me at an F—it’s just wrong, it’s infuri-
ating, and it made a huge difference.”
The Better Business Bureau—a
private, nonprofit group in its 99th
year—is the best-known complaint
desk and referral service in the
United States. Last year consumers
turned to the BBB about a million
times for help when they felt cheated
by a contractor, retailer, or service
provider. And folks checked with
the BBB 65 million times to see if a
company is trustworthy. Over the
past two years, though, the BBB
has been dealing with a new kind of
complaint: that its own practices are
slipshod, biased, and deceptive.
After rating companies as either
satisfactory or unsatisfactory for
decades, the BBB changed its
approach in 2009, instituting a
complex point system that results,
as in school, in a single grade of A+
through F for each business. Companies that get a B or better—and
that pay membership dues of a few
hundred to several thousand dollars
a year—are “BBB accredited” and
can display its torch insignia.
“The [grading system’s] goal was
to provide more information to aid
consumers in making purchasing
decisions,” says Alison Southwick,
spokesperson for the Council of
Better Business Bureaus, which over-
sees the 122 chapters in the United
States and Canada. “The satisfactory-
unsatisfactory way was very black-
and-white.”
But critics say the BBB isn’t
equipped to award grades based on
its extensive standards: 17 criteria
that cover everything from licensing
to truth in advertising. “The Better
Business Bureau doesn’t have the
staff to properly evaluate business-
es,” says George Gombossy, editor
and publisher of CTWatchdog.com,
a consumer website in Connecticut.
“There are 100,000 businesses in
26 AARP THE MAGAZINE
Connecticut. There’s no way the BBB
can accurately give letter grades.I
think it’s a travesty that they went
in this direction.”
Critics also say the new system
favors BBB-member businesses.
Unlike competing websites such as
Angie’s List, ConsumerAffairs.com,
and Ripoff Report, the BBB doesn’t
actually publish consumers’ com-
plaints. What you’ll find in its “reli-
ability reports” on businesses is a
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