggest scam in the United States. Why would I send MONEY to a scammer? http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/332/RipOff0332086.htm http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/001/RipOff0001343.htm
That's exactly right.
You are exactly right.The BBB is in bed with business owner members and it is against their own business profitibility to find in favor of a consumer against the business. And that is precicely the reason that the BBB is a consumer scam that has been going on, largely unrecognized- for years.
It is in the BBB's financial interest NOT to resolve in the consumer's interest. I know for me- all of the 3 instances I myself filed complaints, the businesses were visibly egregious in error. The BBB broke it's own stated rules (if the business fails to respond in the given grace period it will lower rating- which did not happen) in finding in favor of the businesss- all which touted an A+ BBB rating in their marketing materials. So you are indeed correct. And really, this is a news story for the media as well as the Department of Consumer Protection.
BBB Waste of time
The BBB's only interest is sucking every dollar they can. I was a member for 5 years and 5 years of dues. I even advetised with them and it was all for nothing, I even got a solicitaion a couple years later saying I should be proud of my comany because I was selected to join them. What a crock!
Do yourself a favor and save your money. BBB has nothing to offer not even a receipt for your dues.
your right, they do nothing,
your right, they do nothing, not only that, they dont even know who the bad guys are , unless, they have a long list of complains!
as you said its all about getting money, they could care less , what you do , unless forced into it. mostly by some whiny , complainning con artrist competitor, looking to give you a bad rep. which is starting to happen all the time on the web.
so very true! BBB does nothing!
Yes, so very true! BBB does nothing! I was planning on becoming a member to protect my company's reputation but with all the BBB doing nothing complaints I've heard over the years, I thought otherwise! I have my customization company for 12 years and had 3 complaints over these years which was all about not taking people's money but on timing issues, ( 2 weeks of producing a custom order is too long for some customers!) and BBB rated my company C! based on what? # of complaints over 12 years? They rated my company "C" because I was not a member? and in order for them to remove the "C" I have to pay them $ 700? what a scam! They take baseless people's complaints, record it so a company will have a bad reputation. BBB doesn't care!
bbb
STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... Don't be fooled! It has been
reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the
BBB finally has no choice but to give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying
the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB
files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to
become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an
unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can bet your life the business is bad. But what about all those BBB
member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers need to really look at those
complaints closely because they still probably have a satisfactory rating!! Look at FTD.COM, (yes the
flower delivery people), they have 1000's of complaints filed with the BBB and still have a
SATISFACTORY rating. Is it because they are a paid member? What about the BBB advertising to the
public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about “consumer confidence" when dealing
with a business? You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, it's paid for!
BBB is Pure Legal Extortion!
It's as simple as the old mafia of Chicago, "Pay Us get a Great Rating, Don't Pay get a Bad Rating". Therefore they actually mislead consumers instead of helping them. Worse than that they do not belong to their own organization as you can't file a complaint against them!
not true
you can complain about the BBB to the Councel of BBB's... This whole organization is run by businesses... "Voluntary" Self Regulation.
Education is important to succeed in this day and agae... research before you speak.
Not true
here is the copied and pasted search I ran on the BBB for the BBB.:
Suggestions:
- Check your search terms and try again.
hmmm...
And, the BBB posts false negative press releases, to non-paying business members by merely taking the "word" of consumers. Please. They are not an investigating firm. An investigating firm looks at BOTH sides and makes an intelligent decision based on facts, not just the word of a customer. The ratings are inaccurate as well for many businesses, espcially online businesses.
But, hey you cannot really complain to the BBB about the BBB. unbiased? I think not. If they truly were, wouldn't they have their OWN page dedicated to the numerous complaints against their business practices? You would think so.
" One positive thing about
" One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can bet your life the business is bad"
That's not true. Going by this, and the other statements in your post, expecially about ftd, it's very clear you don't understand how the BBB works.
A business can get an unsatisfactory rating simply by not responding to the BBB's letters regarding complaints filed against them. We did this early on because in every case, the problem with the customer was resolved usually by the time we got the letter from the BBB. We just ignored it over a few years, and got an unsatisfactory rating because of that, even though we were in fact handling the complaints outside of the BBB system.
You mentioned FTD and thousands of complaints, but you have to look at it in the bigger picture of things. A company that does millions of transactions a year is going to amass thousands of complaints over time.
The BBB handles its ratings, in part, based on whether the business works through them for resolution of the complaint. A business that gets a thousand complaints can have a good rating if it resolves the complaints and keeps the BBB in the loop on what is being done to resolve the complaints.
I have friends who have looked up my business in the past, and brought up my BBB complaints as if they were dirt on me or something I should be ashamed of. However, the volume of business I do combined with the type of product I sell, I am honestly proud I don't get more complaints. When you start out a two person operation and experience steady and substantial growth year after year, you hit growing pains along the way and mistakes get made. It's just the way it is. You try to learn from them and change your procedures accordingly, but, the mistakes are going to happen as long as humans design and implement the business process.
My main wish is not that I had joined the BBB early on, but that I had taken the time to fill out the paper work for the complaint resolution all those times.
Now that the BBB in my area allows electronic resolution, it's become very simple and requires minimal time to deal with them.
Anyway, I won't join the BBB but I will go through their resolution procedures when I receive notices of complaints. That's really the key thing to avoiding an unsatisfactory rating with them. Not that you get complaints, but that you resolve them and keep the BBB in the loop once the complaints have gone to them.
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