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We have made the decision to not continue paying for BBB accreditation
- vouaobrasil 1y agoHonestly, BBB means nothing to me. I see it and I shrug. Reviews, checking the business out yourself, and using a dozen other cues are more useful than BBB.
- adamtaylor_13 1y agoIt’s funny I’ve had to opposite experience as a consumer. I’ve had companies who couldn’t give a single shit finally respond when I left a BBB review. So I’ve always taken this as a sign of quality. Clearly though, that’s not always the case.
- tptacek 1y agoThe shadiness of the BBB has come up here before; for instance: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3067731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3067731
- unixhero 1y agoSounds like a thing of the past
- Onavo 1y agoNah there's a whole multi billion dollar business of trust building review services. Trustpilot, Travel Advisor, G2/Captera/various enterprise SaaS review sites. It's a big business and you are probably not the target audience if you have actual domain knowledge.
- AbstractH24 1y agoWhy people trust G2 is beyond me. They openly allow, and facilitate, vendors bribing you to leave reviews
- Onavo 1y agoThat's the point, it's the entire business model. It's the same as Glassdoor and all the other review sites. Their job is to play market maker with the truth to maximize returns. They are not in the business of giving you useful information/taking down false information if you don't pay up.
- AbstractH24 1y agoBut by openly bribing you they created a market free of even the illusion of credibility I’d argue Glassdoor certainly and Yelp to a degree create the illusion (Disclaimer - I worked for Yelp, but longer ago than id like to think)
- Mindless2112 1y agoWhen an optometrist chose to file a claim against my medical insurance (which did not pay) rather than my vision insurance (which would), the only way I was able to get them to fix it was by filing a complaint with the BBB. Multiple calls with customer service only resulted in "there is nothing we can do to change it", but somehow they figured out how to fix it when they got the BBB complaint letter. How else can private citizens keep businesses honest? Complaining on the internet only works if you have lots of followers.
- charlesabarnes 1y agoThe BBB complaints list is a glorified internet post. It's not keeping a business any more honest than posting a review on Google or Yelp.
- kstrauser 1y agoThat’s exactly right. BBB is Yelp for boomers, and that’s it. I’ve heard plenty of older family and acquaintances wave it around like a weapon: “if they don’t honor my (ridiculous) request, I’ll sic the BBB on them!” And then… what? I’m sure someone, somewhere checks BBB before doing business with a company, but I’ve never personally seen someone do it, and without that feedback loop, the BBB is just another private review site with zero teeth.
- bigmattystyles 1y agoAnd in the same vein, yelp is bbb for millennials.
- kstrauser 1y agoNo argument from me on that one. The main difference is that I’ve actually steered away from businesses with bad Yelp reviews.
- drdeadringer 1y agoSpeaking for myself, I know that I have never looked up a business for BBB accreditation. (I am 43 and a half). Yelp reviews, TripAdvisor, Google reviews, yes. And as honestly never crossed my mind to check with BBB about anything. But I haven't done any major purchasing like with property, land, or similar.
- komali2 1y agoReminds me when I mentioned to my friend's Grandpa that I get AAA just cause I need an IDP and he went onto this big tangent about how he's been a "proud card-carrying AAA member for 40 years" or some such, talked about it like it was a club, he'd meet other members for dinners and whatnot. I think America was basically a different country before the 90s.
- kstrauser 1y agoWhat’s IDP in the context of roadside service insurance?
- jjcob 1y agoMaybe International Driving Permit? Our local version of AAA issues them, but you don't have to be a member.
- AnonHP 1y agoNot GP. One of the things that AAA makes easy is getting an IDP, which is not related to roadside assistance (or vehicle insurance). IDP is “International Driving Permit”, which is a booklet that certifies that the person has a driving license in <country> for <class of vehicles>. It includes the photo of the person and the date of birth. It includes translation in various languages so that when you’re in another country and rent a vehicle (or drive one) and the police (or enforcers) need to check if you have a valid license, you can show this (as well as your original license, if asked for). Anecdotally, I’ve heard that the process to get it through AAA seems quicker and easier than from the DMV.
- niij 1y ago> Anecdotally, I’ve heard that the process to get it through AAA seems quicker and easier than from the DMV. You heard right, but that's because you won't get one at all from the any state DMV. The AAA is the only authorized entity allowed to issue IDPs in the USA. I wish I was making it up, because I'd rather go to my (excellent) DMV office than across town. "The American Automobile Association (AAA) is the official organization authorized by the U.S. Department of State to issue IDPs" from https://www.usa.gov/international-drivers-license https://www.usa.gov/international-drivers-license
- ElijahLynn 1y agoThere used to be a site many years ago called Bad Business Bureau. And there was a listing for the BBB, "Better Business Bureau", and it was full of complaints. Complaints you would never see on BBB's own website.
