BBB Under Scrutiny

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com

It's the day after 20/20 released a number of news stories about the sham that is the BBB's grading system.

From the beginning, our goal was to get the story out there, and thanks to the hard work by ABC News, that just happened. Now, we get to wait and see what the BBB does in response. In a perfect world, they'd issue a mea culpa, fix the problems, and get rid of what/who is corrupt. This is far from a perfect world, and up til now, the BBB has demonstrated an arrogance that makes this unlikely. Then again, I don't think they had a clue about what hit them last night.

The most gratifying thing to me is the outpouring of thanks I received from small businesses that have been unfairly victimized by the BBB. Here's a small sampling. It's refreshing to me, and all the thanks I need. So excuse me while I gloat:

"I just wanted to extend our sincerest gratitude to you for all of your dedication, motivation and persistence in taking these criminals
down!!! I will be forever grateful to you. In the past six months our
company has had to close due to their criminal behavior. We are now
starting to get back on our feet. But it is to you and your good will
that we can move forward with no more criticism from our clients about
not being members. As I look over our profit and loss statement from
09 to now we took a 46% hit due their unfair and biased grading system."

"Thanks to your commitment to help small business in America, I hope
tonight's 20/20 report gets the attention it deserves and sets the BBB on the right course. Consumer Advocacy not small business extortion."

"Thank you for your hard work exposing the hypocrisy at BBB, and I'm sure the 20/20 story will put more pressure on BBB to clean up their act. We receive regular cold calls from the San Jose BBB asking us if we would like to pay for their services although we always tell them to stop calling us. A major focus of our business is customer
service and this can be evidenced by the lack of customer complaints with our BBB rating. Yet this only rates a C- rating from BBB."

To you, and the many more who expressed their appreciation, you are very welcome. The story has always taken on a life of its own; it appears to have heated up substantially which is awesome. And to those of you who are former or current BBB employees who have come forward in the last day, thank you. I'll be in touch soon.

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com/Aug242-2010.html

A group of protesters, organized by local businesses fed up with the LA BBB strong arm tactics took to the streets, passing out over 7000 flyers to concerned citizens as well as state, federal and local employees.

Over 100 protesters joined in the demonstration on the steps of city hall.

For the full story visit http://www.bbbroundup.com/Aug242-2010.html

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com

If you have a gripe with the Better Business Bureau and want to get it heard, send me an email at editor@bbbroundup.com. I'll make sure it gets to the right people to give your version of the BBB nightmare heard.

Of particular interest are the following:
- Are you a small business being 'coerced' to join the BBB right now?
- Are you a former or current employee of the BBB and in a position to reveal how things are really done on the inside?
- Are you a consumer who feels the BBB has been unfair in helping you with your consumer dispute?
- Do you know of any conflicts of interest where one of the BBB higher ups owns a business that gets favorable treatment from the BBB?
- Have you complained to the BBB about your business' bad grade and they've lowered it further in retaliation?

Keep 'em coming
Jimmie Rivers
editor@bbbroundup.com

Link: http://bbbroundup.com/LeadStory.html

It was quite a week. We led with our exclusive story on the LA BBB giving HAMAS, a fictitious business, an A- grade. The Connecticut Watchdog and Mother Jones jumped on the story and before you knew some 45,000 websites had picked up the story. I think we got the attention of the Better Business Bureau.

It was gratifying to see this unfold and the small business feedback has been amazing. But let's not lose sight of the main principles we're discussing:

- The BBB Sells Grades
- The BBB cannot be held accountable for anything they do thanks to the anti-SLAPP law
- The BBB grades in themselves are totally irrelevant, misleading and often wrong
- The BBB does a miserable job handling complaints.

HAMAS was just the opening shot, fired across the bow of the BBB. Merely a wakeup call. More developments coming soon, so stay tuned.

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com

Today was interesting. Traffic up to even higher levels than yesterday. May have to upgrade my server?

Thanks to George from ConnecticutWatchdog.com for tracking down Gary Almond from the BBB. I know a couple of Los Angeles businessmen who are anxiously awaiting their refunds.

Nice job too from Melissa at InvestorsResourceNews.com in telling the complete Goldline story as it stands to date.

But to me, after doing two radio interviews, one yesterday and one today, the amazing thing was to come home and find some awesome emails in my inbox.

There were a number of emails from businesses across the United States telling me they were embarking on registering bogus businesses with the BBB.

There were even a handful of emails offering donations to keep the Bogus Business drive alive.

You have to ask yourself this question: "Why would businessmen offer to pay anywhere from $400 to several thousand dollars when they get nothing in return?"

To me, this is the true judge of the frustration level small business has reached with the Better Business Bureau. We've maintained for a long time that the arrogance of the Better Business Bureau will be their undoing.

We hope the Hamas Lesson will open their eyes, but so far we've seen no change in BBB behavior.