Steve Cox, the president of the 120 chapter Better Business Bureau Council in the U.S. and Canada, is a much better public relations spinner than a reformer who is going to bring credibility to the 99-year organization.
In response to a devastating ABC TV 20/20 investigation this month on his organization, Cox now says that errors were made – unintentionally – and that reforms will take place.
Hamas A- rating
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal launched an investigation into the Connecticut BBB chapter after he was embarrassed by it when he attended its annual program with a company being honored for its high integrity, that turned out later to be a sham.
However, Blumenthal’s investigation sat on the back burner until he discovered that ABC TV was researching its story, and he quickly lit the fire and sent off a threatening letter to the BBB the day the program aired on Nov. 12. Despite his 18 month investigation, he produced no evidence of any improper acts on the part of the BBB other than what I and California blogger “Jimmy Rivers” had already published.
Last week Blumenthal put out a press release taking credit for the BBB immediately making changes. He noted that it was not all that needed to be done, but this was his lede paragraph:
“Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced today that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has agreed to his demands that it stop awarding rating points for dues and make other changes to its rating system.”
What he and most of the media that wrote on the BBB statement (including the Associated Press) focused on was the Cox agreed to take away the four extra points (out of 100) that the BBB gives to businesses that pay annual fees ranging from $300 to the millions, depending on their size.
What they failed to mention was the most damaging and telling part of the ABC investigation, which proved that businesses COULD BUY better grades – not just a couple of points – by simply joining and paying annual dues.
That went way beyond the formation of fake businesses like Hamas (which last summer got an A- rating), which the traditional media just learned about.
The critical part was about two small businesses in California that had C ratings, even though they only had one complaint between the two of them.
ABC filmed the two owners calling up the BBB and asking how their grades could improve on the BBB website, which lists and grades hundreds of thousands of businesses.
"Jimmie Rivers" shows ABC the Hamas listing on BBB
Simple, was the answer. Pay $425 in annual does to become accredited BBB members.
Forget about all the promises that Cox and others in the BBB said two years ago when they changed the satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading system to an A+ to F ratings. Cox then insisted that the BBB would evaluate every business on 16 criterias and would thoroughly investigate all accredited members to make sure they deserved their grades.
As soon as the charges cleared the credit cards, the two businesses suddenly had their C ratings skyrocket to the top A+ and the one complaint disappeared from the website.
I would love for the BBB to explain to me how their tinkering would have avoided those clearly Pay To Play proven and unchallenged incidents.
As far as I am concerned, if the BBB wants to regain its credibility, it has to take the following steps:
Force the resignation of Cox, who rammed through the letter grades despite stiff opposition from some of the BBB chapters.
Force the resignation of the Southland BBB California chapter leadership which came up with the idea for the grading system and where all the major abuses have been found. Its president, according to ABC makes the highest salary within the BBB of $400,000 a year.
Immediately end the letter grade system and return to the satisfactory/unsatisfactory ratings. Accredited members should have no special privileges in the way complaints against them are handled.
STATEMENT FROM STEVE COX
The executive committee of the Council of Better Business Bureaus held a special meeting to discuss concerns recently raised about the BBB rating system, accreditation process and sales practices. While we do not agree with all that’s been said, we acknowledge that public trust in the BBB and its business reviews can be adversely affected by any business practice that gives even the appearance of being unfair. As a result, today, the BBB unveiled a plan to take specific actions, including:
By next week, the BBB ratings system will no longer give additional points to accredited businesses because of their accredited status. While we believe that businesses that have been approved for accreditation and commit to abide by these standards warrant additional points, we have acknowledged that others view this as creating an appearance of unfairness. What matters most now is to make changes to address those concerns—which is exactly the steps we have taken. BBB will continue to issue ratings based on the other 16 ratings factors currently used.
Immediately, BBB will make available on its website a streamlined process for receiving complaints on BBB sales practices and will implement procedures for investigating each complaint.
BBB will conduct a review of its process for accrediting businesses, and as soon as possible, make changes that will apply system-wide.
BBB will engage an independent third party to assist us in our review process.
Finally, BBB will launch an immediate investigation into the Los Angeles-area BBB.
