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      AN INVESTIGATIVE NEWS SERIES
    ON THE STANDARDS AND PRACTICES   
    OF THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
       
         START WITH TRUTH


  V 1.3  May 2009
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU FLIRTS WITH DISCLOSURE

On Monday, a reader comment in a post by Jan Norman of the Orange County Register pointed out there is an explanation of the grading system used by the Los Angeles BBB.  Further research divined that this explanation is also on the national BBB site as well.  The LA BBB hosts their own explanation, while it appears that the other BBB offices simply link to the national explanation. 

At this time, bbbroundup has not been able to learn the exact date of implementation of this ratings policy disclosure, but indications are that it was first posted in late March of this year.  bbbroundup applauds any steps toward disclosure that the BBB makes, but has several additional observations.

1.     The ratings policy disclosure, while lengthy, really does not disclose that much.  For instance, under Section II Overview of ratings system elements item 5, on the range of points awarded or deducted, is for Unanswered Complaints.  The range of points for Unanswered Complaints runs from +20 to -21.  What is NOT disclosed is how many unanswered complaints penalize a business 21 points.  One is left to assume that zero unanswered complaints would bonus a business 20 points.  There is no way to know.

2.    Under Section IV Individual grading elements category 2, is a definition for Type of Business.  It reads in part, “because of the inherent nature of the products/services offered by businesses in these TOBs, the businesses are likely to generate trade practice concerns and/or a high level of customer dissatisfaction.”   While this is a lengthy description, it offers no real meaningful information.  What, in the BBB’s estimation is an inherently bad business?  Why not have some examples?

Essentially, there is a lot of information here which does nothing to invalidate previous bbbroundup articles on the subjectiveness of the rating system.  Without clear-cut definitions of which businesses are, for instance, category 2 businesses that the BBB views as being inherently bad, the public can have no idea what a business’ grade means.  For all we know, the movie business is judged inherently bad by the BBB.  The grades of the major studios would certainly support this thesis.

Most telling of all is the nature of the disclosure itself.  Instead of the fanfare and multiple press releases that surrounded the launching of the new grading system back in early January, there has not been a single press release about the ratings policy disclosure.  There is no link to the ratings policy disclosure on the home page for the BBB.org or LA.BBB.org websites.   There is no link to the ratings policy disclosure on the press section of the BBB.org or LA.BBB.org websites.  If you want to find the ratings disclosure information, here are the steps you must take. (We’ll use the Los Angeles BBB website for this example, other BBB offices use a similar method with a few variances.)
1.     Look up a business.  We’ll use Warner Brothers in our example.  Click on the Ratings Explanation link within the grade box (it’s circled in yellow in this example)

step one on the path to disclosure

2.     This will bring you to a page titled Ratings Explanation.  On this page are the various explanations for grades.  For instance the explanation for a “F” grade is “We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.”  Next, scroll to the very bottom of the page where on the left hand side you’ll find a graphic that says “What Are BBB Ratings? Learn More”.  Click on this (circled in yellow).

step two on the path to bbb ratings disclosure

3.     This will bring you to a page title What Are BBB Ratings?  This page contains some generic explanations of what goes into a business’ grade.  On the left hand side of the page is a menu bar.  Click on the BBB Ratings Overview menu item. (circled in yellow)

step three on path to bbb ratings disclosure

You are now at the disclosure page aka BBB Ratings Overview.  (For those of you who don’t want to go through the above steps to find this page here’s the direct link http://www.la.bbb.org/BBBRatingsOverview.aspx).
Disclosures, especially in a public service organization, should be more prominent, more easily accessible.  The BBB Ratings Disclosure is hidden.  An analogy would be a cigarette company putting the Smoking May Be Hazardous To Your Health warning on the inside of a pack of cigarettes between the foil lining and the outer paper shell.  It’s there, but they don’t want you to find it.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that these disclosures by the BBB were added, or modified very recently.  (No reporter has uncovered them previously, in fact bbbroundup had an inquiry from a mainstream reporter on Monday asking if I had ever seen this disclosure page before because they hadn’t.  Neither had I, and I had looked very extensively.) 

Perhaps more significantly, the Ratings Overview page (see link above) has not been indexed by Google yet.  Several Search Engine Optimization experts have told me that on a website the size of the Los Angeles BBB’s, a page like this should be indexed within a week of publication. )  This gets into trying to prove a negative territory, an always difficult task, made more difficult by the dynamic and ever changing content of a website like the Los Angeles BBB’s. 

At best, this is semi-partial disclosure, done in an involuntary manner.  We should expect more out of our BBB.
Editor's note:  Neither I or this website have a problem with the Better Business Bureau.  Indeed, there is a need for a consumer advocacy group that the public can turn to, and in most cases, the Better Business Bureau fulfills this role adequately.  What we do have a problem with is the BBB's "A-F" grading system.  It is demonstratively biased, based on hearsay, weighted in favor of dues paying members and offers no recourse when the BBB makes an error.  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.
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