BBB Under Scrutiny

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com/TrustLinkStory2.html

Would you trust TrustLink if a trust fund could fund a trust? Not on par with "if a woodchuck could chuck wood..." but hopefully you get the drift. Just under a year ago, the national BBB posed some questions to the Gang of Six BBBs that own and operate TrustLink as a for profit corporation.

We take this opportunity to answer these questions, dare I say concerns, to the best of our ability. Lately, the Better Business Bureau has been doing a pretty good job of shooting themselves in the foot. We believe this may eventually be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Couldn't think of a better example of poetic justice if I tried.

Jimmie Rivers

p.s. Please sign our petition if you feel so inclined.

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

Recently the Better Business Bureau releases its list of the worst Central California businesses. Included in their announcement was the statement that the list did reflect those companies "that have gone out of business." This is ominous in light of our observations on the faults that lie withing the new grading system and the fact that an "F" grade from the BBB, unwarranted or not, can be enough in this fragile economy to put a company out of business.

This also seems the month for turnabout is fair play as bbbRoundup recently released a list of its own. Our list was for worst BBB offices in the nation. Two of the worst 15 were California BBB offices. If you missed the story, you can find it here.

Link: http://www.bbbroundup.com

There's an old saying, "Payback's a bitch." We turned the tables on the Better Business Bureau to demonstrate that their complaint system does not work. Here's the scenario.

Over the last few months, we've been collecting complaints small businesses have made to bbbRoundup about the practices of the Better Business Bureau regional offices. Over two weeks ago, we emailed the regional offices using an email identical to that which the BBB sends to businesses that the BBB has received complaints on. The BBB allows two weeks for the business to respond before classifying the complaint as unanswered. We did the same. Not surprisingly, not a single BBB regional office responded to the complaint notifications we sent them. This has been our point all along: why would any business respond to a complaint notification from the BBB?

In any event, using the BBB's own grading algorithm, we assigned grades to each of the offending Better Business Bureau branches. Two branches earned a grade of F: the Los Angeles Better Business Bureau and the Dallas Better Business Bureau. Another 13 regional BBB offices earned grades of D-. The complete bbbRoundup Grades for BBB offices is here.

If you are a small business and believe the Better Business Bureau has screwed you, send us the details using the form found here