RELO Roundtable…a gathering place

ABC's TV's popular prime-time news magazine program, 20/20, posted a story recently that takes aim on the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB) long criticized reliability report rating system. 

In an episode which first aired on Nov 11, 2010, Chief Investigative correspondent Brian Ross uncovered yet more troubling accusations of improprieties and payoffs inside the gigantic international consumer watchdog organization.

In the almost nine minute long report that can be viewed here, angry business owners accuse the well-recognized public advocacy group of raising grades for dues paying members and punishing those who refuse to ante up the membership fees by tainting their reputations with disturbingly low BBB ratings. Some companies characterize the BBB's well recognized and very popular rating system and publicly available Reliability Reports as a 'shake-down' and a 'scam'.  In the past, it's been called legalized extortion in some other media and business circles.

Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's Attorney General, summarizes the attitude of many when he stated that “'this rating system is really unworthy of consumer trust and confidence”.

In a hasty response posted at the BBB's website the next morning, Steve Cox, President & CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, stated “In some of the business ratings cited by the media, we didn’t get it right. We are looking into these specific incidents. We owe it to the public to get it right every time. We will work diligently to achieve that goal.”

The Message from the President of BBB and access to a brief explanation of the organization's internal rating and accreditation system can be found here.   A growing list of public comments are being added below the popular thread. 

Cox, however, summarily dismissed business owners' criticism and rating questions raised in the 20/20 broadcast by saying that “any attempt to question the integrity of the entire BBB organization is completely and totally without merit.” 

Those who want to share their experience about the BBB rating system can send an email to wecare@bbb.org to have your concerns addressed by the Council's leadership.

After seeing the 20/20 broadcast or viewing the network's popular video online, many members of the full service and self service moving and storage industry are shaking their heads privately in acknowledgment, citing their own examples of improprieties with the BBB's pay-to-play mentality.   

The ABC expose, incidentally, aired the day after Jeff Walker, a family member who operates the for-profit website, MovingScam (which has their own internal private rating system), proudly posted a 'pretty interesting' link at http://video.bbb.org/videos/Choosing+a+Moving+Company in which he contends the nation's Better Business Bureaus are “helping consumers to understand how to select a mover and how to use the internet as a resource.”

Sorta makes you wonder who's courtin' whom!

Related Articles:

Can You Trust the Better Business Bureau? – The AARP Magazine

BBB revises rating system to regain consumer trust – RELO Roundtable

Top executive at Better Business Bureau's L.A. branch earns more than $400,000 a year – Los Angeles Times

Read more about BBB and 20/20 (includes CEO's video message) – BBB Information Center

Do BBB Members Get Better Ratings? – ABC News

How to Find a Reputable Mover: Check with the Better Business Bureau – RELO Roundtable

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