Killah in Germany

What do you think of when you think of the Better Business Bureau? Do you think of an unbiased organization that acts as a mediator between businesses and consumers? A neutral party that makes sure that its accredited businesses are fair players and treat their customers well? A watchdog organization that goes after rogue capitalists to try the get them to shape up, and if they don’t, giving them a low rating? A company that gives its all to protect US and Canadian consumers?

That’s what I thought, too. But my idea of what the BBB is and does has changed significantly. Two weeks ago, all sorts of new issues have arisen within the organization that make me simultaneously weep for humanity and laugh at how ridiculous it all is.

About a year ago, I became aware of the fact that rather than act as a neutral party that assigns businesses ratings based on how ethically business is conducted, or rates based on the frequency or number of customer complaints, the BBB seems to give a business a good rating as long as that business continues to pay its BBB membership dues. I’m not the only one who had this misconception. David Lazarus wrote about this as early as 2009. He found that two restaurants in the LA area had wildly different ratings, even though neither of them had received any BBB complaints from customers. The one with a B-minus rating was a world-renowned restaurant run by a famous chef, while the other was a less prominent café with a rating of A-plus. The only difference? The second eatery paid $350 in annual dues and was therefore a BBB-accredited business.

This bunny, although a known cookie thief, is a BBB-accredited bunny and thus has an A-plus rating.

Despite the obvious warning flags and an investigative segment on ABC’s 20/20 in November 2010, nothing was done to fix the issue. I’d thought I just had always been too lazy to find out how the BBB assigned their ratings. That this was the way they had always run their organization and I’d just been an ignorant, blissful, trusting consumer. But then earlier this month, conflict erupted within the BBB, shaking the foundation to its core and causing an internal split.

Prior to this split, the BBB had consisted of 113 smaller member BBBs nationwide, the largest of these being the BBB of the Southland. But at the beginning of March 2013, the BBB of the Southland either seceded from the Council of BBBs, or they were kicked out, depending on which side you believe. Neither side has done a particularly good job of maintaining credibility, as the divorce was followed immediately by a volley of communications from either side pushing their individual brands of propaganda. The old BBB managed to strike first, stating that they had had no choice but to eject the BBB of the Southland from their alliance for failure to adhere to BBB policies and procedures. The newly-named BCA (Business Consumer Alliance) shot back with a retort with a tone approaching high-school-level cattiness. They said they had willingly quit the BBB due to old outdated policies that the crusty leadership had no intention of changing. The BBB has assured its members that they will continue to allow accreditation and resolve complaints by using their nationwide network to step in and cover the gap. The BCA promises new features and products that will probably fall on deaf ears, as most consumers trust the BBB and most businesses will want to remain aligned with them to retain their customers’ trust. After all, the BBB has been around for over 100 years. But that doesn’t mean it’s not corrupt.

Where do consumers turn, then, for reliable information regarding the ethical performance of businesses? Both the BBB and the BCA seem to employ a pay-to-play scheme and are each equally guilty of name-calling and mud-slinging. And for-profit organizations are predictably no better. Yelp has been known to bury positive comments about businesses if their optional subscription fee is not paid, sending negative reviews straight to the top of the page. And TripAdvisor allows users to change or delete ratings after posting, which is why you virtually never see less than 5 stars on there for any business. Who are we to trust nowadays?

This guy... left me a bad rating on Yelp.

I do believe that most organizations are just as bad as the other, as exhibited by the BBB vs. BCA scandal. No matter how noble a consumer protection agency is, they will never be fully rid of this problem. In general, most companies big or small have at least some level of corruption, and there are always issues that work against values like efficiency and honesty and that you cannot fully trust the full rhetoric of any one company or organization. But I also believe in the goodness of humans, that most of us just want to survive and connect with each other and make sure our families are fed. So maybe it’s out of this goodness that corruption is borne - we are all just doing our best to make enough cash to survive.