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 AUGUST 15, 2010
ST. LOUIS, MO.
Another Lawsuit Filed Against the BBB. Complaints about
businesses may be up in 2010 if we can believe the Better Business
Bureau. Lawsuits against the BBB are also up in 2010. In fact, as best as we can determine, more
lawsuits have been filed against the BBB since their launch of the
letter grading system in Jan, 2009 than in the previous decade.
DENVER, CO.
The
local BBB appears to have backed down. In an unprecedented move,
the Denver BBB met with a disgruntled business order. In fact,
for the first time ever reported, the BBB actually went to a place of
business to look over a company's operation. While the jury is
still out on the resolution of the points of contention between the
business and the BBB, we applaud the Denver BBB for if nothing else,
having the guts to at least give the appearance of trying to get things
right.
HOUSTON, TX.
In
what looks like the wave of the future, the BBB is outsourcing it's
tele-solicitation efforts. Help wanted ads talk of making $40 to
$50 K in your first year. This is a developing story that we are
following closely.
ARLINGTON, VA.
It
appears Steve Cox's email is broken. Can't think of another
reason why he failed to respond to this reporter's open letter.
It's been two weeks sent we sent him this open letter.
Thought you might want to read it and maybe provide your own answers.
LOS ANGELES, CA.
The LA BBB site went down for some 18 hours early in the month.
Don't know if it was from a hacker attack or just the inevitable
results of using cheap servers. Tough to tell with this
group.
In an unrelated event, small business went to City Hall to protest the
LA BBB. The group stated that this was their first small step in
taking the fight against the BBB to the Court of Public Opinion.
We hear there are plans for a major protest before the end of the month
and look forward to seeing what comes of it.
If you are a small
business and want to participate in the next anti-BBB protest here in
Los Angeles, get in touch with me and I'll hook you up.
Finally, it appears the LA BBB has been forced to actually do some due
diligence on businesses applying for BBB membership. They've
stepped up their verification efforts and consequently slowed down the
enrollment process. Must be a lot of bogus businesses trying to
register.
In coming weeks,
there
will be further coverage on many of the above stories.
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Editor's
note: There is a need for a consumer advocacy
group
that the public can turn to, and it used to be that the Better Business
Bureau fulfilled this role adequately. No longer. It is
obvious the Better
Business Bureau does not now, nor ever will have, the resources to
fully investigate the four million businesses in their database, much
less grade them with any sense of accuracy. It's an impossible
job,
and to think otherwise is a mistake that the BBB should acknowledge so
they can get back to their reason for existence--protecting the
consumer. There's an old saying, "who will watch the watchers"
and it
applies here as the BBB has set themselves up to be above the
law. We
are simply here to help the Better Business Bureau do a better job so
that they may properly serve the consumer, the business community and
themselves. If they refuse to reform, then they must bear the
consequences.
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