HELP US Eliminate the Better Business Bureau's Double Standards In Grading Businesses AND THE STEALING OF BUSINESS OWNERS MONEY. SIGN THE PETITION BELOW BEING SENT TO CONGRESS.
E1550 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD – Extensions of Remarks August 3, 2001 CONCERN-REGARDING BUSINESS OWNERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES
HON. CORRINE BROWN
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, August 2, 2001
Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker and fellow Members of Congress, I
want to alert you to a matter of concern that I have regarding business
owners and their employees, particularly small business owners, within
our country.
This problem has been told to me by some of my constituents and is a
problem about which business owners throughout the country have written
to you.
We are a nation that is built upon the rule of law.
This has assured a system of accountability for our conduct as individuals, businesses and institutions.
Congress, as elected representatives, meets and acts to improve and
refine the system in order to protect the people and their property.
The foundation as framed by our nation’s founders in the Constitution is
the concept of due process and the right thereof. We each have the
assurance that the law protects our person and property from libelous,
slanderous, and otherwise tortuous interference with our reputation or
business. Unfortunately, I have learned that
we have within our country a private organization that with the
appearance of being quasi-governmental and without any legal or
regulatory oversight and control can libel and slander and tortuously
interfere with a small business. They can do so with virtual immunity. This organization is the National Better Business Bureau and their franchise local Better Business Bureaus. At times, some of these bureaus classify small business owners as unsatisfactory, libel and slander them with opinion and innuendo, and provide them no due process to correct the problem. If sued in court, they argue qualified immunity under the guise of the public good.
No one disputes the right of a Better Business Bureau to print facts. It
is when they print falsehoods, opinion, or negative innuendo that a
mechanism for redress or correction must be assured. When closely examined, however,
one finds that there are Better Business Bureaus that arbitrarily and
capriciously exclude and negatively classify those they don’t like. They also frequently rate companies with terrible records as being satisfactory. No written guidelines or rules are available that
require the Better Business Bureau to adhere to any legal standard in
their dealings with business. (With the internet, the conduct of one
local Better Business Bureau is then taken as true and disseminated
everywhere.)
The Better Business Bureaus also charge money for these reports. They make money without responsibility for how they make it.
Why are they above the law and other businesses? On a first-hand basis, I recently inquired of the
National Better Business Bureau regarding the process and I was met with
hostility and rebuke. Prominent members of my community
who tried to ascertain information about how to redress a concern with a
local Better Business Bureau were hung up on by senior ranking National
Better Business Bureau employees. The process I have described is not in the public’s best interest.
It is not appropriate for us to allow our business owners and their
employees, the men and women who make our country strong, to be exposed
to this arbitrary and capricious process. A right to redress the actions of
the Better Business Bureau when libelous, slanderous, arbitrary, or
capricious action is apparent is a fundamental right we must insure.
Thank you.
CONSUMER SCAM ALERT " THE BBB IS NOTED AS A SCAM BY SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS"
A 20/20 ABC news story aired that the BBB is running a shake down of business all over US. If you pay you get better rating. It claims it is non profit but Mr. Cox head of BBB in Va makes over $300,000.00 a year. The President of BBB in LA makes $409,000.00 a year. Do you not think this is over pay for a non profit employees. I hope you look at the stories below and see for yourself. We have always said and told others BBB was not right. See for yourself! Make up your own mind.
Even Eric Greenspan on his site has not favorable words about the BBB.
Under fire for its controversial rating system, the Better Business Bureau
has announced that it will no longer automatically give better grades
to its member businesses. The action comes on the heels of an ABC News
investigation into allegations that the BBB is running a "pay to play"
scheme in which A plus ratings are only awarded to those businesses that
pay membership fees, and lower grades are given to those who don't.
Better Business Bureau Says It Will Stop Awarding Good Grades for Cash
"Right now, this rating system is really unworthy of consumer trust or
confidence," said Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal in an
interview to be broadcast as part of an ABC News investigation.
The ABC News report, which aired on 20/20 Friday, showed how a group of
Los Angeles business owners paid $425 to their local BBB and were able
to obtain an A minus grade for a non-existent company called Hamas,
named after the Middle East terror group. In another case, the BBB also
awarded an A minus rating to a non-existent sushi restaurant in Santa
Ana, California and an A plus to a white supremacist website called
Stormfront.
Errors seem to abound at the Better Business Bureau. As reported by an
anonymous blogger the BBB also awarded an A minus rating to a
non-existent sushi restaurant in Santa Ana, California and an A plus to a
skinhead, neo-Nazi web site called Stormfront.
Each listing cost $425.
"They ran the credit card and within 12 hours they were an approved,
accredited member," said the anonymous blogger, who runs a site called
bbbroundup.com.
"They're more interested in the money than their credibility," he said.
It will clear people will run and file to have any case where evidence containing info from a BBB report in court case will be asked to be set aside as a result. In due time there most likely will be a class action lawsuit against the BBB.
If you have paid to be a member I urge you to contact the BBB where you paid and demand a refund. Protect yourself and stop them from getting rich from this shake down of all people in America.
If you feel you have been taken or shammed by the BBB please contact us:
mailroom@models-today.com
If you have any info on a psycho using the name JOE-LOUISVILLE online posting bogus stories then please email us so we can look at taking legal action for stalking and harassment.
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