thanks to facebook friend meritxell negre for pointing me towards an abc news expose on the better business bureau by brian ross. it was just last week that a skeptical prospect asked what my bbb rating was. i don’t get this very often — thankfully. my reply? sorry, but i don’t pay those people. silence on the phone, then a thank you for your time. sorry, but the notion that my reputation, references and testimonials are somehow less credible than if i pay a fat cat organization to tell me i have integrity and put consumers first is total nonsense. groups like bbb, angie’s list and others like to posture that they have the consumer’s best interests at heart. look under the hood and you’ll quickly find less than forthright practices. the fact is that any group can portray honest intentions with a seal or a grading system that’s carefully engineered to instill trust — at the same time that they’re taking money from a membership that demands greater and greater levels of third party vetting at every turn. are we really to believe that these ratings can’t be bought to some small or large degree? experiments have been run by small businesses where an investment of about $400 will gain you the “a” rating that calms edgy consumers. makes no difference if you were established yesterday. enough of my observations on the matter. watch the below video as introduced by diane sawyer. draw your own conclusions.