We are moving ahead with implementing changes right away. Some are immediate, others will take longer to complete. All will support our commitment to help consumers easily and quickly find trustworthy businesses.
We are taking these steps to better serve consumers and small businesses and eliminate any attempts to question BBB’s fairness. Any attempt to question the integrity of the entire BBB organization is completely without merit. On behalf of the great BBBs in communities across the nation that are providing valuable services to protect consumers and promote ethical business behavior, I thank you for your support.
“Jimmy Rivers” is the pen name of a former California journalist, businessman, who has been on the forefront of exposing the BBB on his website BBBroundup.com.
The following are his thoughts about Cox’s plan to “reform” the BBB:
First, the proposed changes detailed above are actually more substantial than I expected the BBB capable of. Personally, I don’t think they go nearly far enough, but do acknowledge there are some major improvements if implemented correctly. On a point by point basis here’s my take:
1. No additional grade bump for accredited businesses is a good thing. Does that mean that nobody can get an A+, or that non-accredited businesses can get an A+? Either way, it’s still a good thing.
2. The BBB will continue to use the other 16 rating factors in their grades. This is not resolving a fundamental problem with the BBB grading system at all. Until the BBB gets the definition and implementation of what constitutes an “unanswered complaint” all the pitfalls and problems of the grading system will continue to exist. Here are the three problems I see with the “unanswered complaint” counting for so much of a business’ grade (one unanswered complaint = D grade, two unanswered complaints = F grade).
* Calling it an unanswered complaint is deceptive to its core. It suggests that the business did not respond to the consumer, when the reality is an unanswered complaint means the business did not (supposedly) respond to the Better Business Bureau. This has no meaning to the consumer and to make it the single biggest grading criteria is still absurd.
* There are many documented instances where the BBB either does not send a complaint out to a non-member business, or has wrong contact information for a non-member business. In either case, the non-member business has no knowledge of the BBB complaint, yet is given a failing grade for not responding. How do you respond to something you never received.
* There are also many documented instances where the BBB decides that the non-member business did not respond correctly. I know of several cases where the non-member business gave the consumer a full refund and more and yet the BBB classified this response as an unanswered complaint–even thought the customer said they were completely happy. This puts it all in the category of being a judgment call, and human nature says that the BBB will be more lenient dealing with member businesses than non-member businesses.
3. The BBB will finally allow complaints about their sales practices to be filed and investigated. This is a great first step. The BBB needs to make this available retroactively as well. Additionally, the BBB needs to implement the same system to investigate mismanaged handlings of the complaint process.
4. The BBB will review their accreditation process is a nice step but there’s not enough information to comment yet.
5. An independent third party to assist in the review process is a great concept. It will depend on who they put in place and what topics are eligible to be reviewed. I suspect that this will be the busiest department in the BBB for quite some time.
6. Can’t wait for the BBB response to Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal that’s due in less than 10 days.
Tsk, tsk, George. Apostrophe in its only when it means “it is”.
This article was full of errors. I guess you never made it past the headline.
An “a” missing between “is” and “much”
“Reformed” instead of “reformer”
“does” instead of “dues”
Missing apostrophe between “ABC” and “makes”
“Pay To Play” instead of “pay-to-play”
“his his” instead of “his”
“California journalist, businessman” instead of “California journalist and businessman”
“16 criterias” instead of “16 criteria”
“the Cox” instead of “that Cox”
“99 year” instead of “99 year old”
“failed to mention what” instead of “failed to mention was”
“focued on was the Cox agreed” instead of “focused on was that Cox agreed”
“In response to a devastating ABC TV 20/20 investigation this month on his organization, Cox now says that errors were made – unintentionally – that reforms will take place.” Huh?
I’m sure there are more but I’m getting bored.
FACT! bbb is an absolute Ongoing Criminal Enterprise and should be indicted and convicted under Federal Statute R.I.C.O. All franchise holders should be indicted also! Biggest scam outside of the wall stret and too big to fail banks in American History! Extortion, blackmail, fraud, tax evasion, fear mongering. AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW THE DIRTY TRUTH AND AMERICA WILL WITH OUR VIRAL WILDFIRE CALL TO ACTION! We Are 150 million strong and we RULE! We The People!