If I ever run for office a cornerstone of my platform will be the abolishment of the Better Business Bureau. The FDA might be more corrupt. The IRS may be more bureaucratic. Congress might be more delusional. But no agency from state, federal and local is all at once more useless, more backwards, more spineless and more incompetent than the Better Business Bureau.
Hands down it's not even close.
While the BBB claims to stand for “Better Business Bureau,” it should stand for “Business’ Bottom Bitch”, because that’s all they are--whores for Corporate America. They’re in bed with the same people they’re hired to investigate and oversee. And we all know how effective that arrangement has been. (We see you Bud Selig.) Despite being a federally-funded agency, the Better Business Bureau does more to protect corrupt and negligent businesses and corporate benefactors than the actual citizens and consumers the agency was created to serve as advocates and for.
Now why do I say all this?
Because after 4 straight stunningly bad experiences with the BBB (each one worse than the last) in multiple states, I decided to do some research on ‘this. Here’s how the BBB works and works against consumers):
• When you file a relevant business complaint with the BBB against a company/organization the first thing the BBB does is not investigate the veracity of your complaint, rather they simply shuffle the papers you’ve filled out over to the company in question.
• Next, the company that you’re complaining about writes will back to the BBB claiming that (a) they have no idea what happened (b) you, the consumer are wrong and don’t know what you’re talking about.
• What follows is the BBB sends you, the consumer a written synopsis of the company’s response then tells you that your case is closed.
It all boils down to a “he said/she said” and you, the consumer will always, always be deemed wrong.
But if the company doesn’t even bother responding to your complaint, the BBB does nothing. No follow up, no investigation, nothing. They simply send you a form letter stating that they were unable to contact the company in question and that you should consider other avenues on your own.
Folks, filing a report with the BBB is a waste of time. Over the years I’ve had to file complaints against 2 credit card companies— namely, Bank of America and Citibank over fraudulent advertising practices and predatory lending issues. I’ve also filed against an insurance agency (Blue Cross + Blue Shield) for reversing paid bills. In each case the BBB said “the companies stand by their side of the story” and that my case was closed.
Furthermore, I’ve found hundreds upon hundreds of complaints posted online from other consumers who’ve tried dealing with the BBB on a whole host of issues; and in each case the outcome was the same:
The BBB does nothing to thoroughly investigate consumer complaints. The BBB does nothing to follow-up on consumer complaints. The BBB does nothing to gather evidence in the name of establishing patterns of behavior of companies. The BBB does nothing to protect or educate consumers against corrupt corporate practices.
The Better Business Bureau is a collective of lazy, incompetent corrupt and worthless government employees who have no incentive to ever do their job.
