Better Business Bureau (BBB) Accreditation - Worth Doing?

[britechguy]

Seeking input from those who may have already undergone the process and whether it had a positive impact, or no impact, on your business.

I can't imagine that BBB Accreditation could have a negative impact, but who knows.

I've had a recent invitation to join and be accredited and am on the fence about whether to pursue it or not.

 

[dgoglio]

It is a complete waste of money.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I did it, spent money on it for a solid decade. Never saw anything even resembling a benefit.

 

[River Valley Computer]

Seeking input from those who may have already undergone the process and whether it had a positive impact, or no impact, on your business.

I can't imagine that BBB Accreditation could have a negative impact, but who knows.

I've had a recent invitation to join and be accredited and am on the fence about whether to pursue it or not.

Just another self-serving agency out there to provide minimal benefits (if any) but provide funds for the overpaid officials.

 

[nlinecomputers]

No. It is outright fraud. The only qualification for an A+ rating is paying the fee. There is no vetting process to see if you are an ethical company nor do they provide ANY kind of arbitration services to help you resolve an issue should someone report you to them. They have been investigated and even sued for running a protection racket. https://www.courthousenews.com/bbb-...NGELES (CN) – The,in a $200 million complaint.

 

[phaZed]

I concur with the others. Total scam. Basically it's, "purchasing a good rating". I once upon a time talked to a rep about it on the phone and they had different levels of protection - protection from complaints from customers! WTF! It was a dystopian phone call.

 

[timeshifter]

BBB may have been effective back in the 70s and 80s. They were a way to see that you didn't get screwed over by a company as I recall. They were respected. Maybe they were a scam back then too and I was persuaded by their lies, don't know. But today I'd say they're just a slimy sales organization as others have mentioned. Don't know if any clients or customers are really swayed by seeing a BBB logo for your business.

 

[nlinecomputers]

BBB may have been effective back in the 70s and 80s. They were a way to see that you didn't get screwed over by a company as I recall. They were respected. Maybe they were a scam back then too and I was persuaded by their lies, don't know. But today I'd say they're just a slimy sales organization as others have mentioned. Don't know if any clients or customers are really swayed by seeing a BBB logo for your business.

Somehow I think only the really old geezer crowd who still watches 60 Minutes is going to even know about the BBB or care and they are the same group that will let hackers waltz into their PCs after a phone call from "Microsoft".

 

[britechguy]

Thank you, one and all, for your valuable perspectives.

 

[Sky-Knight]

For the record... Yelp is exactly the same way. As is Google...

If the site does user based reviews, odds are there's a protection racket to extort business owners to pay to get rid of bad reviews.

As for the BBB ratings, I have an A+ rating, and I no longer pay them. So you can have an A+ if you don't pay, but you do need some sort of history with them to get it.

 

[britechguy]

It was mostly to get the rating that I was considering "joining," but it seems that it's unlikely to have any positive result.

As to negative reviews, I really don't get why people get so bent out of shape about an occasional bad review. I've certainly never hesitated to do business with an entity that's awash in 4 and 5 star reviews and has the occasional 1 star. There are certain people you just can't satisfy for any of a number of reasons. I'm a lot more suspicious of entities that have nothing but 5 star ratings, particularly if they are very closely spaced as far as dates go.

 

[NETWizz]

Seeking input from those who may have already undergone the process and whether it had a positive impact, or no impact, on your business.

I can't imagine that BBB Accreditation could have a negative impact, but who knows.

I've had a recent invitation to join and be accredited and am on the fence about whether to pursue it or not.

I actually don't like companies that have BBB Accreditation because to me it means they paid them off to get a good grade.

Simply put if I see a NON-Accredited business with an A and several complaints, I KNOW if I have an issue, I will be taken care of promptly and with courtesy.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I actually don't like companies that have BBB Accreditation because to me it means they paid them off to get a good grade.

Simply put if I see a NON-Accredited business with an A and several complaints, I KNOW if I have an issue, I will be taken care of promptly and with courtesy.

I haven't had a customer use that system in years... and the one time they did... they lodged a complaint against my MSP for something that happened with Nexgen.

I fixed it... but still.

 

[sapphirescales]

The BBB is right up there with Yelp when it comes to sleazy practices. They're basically a Yellow Pages that pretend they're actually there for consumers and pretend like they're part of the government. In reality they're a private company who gives people A+ ratings if they're willing to pay for it.

If you have a lot of ancient clients who look at stuff like BBB ratings because they think they actually mean something then go ahead and pay the extortion fee in order to get "accredited." But unless you're selling geezer scooters or own a senior living facility, I don't know how much good it will do you.

 

[Markverhyden]

Face it. BBB has always been an iffy proposition at best. Like the American Chamber of Commerce. While they're all still around the Internet has really made those listing a moot point. Most smart people know that things like Yelp and ripoffreport.com aren't really useful, just like the BBB. If I was working on building some "Internet" credibility I'd be working on SEO. @callthatgirl has that down pat. If you search for Outlook support she's usually on the first page.