BBB bad business bureau BEWARE consumer (insurance, small business, credit card, company)

[saltine]

Quick rant, I bought very expensive transmission from a member of BBB. They gaurenteed it to be good working order. The thing was full of gravel. I took it back and they were gonna replace it when they got another one in. Months went by and I got the run around every week, finally they got nasty. I called BBB and nice woman said they were gonna mediate the case. Months went by, every couple weeks they gave me the run around. Finally bbb woman in very rude tone of voice told me she couldnt babysit everyone and case expired with both parties satisfied. I called headquarters and they gave me more phone numbers that led only to constant busy signals. JOKE!! Is this legalized protection? Jerks, if your not a member of bbb then your business is fishy, if you pay bbb to be a member, they'll protect you. Bad for consumers.

[sunsprit]

As a small business owner, I always felt "violated" by the BBB.

It was apparent that they were only in business to promote themselves. I used to get very aggressive, urgent, and frequent solicitations to "join" ... even from BBB's that didn't even represent my geographic area. Just so I could have the BBB member signage in my shop, at substantial cost.

The few times that I got BBB sourced customer complaints, they were totally unfounded and I had to tell them I wasn't going to deal through them to resolve ... if at all possible ... the situation with a customer. It was stuff like we'd worked on a car, and the customer "discovered" on returning home that there was damage to the car from a crash (even though the customer had driven the car into the shop bay, and had watched us back it out and hand them the keys ... we didn't drive the car but a few feet and even that was in their full view the whole time), or we'd changed the motor oil and now the heater didn't work or the taillights didn't work, or the transmission wasn't shifting properly now ... all totally unrelated problems to the work we'd performed, but they wanted us to fix for free.

In my opinion and experience, the BBB is nothing but a rip-off for the customer and the client businesses. They didn't research the validity of a customer complaint very well, nor did they bring any value to me as a businessman. I'd have been happy to resolve any legitimate (and even some "customer goodwill" type issues) problem with a customer directly if they'd alerted me to a concern, but hearing about a "problem" for the first time with the BBB as a intermediary didn't help anybody.

Especially when the "complaint" was totally bogus and the BBB folks would be after me for "what are you going to do about this?". Nothing, sir. I'm not fixing an obvious old car crash damaged and now rusty fender to a car that I didn't even drive. What part of "fraud" on the part of the complaining customer don't you understand? Oh, but sir, the customer has the complaint and it's going to go against you in our records at the BBB. So be it, I'm not fixing their car when I clearly did not damage it. Oh, but can't you file a claim with your business insurance so it won't cost you anything? NO, I cannot file a false claim with my insurance company, and it will cost me with a rate increase if I do file the claim. Well sir, your track record with the BBB will be rated very poorly with this complaint on file ... you don't want a "bad" record with the BBB, do you? Frankly, I don't give a sh** about you as a reference, BBB is strictly in business for themselves, to make money. They don't give a dam* about the businesses they represent or the customers, either.

Saltine, I'm sorry to hear that you had a problem with a car repair that a shop would/could not stand behind. I don't know the laws regarding this in your state, but I generally suggest that you contact you state or local consumer protection agencies, or license agencies (if the shop has to be licensed), or head to small claims court with your complaint. IMO, going to the BBB did nothing to help you or the shop resolve the repair problem .... they have no authority to do anything except look like they're working on your behalf. The fact is, they have no interest in this except to promote BBB, and it's toothless. No business is going to do anymore through the BBB then they would otherwise do on their own.

[pghquest]

Originally Posted by saltine

Quick rant, I bought very expensive transmission from a member of BBB. They gaurenteed it to be good working order. The thing was full of gravel. I took it back and they were gonna replace it when they got another one in. Months went by and I got the run around every week, finally they got nasty. I called BBB and nice woman said they were gonna mediate the case. Months went by, every couple weeks they gave me the run around. Finally bbb woman in very rude tone of voice told me she couldnt babysit everyone and case expired with both parties satisfied. I called headquarters and they gave me more phone numbers that led only to constant busy signals. JOKE!! Is this legalized protection? Jerks, if your not a member of bbb then your business is fishy, if you pay bbb to be a member, they'll protect you. Bad for consumers.

Thats the reason you pay by credit card. Do a charge back ASAP.

As for the BBB, its nothing more then a privately owned business, has nothing at all to do with any guarantee. Its similar to a credit reporting agency, thats it.

[car54]

Yeah, that BBB stuff is about as meaningful as "Ranked No. 1 by J. D. Power and Associates!". LOL

Your best bet is your local government's consumer protection dept.
I always check ours whenever I'm looking for goods or services. A lot of complaints and I scratch the company off my list.

If curious, here's a link to my local CP site:
Complaint History Lookup - Fairfax County, Virginia