Recently, I filed a complaint with the BBB. In this thread,I discovered that the BBB is not an actual consumer action group, but kind of works for its “member” companies. Not exactly objective, but you take what you can get.
What I’m looking for here are experiences people have had with the BBB. Was your problem resolved? Did you find the BBB to be easy to deal with, or were they as bureaucratic as “real” companies?
Did you have to fight with the BBB? Were they expedient in their handling of your case, or did your case just kind of stagnate for a while?
A few years ago I had a problem with a local business and tried to file a complaint with the BBB. They told me that since I was not seeking a refund, and since the business had actually performed the physical service they were supposed to perform, the BBB could/would do nothing. They said that a business can behave toward their customers however they like. In other words, the BBB does not handle customer service complaints that do not involve money. Thanks for nothing, BBB.
Many years ago, when I was a semi-struggling high school student, I was briefly involved selling encyclopedias for a company that I considered was using illegal tactics. I quit, and went to the BBB with my hat in my hand, giving a few well-chosen examples. The woman said she was sorry, the District Attorney needed to hear the situation. She told me where to go and who to see. I ended up making a formal statement for an on-going court case. I was satisfied the BBB did the right thing.
What Scarlett said, with a bit of a difference because we were looking for a monetary resolution.
We were seeking a refund from a computer company who didn’t fix our computer properly in the first place and then wanted to charge us more money to work on it when we brought it back. When my husband said he was bringing the computer back because wasn’t properly fixed, the clerk was really snotty to him, like no one there could possibly be capable of making a mistake, and it must be OUR fault that it was screwed up (and no, my husband was not snotty first. He is a saint when it comes to this stuff). We paid the money they demanded because we needed the computer fixed and back to us in time to do taxes, but then when we tried to speak with the owner of the store about it, he refused to talk with us and told us through someone else we weren’t getting our money back.
So I called BBB. The lady there was nice and talked with the owner for us, but he still refused to do anything. Basically she told us that since there was no way to prove that WE didn’t do something to screw the computer up after we took it home the first time around, nothing could be done. So no formal complaint would be filed and we weren’t getting any money back. So while the person I talked to there was pleasant and efficient, it was basically a waste of time.
So, I did the only thing I could.
I work with computers, and in my job at the time, I would get a lot of calls from colleagues who were interested in buying/upgrading their home computers and would ask me about components, where they could get the best prices around town, etc. And you know who I specifically told them to avoid. So they definitely lost more business than the measly $75 service charge we wanted refunded.
Sometimes ya just gotta take matters into your own hands :).
Indeed. You sure do! Thanks for the anecdotal advice, guys.
I’m loath to divulge the exact circumstances of my problem, because I don’t want to turn this into an “I hate company X” thread. But I will say this. As soon as I received the product in the mail that I had ordered from the company online, I noticed three parts were missing, one of which was completely crucial to the operation of the product - the power cord. I immediately contacted the company via email. Why email, you ask? Well, this is an online company, not, say, a superstore chain. Their presence is much stronger on the Net than it is in real life (in fact, they do not have a brick-and-mortar store). So I emailed this company. And proceeded to get the runaround for over a month.
I’ve received several emails from this company, and I’ve saved them all, in addition to my own communications with them. I was patient but diligent the whole time, and I didn’t lose my temper and cuss them out, as much as I wanted to. But still no go. So that’s why I went to the BBB. On a whim, I visited their site and filled out a complaint form. I did not expect anything to come of it, although a positive response would be very nice. A few days later, I received in my snail mail a letter from the BBB, saying they had received and processed my complaint and had contacted the company. It was a form letter, but it did give me the impression someone, somewhere, had decided to act on the issue. So we’ll see.
Way back when, shopping.com was an awful company (before they got bought out by Compaq). I had ordered about $150.00 of stuff from them and entered customer service hell. They billed my CC the day after the order was placed even though months later my order still wasn’t shipped, hours on hold, no response to emails, lies, the works. I kept trying to cancel my order, but they wouldn’t do it (well, they said they would, but never happened).
I wrote them a nasty-gram, and I wrote long-winded, blow-by-blow letters to the local BBB (they were near San Diego), the California Atty General’s office, and the Federal Trade Commision. One of the government ones worked, got a nice apology letter and a prompt refund. I don’t think the BBB did much, but as you mentioned, it’s there to protect the business, not you.
As an follow-up, once Compaq bought them, I received a very nice apology letter and a $250.00 gift certficate for the new shopping.com. Yes, I turned a profit, but it was not worth the hell.
Hate to burst your bubble, but don’t hold your breathe on that one. About 3 years ago I filled out the same form on their web site over a company that kept trying to add charges to my phone bill for services I didn’t request or use. That was three years ago, I never heard from the BBB again. I did, however, get results from contacting the Attorney General’s office of the state this company resided in. Within a month all charges were refunded and my phone bill was back to normal.
I won’t hold my breath. It was kind of a last-resort thing. Although I think the letter the BBB sent me said something about me contacting them if I hadn’t heard anything in 30 days. But maybe I should contact the State Attorney General’s office. The only problem is that because this is an online-only business, I don’t know if they’d claim jurisdiction, even if they had offices and/or warehouses in that state. I’ll keep it in mind, though. Thanks!
I received an email from the offending company yesterday afternoon. They have received the complaint from the BBB.
“Oh sure,” you’re saying. “They emailed you just some dopey form letter. Nothing’ll come of it.”
Aha. Well, I would tend to agree with you in most cases. This time, however, the company gave me three options. They said that the parts I was supposed to receive in the original shipment are not in their own warehouse. I can either contact the manufacturer (they gave me the #), get a $20 credit from the company and purchase the parts on my own, or send back the unit for a full refund.
This sounds reasonable, and I think the BBB definitely played a hand in the expedition of this problem. Thanks, BBB!
