Outrank.com: BBB Reviews are Based on Membership Fees and Not on Consumer Complaints
According to a recent article posted by George Gombossy of the Internet watchdog group, CTWatchdog, the acclaimed BBB, widely known as a consumer blueprint for gauging whether a business is credible to work with has changed their rating sytem to give better grades to businesses that pay more membership fees. This new move has lowered the BBB's own rating on the scale of credibility with consumers and businesses.
He quoted: "But after consumer advocates, including this one, figured out that only those companies that paid the fee got A+ grades, we started looking deeper into the grading system. We came up with serious questions about the validity of many of the grades, with great companies that refuse to pay getting unusually low grades and weak companies that were accredited getting higher grades.
A group of businessmen in California (whose identities have been kept confidential) decided to prove that the grading system was nothing more than a pay-to-play scheme.
In the past few months, they signed up an unspecified number of fake companies in California and in at least one other state, used credit cards to give the appearance of business activity, gave false addresses, and were awarded A- ratings.
Jimmy Rivers, the pen name of a former California journalist now in the business world, has been exposing many of the BBB abuses on his blog www.BBBRoundup.com. He disclosed (and I was able to verify before the entries were taken down) the identities of two of the fake businesses. For Jimmy’s latest disclosures click here.
The shocker was a business called Hamas – I think all of my readers know that name. But the Southland Chapter of the BBB (the largest in the country) made them an accredited business and gave it an A- rating, the third highest. Starbucks, for instance, has an F rating, but then it would cost Starbucks millions dollars a year to have all its coffee shops accredited.
Southland admitted that it got suckered, but said it does not diminish the validity of the BBB rating system."
This alarming trend has hurt the BBB's iconic image and cast doubt on the validity of their rating system. For this cause, Outrank.com, an Inc 500 Internet Marketing group and former, BBB member has joined with a rising number of firms who have decided against renewing their membership in light of the recent changes to BBB's rating system.
Though the BBB may have changed their business practices, Outrank has not. The change in the BBB's rating system has not hindered Outrank's growth as one of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the U.S. As a company, Outrank continues to grow because its clients are satisfied, its service is superior and its reputation, stellar. The BBB may now be a shadow of its former self but Outrank continues to grow, progress and rise to new heights of success.
Now that Outrank.com has reached these pinnacles of success; the firm is starting to cast a shadow of its own- over the competition and one that extends far beyond a "rigged" rating system. As such, Outrank.com has chosen to provide AAA service over a BBB rating any day...
-DBock
