Facing expulsion, five major Better Business Bureau chapters adopted the controversial A to F letter ratings for businesses, which has come under attack from consumer advocates and some businesses.
New York City, metropolitan Houston, Nebraska/South Dakota, Western Pennsylvania and Chicago faced expulsion from the national BBB for delaying the switch from the historic satisfactory/unsatisfactory ratings.
According to confidential minutes of the BBB’s executive council obtained by Connecticut Watchdog, the leaders of the national group voted at their March 31 meeting in Arlington to expel the five agencies.
The five had either asked for more time to implement the grading system – which guarantees higher ratings for BBB accredited businesses that pay yearly dues – or did not want to make the change because of public opposition.
However, presidents of several chapters told me this week that all five have since implemented the letter grades.
“Our BBB has implemented BBB Ratings – and all expulsion actions related to the BBB Ratings launch have been dismissed,” Warren King, president of the western Pennsylvania chapter wrote me.
Meanwhile, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and other state and federal officials are continuing to look into the new rating system to determine if it was launched as a way to pressure businesses to join as accredited members, a form of pay to play scheme, something that BBB national official vehemently deny.Â
But dissention continues among some BBB chapters as they receive continuing complaints and lawsuits over the grading system.
  The propriety of letter grades and the ability of small bureau staffs to provide nuanced ratings for hundreds of thousands of businesses is causing most of the controversy. Consumer advocates have found scores of businesses with grades that are unjustified or make little sense.
It’s all a joke anyway.
I’ve had a few dealings with the BBB, and generally their hands are tied. They can not take any action except writing a letter to the questionable business, and to post your “unsatisfactory” rating (or now A-F) on the website.
I found it impossible to get details on others’ “unsatisfactory” remarks. Was the person late? Poor workmanship? Overpriced? I had no idea.
I had a situation with a trucker who took our deposit and never shoed up to haul the boat. I posted a complaint on the BBB site. I tracked down several other people the company had also scammed. When those people checked the BBB site, there was no record of my complaint, and the BBB person told them they were the “only” person to file a complaint.
THe best part is, if the business writes back and says, “That’s not true” the BBB will remove the poor rating. And after 2 years, the slate is wiped clean anyway.
I think the BBB was founded with good intentions, but it has had so much of it’s power stripped from it that it is now just a useless shell to give victims a false sense of having done “something.”
The BBB is a joke, and everyone who pays attention knows it. They do little to NOTHING for consumers and are nothing more than a FOR PROFIT extortionist scam. They openly solicit business to pay them dues, they provide biased paid reviews, and they serve very little purpose to those they are supposed to protect. Meanwhile, they are posers, and it is a shame that news media still seek their advice or “expertise” on consumer issues.
The BBB is a grand idea that failed to perform. That is too bad because the BBB has the potential to really help the consumer and the businessman at the same time. Helping on does not mean the other is hurt. A business that is bad, for whatever reason, hurts other businesses and when businesses loose the trust of the consumer, all loose. The BBB must do a complete top to bottom rebuild of their business to live up to its potential. I for one don’t call them too often. I rely almost exclusively on my local Consumer Affairs Office and or other local governmental agencies for information on businesses whit whom I plan to do business.
We have belonged to BBB for some years. We value their shield.
We deal honestly and fair with customers as a matter of policy. Most complainers use the threat of a complaint to the BBB to extort a refund which is unfounded. No, the BBB does not permit that and rightfully so. Those type of people are the ones who complain about the BBB.
What is really needed is an organization to protect businesses from that type of purchaser.
And the BBB has mind-reading powers that can distinguish between the real and the fake????
They look at the facts and decide who is, in their opinion right or wrong. Do you call that mind reading ?
I agree with George on this, 100%. I have been researching this topic for the last week after realizing that my business has an F rating from the bbb. They formed an opinion on the way I operate, without interviewing me or researching the business practices I operated under.
The bbb claims the rating is at the control of the consumer, but unfortunately they are the ones providing their opinion and the rating of the business. The control the algorithm, and therefore are providing their opinion of the business.
They also state that they are there to protect both the business and the consumer, but they offer no service for businesses to file complaints against the consumers.
At the end of the day, the BBB operation is very similar to racketeering. They hold your rating hostage until you pay them to be accreditted and then suddenly you get a better rating. It should be illegal to provide ratings of companies and half a monetary exchange improve your rating. Its bribary.
George, I am having a difficult time locating the emails you exchanged with the LA BBB CEO. Can you direct me where to go?
Unfortunately they were destroyed by the Courant