- drdeadringer 1y agoIn partial jest, has BBB been known to accreditate themselves? (A blatantly obvious silicon valley TV show reference)
- drivingmenuts 1y agoYelp is the BBB with the quiet parts out loud.
- chasil 1y agoMy interaction with a Chicago hotel with hidden exorbitant fees was useless with the BBB, but gained traction with the state attorney general. Carving overcharges back is a pleasant thing.
- EvanAnderson 1y agoOnce I learned how the BBB worked I regarded them as a kind of bizarre quasi-voluntary protection racket. I wish more people knew about it.
- oakwhiz 1y agoI recall paid BBB propaganda being allowed into some schools. Essentially the BBB donates to high school business classes and in return the educators explain it to students but without criticism.
- jedberg 1y agoThe BBB used to work so well because most people thought they were a government agency. The thought a complaint to the BBB came with actual penalties. Now a lot more people know that they are basically just the first version of Yelp.
- daft_pink 1y agoBBB is essentially only a negative indicator in that if a business has a terrible BBB reputation, they are probably terrible, but Accreditation or any positive status from the BBB means nothing.
- AbstractH24 1y agoThis is true of most reviews and the internet in general. People come to complain more than say good things. So take online complaints in that context.
- daft_pink 1y agoI agree, but I’ve found that if I ignore 5 star reviews and use the ratio of 1 star reviews to 4 star reviews and look for an overall stair case of reviews, when trying to find the best provider. My theory is that no one pays for 4 and 3 star reviews and 1-2 star reviews are probably genuine bad experiences. Places I go to that are awesome that I know are awesome generally have a staircase effect, where there are more 5 stars than 4 stars, 3 stars than 2 stars, 2 stars than 1 stars. Places where the reviews are clearly games are polarising and have a ton of 5 stars, second place is one stars, and very few in between. If 1 star reviews are in first or second place, the place is generally terrible even if it has a ton of 5 star reviews. Histograms on review platforms are incedibly useful to compare contractors.
- AbstractH24 1y agoAgreed, ratios and distribution are far more informative. Particularly for weeding out products.
- hcfman 1y agoHow did BBB ever get a business off the ground based on paid for acceditation??? Were they just smooth talkers?
- creshal 1y agoYes, same as all the other pay to win "certification" companies.
- kotaKat 1y agoBut... but... I'm one of the World's Most Ethical Companies(tm)! https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/apply-now/ https://worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/apply-now/ > The application fees for 2026 are: > For companies operating in 24 or fewer countries the application fee is $3,600 > For companies operating in 25 or more countries the application fee is $4,900
- potato3732842 1y agoYou don't need to be smooth. There are a bajillion businesses of ill repute run by questionable people who will pay to have anybody official sounding say that they're good to go.
- bigbacaloa 1y ago[dead]
- assimpleaspossi 1y agofwiw, I've read it depends on which city you use the BBB. St Louis in particular is considered a quality BBB among a few others.
- kotaKat 1y agoMany people have probably seen the CarShield vehicle service contract commercials on the TV in the US - typically a 'vehicle service plan' written with onerous terms and massive hoops to go through. After a flood of bad BBB reviews, CarShield successfully sued and settled with the BBB circa 2020, and the stories are (mostly) buried. CarShield currently has an A rating by the BBB, in light of this. https://www.bbb.org/us/mo/saint-peters/profile/auto-service-contract-companies/carshield-0734-310030296 https://www.bbb.org/us/mo/saint-peters/profile/auto-service-... https://muddyrivernews.com/top-stories/those-guys-are-shady-bbb-study-shows-complaints-about-vehicle-service-contracts-industry-are-on-rise/20211101071211/ https://muddyrivernews.com/top-stories/those-guys-are-shady-... https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/carshield-must-pay-10-million-federal-settlement-deceptive-ads-rcna164540 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/carshield-must-pay... They also ran "BBBBias.com" for a while on that front - https://web.archive.org/web/20201218125917/https://bbbbias.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20201218125917/https://bbbbias.c...
- m-p-3 1y agoI imagine that if a business with a minimum of integrity would run the BBB, they'd get sued to the ground and wouldn't be able to afford a defense without a steady source of revenue.