Eliminate the Better Business Bureau's Double Standards In Grading Businesses
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Author:
n/a -
Send To:
U.S. Congress
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Sponsored By:
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We the undersigned consumers and business owners hereby petition the Better Business Bureau, interested politicians, and government officials to take the following course of action to rectify what we believe to be a travesty with great economic costs.
We believe the following statements to be true:
1. The Better Business Bureau current grading system is inaccurate, biased, and faulty which has caused legitimate, well run, consumer friendly businesses to suffer greatly from bad grades given to them by the Better Business Bureau.
2. The Better Business Bureau current grading system has not done the due diligence necessary to guarantee accurate results about non-member businesses for which it has given grades.
3. The Better Business Bureau has no mechanism in place for a non-member business to seek independent arbitration for what they deem to be an unfair grade. In other words, the Better Business Bureau refuses to subject itself to the very process that they require businesses to participate in if they wish to be members.
4. There is no standardization between regional offices of the Better Business Bureaus when it comes to grading or sales tactics. There is no appearance of oversight of these regional BBB offices by the national Council of Better Business Bureaus.
In view of these statements which we believe reflect the truth, we hereby request the Council of Better Business Bureaus take the following course of action to better serve the consumers it has sworn to protect and the businesses it seeks to represent, and make right the damage it has caused to businesses that have been disparaged by incorrect grades from various regional BBB offices.
1. Until such time as the Better Business Bureau can demonstrate that they have done the countless hours of research necessary to grade any business in their database, the BBB must be required to remove all grades assigned to non-member businesses.
2. Prior to re-instituting said grading system, the BBB must have a system in place to allow businesses and consumers to file complaints about a regional BBB. These complaints must go directly to the National Council of Better Business Bureaus to oversee, and if necessary arbitrate. If the Council of Better Business Bureaus declines to establish such a national oversight process, then we request legislation from the United States Congress to require the BBB to subject itself to such a national oversight process from whom-so-ever Congress decides.
We believe the following statements to be true:
1. The Better Business Bureau current grading system is inaccurate, biased, and faulty which has caused legitimate, well run, consumer friendly businesses to suffer greatly from bad grades given to them by the Better Business Bureau.
2. The Better Business Bureau current grading system has not done the due diligence necessary to guarantee accurate results about non-member businesses for which it has given grades.
3. The Better Business Bureau has no mechanism in place for a non-member business to seek independent arbitration for what they deem to be an unfair grade. In other words, the Better Business Bureau refuses to subject itself to the very process that they require businesses to participate in if they wish to be members.
4. There is no standardization between regional offices of the Better Business Bureaus when it comes to grading or sales tactics. There is no appearance of oversight of these regional BBB offices by the national Council of Better Business Bureaus.
In view of these statements which we believe reflect the truth, we hereby request the Council of Better Business Bureaus take the following course of action to better serve the consumers it has sworn to protect and the businesses it seeks to represent, and make right the damage it has caused to businesses that have been disparaged by incorrect grades from various regional BBB offices.
1. Until such time as the Better Business Bureau can demonstrate that they have done the countless hours of research necessary to grade any business in their database, the BBB must be required to remove all grades assigned to non-member businesses.
2. Prior to re-instituting said grading system, the BBB must have a system in place to allow businesses and consumers to file complaints about a regional BBB. These complaints must go directly to the National Council of Better Business Bureaus to oversee, and if necessary arbitrate. If the Council of Better Business Bureaus declines to establish such a national oversight process, then we request legislation from the United States Congress to require the BBB to subject itself to such a national oversight process from whom-so-ever Congress decides.
614 Signatures
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Greg
- City, State
- Charlotte, NC
- Comments
- publicly posts false information, and private information
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David
- City, State
- Oxnard, CA
- Comments
- Shame on the Big Bad Bullies. Consumers be aware of where you get your information. Their NR rating is contradictory. See BBB NR rating condition circumstances on their site. Part of the rating is: just updating but then it might be bankruptcy or complaints! Especially for good honest hardworking companies with a former good rating that are supposedly just being updated. A confused potential customer doesn't know what it means! Small business owners make up a large part of our economy. We will not be bludgeoned into submission or held hostage by ratings to collect fees! This is America ...remember that Big Bad Bullies. We have spoken to other honest businesses we know, because of 1 complaint from an unreasonable customer and they are not paying up 'fees' so received a poor rating. Beware, other sites list blackballing by unfair customers too. Some good rating companies are paid by subscriptions= impartial. BBB is worthless.
