Verango = Satisfactory rating
One of the fastest and easiest ways to find out about a company you plan on doing business with is to check with the local Better Business Bureau (BBB). Too many people end up going with shady companies, losing lots of money and time as a result. We are surprised by how many people do not check a company before doing business with them.
Here are some tips on how you can use the BBB to your best advantage:
Listed-yes/no ?
Obviously if the company has no listing at all, then they are very small and do not have enough feedback for you to know whether they are reputable; or perhaps they are not a real company at all.
Complaints Ratio
While a big company such as Wal-Mart or Honda may have thousands of complaints that may be miniscule compared to the total number of customers they have. Smaller companies will have fewer complaints relatively. Personally, I would not choose a company with worse than a 1% complaint rate. Here, we have a total complaint rate of about 1/10th of 1%, all of which so far have been resolved as satisfactory. Not every transaction is perfect, nor can a company make every client happy. In fact, you may soon discover that some customers will go as far as falsifying information.
Complaints Resolved
Has the company taken the time to resolve complaints? Do they give reasonable answers? How did the customer respond back? This can often be the most thorough way to rate a company.
Overall BBB Rating
There are basically two statuses that the BBB gives to a business: satisfactory and unsatisfactory. Basically if a company attempts to resolve most issues in a professional and legal way, they will have a satisfactory rating. Unsatisfactory ratings indicates lack of response by a company to complaints, unsatisfactory responses, and unusual volume of complaints, recent legal troubles, or scummy sales practices.
Quoting the BBB:
“A business identified in our report as satisfactory has, based on Bureau files, been in business for at least one year, and has voluntarily provided the Bureau with all information requested about the business and its product or service. If any complaints have been received about the business, their number has not been considered by the BBB to be extreme, given the nature of the company’s business and the volume of business transacted. Complaints are also generally typical of what might be expected for this type of business.
A business stated to be satisfactory has not been the subject of any recent law enforcement actions concerning its dealings with the public. If the business has been contacted by the BBB about its advertising or selling claims, it has modified or substantiated its practices to the Bureau’s satisfaction. In addition, the BBB has a clear understanding of the company’s business, and the business is not in an industry which has raised significant marketplace concerns”
“The mention of complaints in a BBB report is not necessarily negative. The finest businesses get complaints. Look for statements about the causes of the complaints and if the complaints are being resolved. When considering complaint information, please take into account the company’s size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm’s responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.”
While the BBB is the most professional resource for checking out a company, simply using the web may also give you a picture. Again, many of the same rules apply, expect for the fact that in many cases a company cannot defend themselves directly in such cases. I have found it useful in looking for common trends in the types of complaints a company receives, such as “ ‘xyz company’ has a long history locking customers funds in their bank/merchant accounts. “
So the customer is not always right as you will find, especially for those handful that stretch the truth, are mislead, or outright falsify information—in fact, since a company can receive thousands of complaints, all of which can be under public scrutiny, it seems to me that a company would really go out of there way to make a customer happy—the opposite however is not true—there is no database of shoppers/customers, and therefore no incentive for them to submit quality feedback on a company. The exception here is sites like eBay, but you get the idea.
We are proud to support the BBB !
