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Given that "The Better Business Bureau, which was founded in 1912, is not a government agency, nor does it have regulatory or enforcement power," what implicati
by adrianbg 12y ago
Given that "The Better Business Bureau, which was founded in 1912, is not a government agency, nor does it have regulatory or enforcement power," what implications does this have?
- nknighthb 12y agoNone. The BBB is best ignored.
- sanderjd 12y agoAny good replacements? Anybody I can lodge complaints with and trust to rate businesses? It seems like a useful service!
- t0mbstone 12y agoTry Yelp
- nknighthb 12y agoThere are many "replacements", none obviously "good". The problem space is inherently difficult. Any service that takes any kind of funding from businesses has an obvious conflict of interest (see BBB, Yelp). Any service that relies on consumers for funding will have limited resources and thus limited scope (see Consumer Reports). And of course rating businesses on things like customer service and response to complaints is inherently subjective. For small stuff, you're best off with a quick Google for any major problems, and then just trying for yourself. For big stuff... well, lots more Google. Checking reviews on Reseller Ratings used to be a decent bet for online shopping, but they seem to have gotten awfully far in bed with the resellers. These days I do virtually all online shopping on Amazon, anyway.
- eli 12y agothe most significant fallout is probably this blog post.
- potatolicious 12y agoThere are non-governmental regulatory organizations whose only real enforcement power is that people care what they think. The BBB is one of them. That said, the BBB itself is not an entirely above-board operation, to say the least. I'm no fan of Uber's business tactics - which I consider deeply unethical - but having the BBB complain about its business integrity is the pot calling the kettle black.
- jstalin 12y agoThe BBB sells higher ratings to those businesses that will pay, and will often ignore legitimate complaints against those businesses.
- timmclean 12y agoSource?
- jstalin 12y agoPersonal experience. And ask anyone else who has experience with the BBB (other commenters on here). Just observe their "accredited business" program. Haha, I just found this: Terror Group Gets 'A' Rating From Better Business Bureau? http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-money-buy/story?id=12123843 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-m...
- sandmansandine 12y agoA few years old but here is one: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_customer/2010/12/busted_watchdog.single.html http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_customer/2010/12/...
- thomasmeeks 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Business_Bureau#Criticism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Business_Bureau#Criticis... (there's more citations there)
- Donzo 12y agoLink taken from the article: http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-bureau-should-give-itself-a-bad-grade/ http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-...
- DannyBee 12y agoWell, the BBB will give an A to anyone who responds to complaints and marks them resolved, regardless of the number of complaints or whether they are resolved to the customer's satisfaction. In that sense, yes, they ignore legitimate complaints, because they don't care ;)
- Igglyboo 12y agoNone, they're pretty much a scam.
- baddox 12y agoIn general, government agencies are not the only agents of consumer or producer discretion. In fact, I'd argue that they are in many cases the least effective of such agents. That said, I get the impression that the BBB has very little relevance, at least with my peers. I don't think I've ever heard someone recommend patronizing or avoiding any company because of its BBB rating. But this certainly isn't the case for other non-government review agencies or individuals.