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Jonathan Van B
- City, State
- Lewis Center, OH
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KATIE P
- City, State
- SCHAUMBURG, IL
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geoffrey f
- City, State
- reno, nv
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Denise C
- City, State
- 29 Palms california
- Comments
- I am a business owner of 10 years, and because I refuse to pay for the renewal membership one of the southland ca BBB reps, said that if I didnt give her my services for free, she would give me a bad rating and that is exactly what she did, why work so hard to do good business when you can just pay for it with the BBB, God who can you trust! Please stop these people!
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Marcia K
- City, State
- Houston, Texas
- Comments
- Worst mistake I ever made was making a large purchase on the recommendation of the BBB. My local BBB was deplorable. I am willing to tell my entire story. It was incredible.
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Roselyn S
- City, State
- Dallas, TX
- Comments
- I'm a current employee and its true non-member companys are treated differently. For instance the BBB does not report on pending cases so that means a member company can have hundreds of unanswered complaints and still have an A+ plus rating. Non member company complaints are closed within 35 days. The reason is cases aren't being arbitrated in a timely manner for Member Companys this scenario can go on for years. In judgment consumers continue getting ripped off due to management not really caring enough to review cases for Member Companys the same as Non Member Companies. Its all about Management getting paid while the consumer is cheated.
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JAY M
- City, State
- CORAL SPRINGS, FL
- Comments
- WE ARE AN INTERNATINAL SHIPPING COMPANY LICENSED BY THE FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION. IN THE 3 1/2 YEARS WE HAVE BEEN IN BUSINESS WE HAVE DONE OVER 7000 SHIPMENTS AND HAVE RECEIVED 16 BBB COMPLAINTS. THE COMPLAINTS CONSIST OF THINGS BEYOND OUR CONTROL SUCH AS FEES CHARGED BY PORTS AROUND THE WORLD ON ALL INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS. ALTHOUGH WE NEVER KNOW THE EXACT AMOUNT OF CUSTOMS OR PORT FEES ALL SHIPPERS ARE VERBALLY TOLD THERE WILL BE PORT FEES, AS WELL AS THIS APPEARS ON ALL ESTIMATES, AND ALSO ON OUR TERMS & CONDITIONS. HOWEVER EVEN AFTER PRESENTING ALL THIS EVIDENCE TO THE BBB WHEN THERE IS A COMPLAINT, ALL THEY SAY IS THAT; " ACCORDING TO THE BBB COUNCIL, THIS IS A VALID COMPLAINT". ALTHOUGH WE STILL MAINTAIN A B+ RATING AS OUR BUSINESS EXPANDS THAT B+ WILL EVENTUALLY TURN INTO A F RATING SINCE THE BBB KNOWS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT OUR INDUSTRY. HOWEVER, WE BROUGHT TO THE BBB's ATTENTION ANOTHER SHIPPING COMPANY WITH OVER 600 COMPLAINTS WITH THE SAME B+ RATING AS OURS. ALL THEY DID WAS SHAKE THEIR HEADS
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Emilio V
- City, State
- Miramar, Florida
- Comments
- Have the local BBB do a better job when rating companies.
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deb n
- City, State
- magnolia, texas
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Alan D. K
- City, State
- palm bay FL
- Comments
- I feel BB is more of a shill & does not mention bad stores.
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Eric P
- City, State
- Newport Beach, CA
- Comments
- We had A+ Rating - Now we have a 'NR' No Rating!?
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James R
- City, State
- spring Hill,TN
- Comments
- I fully agree with the petition based on my companys experians with the BBB's lopsided grading system
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Robin C
- City, State
- Seattle, WA
- Comments
- The BBB backdated my complaint by five weeks (meaning it will stay on the business review page for less than 36 months) and assigned the wrong closure category. They have also raised the grade of the accredited business due to their response to my complaint. Their response consisted of, among other things, adding hundreds of dollars in additional charges for what was previously described (in writing) as warranty work, placing a lien on my property, and refusing to arbitrate for eight months. Three months after I have paid them according to the unconscionable arbitration decision (50\% more than lien amount) the business has still not delivered the lien release. The BBB is aware of this and of the business' false advertising yet they refuse to do anything about it.
