A joint investigation between ABC News and the 10News I-Team takes an in-depth look at the group that rates businesses.The Better Business Bureau hands out grades like a school teacher -- everything from A's to F's. However, an investigation found at some BBB's, all it takes to get an A is money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6Oick8x48 FULL REPORT HERE
"What it really comes down to is the criteria they're using to grade stuff is pretty much irrelevant," a blogger critical of the Better Business Bureau told ABC News.
The blogger registered a phony company called Hamas, named after the known terror-organization. The Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties gives Hamas an A-minus rating. Additionally, the blogger paid a few hundred dollars for a Better Business Bureau membership.
Out of the 30 businesses with C's or lower 10News and ABC contacted in San Diego, one dance studio owner said San Diego Better Business Bureau staff implied purchasing a membership would raise his grade.
It was somewhat implied without coming out and saying it that by paying the fee then I could have a good rating with the Better Business Bureau," said Craig Jerkins, owner of Loves to Dance, Inc.
Loves to Dance has been in business for three years, with hundreds of clients. The business has an F rating with San Diego's BBB for one unresolved complaint. But at the time Loves to Dance was solicited for membership, the business had a B-plus rating.
"In San Diego, at least, we don't use the grade in selling a business," San Diego BBB President Sheryl Bilbrey said.
San Diego's BBB is funded almost entirely by membership fees, and last year, it raised $4 million.
"I think we deliver a consistent experience in San Diego," Bilbrey said. "It's the only thing I control, but I certainly get the heat when they get a different experience and it's not a good one somewhere else."
ABC News found a lack of consistency almost everywhere else.
In San Francisco, Visa is an A-plus member despite 56 complaints.
In New York, MasterCard, which is not a member, gets an F rating. They only have 21 complaints.
The online school University of Phoenix is an A-plus member in Arizona with 228 complaints.
San Jose's BBB gives Stanford University, a non-member, a C rating, and they have one complaint.
Since January, San Diego's BBB has cut 76 member businesses because they failed to meet BBB standards. Bilbrey said if it was all about the money, those businesses would still be paying members.
The Better Business Bureau said businesses are graded by a specific criteria and that being a member is only supposed to raise a business' grade slightly.
Conn. AG: Better Business Bureau Favors Members Connecticut's attorney general is pushing the Better Business Bureau to stop what he calls a pay-to-play system that rates BBB members better than nonmembers.
Richard Blumenthal's office says he sent a letter Friday to the BBB's national office in Virginia outlining his concerns. The rating methods are also the focus of an unrelated Connecticut lawsuit
Better Business Bureaus Reviews
A joint investigation between ABC News and the 10News I-Team takes an in-depth look at the group that rates businesses.The Better Business Bureau hands out grades like a school teacher -- everything from A's to F's. However, an investigation found at some BBB's, all it takes to get an A is money.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w6Oick8x48 FULL REPORT HERE
"What it really comes down to is the criteria they're using to grade stuff is pretty much irrelevant," a blogger critical of the Better Business Bureau told ABC News.
The blogger registered a phony company called Hamas, named after the known terror-organization. The Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties gives Hamas an A-minus rating. Additionally, the blogger paid a few hundred dollars for a Better Business Bureau membership.
Out of the 30 businesses with C's or lower 10News and ABC contacted in San Diego, one dance studio owner said San Diego Better Business Bureau staff implied purchasing a membership would raise his grade.
It was somewhat implied without coming out and saying it that by paying the fee then I could have a good rating with the Better Business Bureau," said Craig Jerkins, owner of Loves to Dance, Inc.
Loves to Dance has been in business for three years, with hundreds of clients. The business has an F rating with San Diego's BBB for one unresolved complaint. But at the time Loves to Dance was solicited for membership, the business had a B-plus rating.
"In San Diego, at least, we don't use the grade in selling a business," San Diego BBB President Sheryl Bilbrey said.
San Diego's BBB is funded almost entirely by membership fees, and last year, it raised $4 million.
"I think we deliver a consistent experience in San Diego," Bilbrey said. "It's the only thing I control, but I certainly get the heat when they get a different experience and it's not a good one somewhere else."
ABC News found a lack of consistency almost everywhere else.
In San Francisco, Visa is an A-plus member despite 56 complaints.
In New York, MasterCard, which is not a member, gets an F rating. They only have 21 complaints.
The online school University of Phoenix is an A-plus member in Arizona with 228 complaints.
San Jose's BBB gives Stanford University, a non-member, a C rating, and they have one complaint.
Since January, San Diego's BBB has cut 76 member businesses because they failed to meet BBB standards. Bilbrey said if it was all about the money, those businesses would still be paying members.
The Better Business Bureau said businesses are graded by a specific criteria and that being a member is only supposed to raise a business' grade slightly.
Conn. AG: Better Business Bureau Favors Members Connecticut's attorney general is pushing the Better Business Bureau to stop what he calls a pay-to-play system that rates BBB members better than nonmembers.
Richard Blumenthal's office says he sent a letter Friday to the BBB's national office in Virginia outlining his concerns. The rating methods are also the focus of an unrelated Connecticut lawsuit