The Better Business Bureau – Is It Reliable?
The Better Business Bureau is a 501 nonprofit organization, with 97 independently incorporated local offices. Its mission is to advance marketplace trust. In addition to reviewing and analyzing businesses and the organizations that operate them, the organization also provides dispute resolution services, if needed.
It facilitates disputes between consumers and a given business
A better business bureau is a service that enables consumers to lodge complaints against a given business. It may be an online portal, but it also can be found in the form of local chapters. The organization does this by educating customers on how to protect themselves, while at the same time helping businesses adopt best practices. As a result, millions of Americans have been able to avoid service providers that would snaffle their money, or worse, leave them out in the cold.
While the Better Business Bureau isn’t the only service out there that helps consumers file complaints, its services are the most comprehensive and the most user-friendly. In fact, the website was among the top 300 most popular websites in the US in 2013. In addition, the organization provides consumer education, a directory of members, and programs to help businesses adopt good business practices.
It’s not a guarantee of reliability or performance of a company
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the trust of the marketplace. It provides an independent arbiter for business practices, publishes reliability reports, and offers educational programs to help businesses adopt best practices. These measures have helped millions of consumers identify disreputable service providers and avoid them. But does the BBB give an assurance of a company’s reliability? This article discusses the key factors to consider when relying on the BBB’s ratings.
A better way to evaluate a company’s performance is to take a look at its reputation, which is evaluated based on how the business has responded to complaints in the past. The BBB lists complaints against a business in a variety of categories, such as customer service, warranty, sales practices, and delivery. Consumers have the opportunity to use other methods to research a company’s reputation, including online review sites such as Yelp and Angie’s List. However, neither of these methods is 100% effective in identifying unscrupulous businesses.
The BBB recommends that consumers review a business’s BBB rating before making a purchase. However, the BBB does not have the power to impose sanctions on a company or punish an individual.