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Douglas S
- City, State
- Denver, Colorado
- Comments
- I own a construction company in Denver I have been in been in business here for over ten years and I grew up here! In the last 3 years we have done construction on over 300 homes. We have received 6 complaints in those last 3 years. All of these complaints ALL originated after our company was forced to started collection proceedings with customers who refused to pay for products and services. None of these customers had any complaints prior to being legally pursued for money that was owed by them. We are a good company with good people from our community, working in our community, for other people of our community. We have far more very satisfied customers than not satisfied customers. The BBB has no place for good referral's or testimonials, go figure. We have addressed this our cases exhaustively with the BBB, they wont even provide us with their forms to have some of these cases against us reviewed. Our BBB investigation in our local community also showed that companies with the same and in some cases fa
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John S
- City, State
- Denver, CO
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Marcos C
- City, State
- Los Angeles, California
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Madeline Eneida R
- City, State
- Bergenfield, New Jersey
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gordon g
- City, State
- sarasota fl
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Linda C. B
- City, State
- Montgomery, AL
- Comments
- I have had experience with a company which has numerous complaints, is known to be unscrupulous, but still has a very good grade with the BBB. My experience with the BBB is that they do not investigate companies, even if they are BBB certified. If the BBB is simply a mediator between the consumer and the company and can not provide adequate time to investigate complaints and companies' business practices, then they should not be giving a company a letter grade and misleading the public into thinking that they have investigated the company thoroughly. Since the BBB is a non-profit, it is not subject to any federal or state ethics laws, so there's nothing to prevent companies from buying their grades, entertaining BBB employees, etc. for a good letter grade. I do not feel that it is appropriate that the BBB give letter grades.
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Giovanna S
- City, State
- Woodland, CA
- Comments
- I have had a horrible experience with the BBB. I was lied to.
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Cherrise B
- City, State
- Jacksonville, FL
- Comments
- I would also like to include individual consumer rights and protection. The BBB closed a complaint filed against Marriott without ANY satisfactory result and only one response from Marriott! Who's putting money in their wallet huh?
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Oliver E. G
- City, State
- Houston, TX
- Comments
- Since we have not paid for a membership, I have seen our rating change for our business 4 times in 1 & 1/2 weeks from A+ to A- to A to F. They site that we have not licensed our business as a loan company, when in fact we are not a loan company at all, and never have been. If anyone in the State of Texas has been affected or have lost business due to the BBB in Texas, please email me your "to the point" complaint. We can us it in our actions against them!
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Brian
- City, State
- Hightstown, NJ
- Comments
- I no longer trust the BBB in my dealing with them !!!
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RAYMOND D
- City, State
- JACKSON, NEW JERSEY
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G. H
- City, State
- Clarksville, IN
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Joel S
- City, State
- Bakersfield, CA
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Jon M
- City, State
- Chicago, IL
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Beau J
- City, State
- Leesville, La 71446
- Comments
- There's NO excuse to allow this corruption to continue! DO SOMETHING!!
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royi h
- City, State
- San Jose, ca, 95112
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Len G
- City, State
- Rancho Santa Margarita
- Comments
- The company I work for has zero complaints & th BBB has given it an 'F' rating
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Alan A
- City, State
- Lake Forest, California
- Comments
- stop the legalized extortion!
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Jesse E
- City, State
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Nedra H
- City, State
- Hopkinsville
- Comments
- Consumers and Business Owners have the right to be protected
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Rick S
- City, State
- Santa Clara
- Comments
- BBB is Bogus Business BS
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Henry A. B
- City, State
- Sacramento, Ca.
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mike m
- City, State
- knoxville,tn
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carl burk v
- City, State
- houston texas
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Tai H
- City, State
- Norcross
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Mary I
- City, State
- Snellville, Ga
- Comments
- We trusted the rating and got scammed out of $10,000.
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Zena P
- City, State
- Tacoma, WA
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Robert B
- City, State
- Maple Ridge BC
- Comments
- BBB and all review type institutions need to be regulated as they are able to cause a lot of financial real damage to people and business with no accountability!!
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Karen F
- City, State
- Hemet, CA
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JASON E
- City, State
- PENDLETON,OREGON
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Denny H
- City, State
- Barnesville, Ohio
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Michelle C
- City, State
- Houston, TX
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Jim Truong (
- City, State
- San Jose, California
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Billy L H
- City, State
- Ft.Worth Texas
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cory h
- City, State
- Rockville Centre
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614
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