Best I can tell, it sells its seal of approval and helps businesses bury potentially valid complaints.
I was intrigued by David Segal’s Sunday piece in the New York Times Business Section, entitled “Complaint Resolved? Well Not Exactly”. It critiques the work of the “Better Business Bureau” (or “BBB”). Like most people, I’ve heard the name, but really haven’t focused on who these guys are and what they do. But after reading Mr. Segal’s piece, I was incensed. This multimillion-dollar nationwide operation claims to promote ethics and trust in the marketplace when in fact it is merely a public relations arm of corporate America. It does not fairly call “balls and strikes.” Best I can tell, it sells its seal of approval and helps businesses bury potentially valid complaints.
Consider the example of Empire Today, a company that installs custom flooring in 35 states. Since a consumer may not buy new flooring on a regular basis, an “independent rating” from an organization with a strong brand like the “Better Business Bureau” is important. Sure enough, Empire received an A+ rating from the BBB. Pretty darn good. Can’t do better than an A+. The problem is Empire received complaints from 1,166 consumers. Think about that: in just one reporting period, that many customers bothered to lodge a written complaint. My intuition tells me that the total number of dissatisfied customers is easily ten times that amount. How can they be an A+ company; how many complaints would it take to get a B or B-, one hundred thousand?
It seems that BBB is hardly an objective third party rating agency. Instead, for $550 a year they clean up those complaints. They are “resolved” according to the BBB, but as Mr. Segal points out in his article, “well not exactly”. Resolved would suggest the consumer received some due process and perhaps, if appropriate, a concession from Empire Today. Nope, resolved should be viewed from the perspective of the company. The BBB makes them go away – while keeping the company’s rating in the deceptive range of A +.
No doubt consumers may rely on those BBB ratings and spend hard-earned money on a product or service that not only doesn’t deserve an A+, but one that they wouldn’t purchase if they knew the truth. How does that foster trust in the marketplace? Finally, what’s the incentive of Empire Flooring to do a better job when they can get an A + without even going to class?