Better Business Bureau (BBB)

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 239 historical complaints about Better Business Bureau (BBB), published between 1999 and 2016. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources below.

• BBB misleads consumers, won\'t count complaints from townhome ownersPublished Nov 21, 2016 · Historical consumer allegation
• False and defamatory review about our businessPublished Jan 14, 2014 · Historical consumer allegation
• Slander and ExtortionPublished Jan 19, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• New Hampshire Better Business Bureau, BBB Misleading consumers, scam reportsPublished Jan 17, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Flawed system that does nothing but misreprsent businessesPublished Jan 9, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• BBB misrepresented themselves as attorneys and overstepped their legal boundriesPublished Jan 5, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• Catherine ralls compliance, scam, false reporting, false allegations, rude, paper pusherPublished Jan 3, 2013 · Historical consumer allegation
• BBB Judge, Jury and ExecutionePublished Dec 3, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• What do you really get when accredited? Does any real business know?Published Oct 31, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• BBB suspended my accreditdationPublished Oct 8, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Out of all organizations... BBB is a money gauging, misleading, and represented all business dealings with usPublished Aug 24, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• CEO Janet Robb original complaint against BBB for libelPublished Jul 21, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Proof that BBB is a protection/extortion scamPublished May 21, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Total scam they are a fraudPublished May 17, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• BBB, Better Business Bureau, Central Virginia BBB, BBB of Central Virginia I had the most horrible experience with them. They don't take anything serious and did absolutely NOTHING to help resolve our complaint we had with a company. We had a sePublished May 4, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Representing themselves as Consumer AdvocatesPublished May 3, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Had a legimate complaint, seems to be bias to businessesPublished Apr 26, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• Better Business Bereau This company allows customers to slander my company and cost me moneyPublished Apr 25, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• ScamPublished Apr 24, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation
• BBB, Office of Consumer Protection, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, State of Hawaii BBB of Hawaii knowingly posts false and incomplete information about Hawaiian Airlines, refuses to make correctionsPublished Apr 19, 2012 · Historical consumer allegation

Complaint Themes

Each tag reflects a complaint's single primary theme (not every angle it raised), and complaints outside any problem theme — a positive report, or one later retracted by its author — aren't tagged. Counts may total less than the full complaint count above.

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts

• BBB.org (consumer site): https://www.bbb.org/
• File a complaint with BBB: https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint
• Find your local BBB (contact details are per bureau): https://www.bbb.org/about/find-your-local-bbb
• BBB tool for reporting suspected fraud: https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/reportscam

Locations

Using BBB: file a complaint, report suspected fraud, or contest a listing (checked October 11, 2026)

Most people who search for BBB complaints are in one of three positions: they want to complain about a business, they are a business that disagrees with a BBB listing or rating, or they want to know whether a BBB rating can be relied on. The Better Business Bureau is not one company with one help desk. The BBB site says independent local BBBs handle business profiles, complaints, reviews and accreditation in their own areas, so the right contact is usually the local bureau that serves the business involved.

To complain about a business.

• BBB's complaint page asks what you want: help resolving a problem, sharing an experience without seeking a resolution, alerting others to a possible imposter, fraud or scheme, or a vehicle warranty dispute. For vehicle warranty disputes the page refers people to BBB AUTO LINE, which it describes as a program of BBB National Programs (a separate organization, see the structure section below) that 'handles manufacturer-related warranty disputes, not issues with dealerships or independent repair shops.' The page also links to BBB's Complaint Acceptance Guidelines.
• Under those guidelines a complaint is filed through a Consumer Portal account; it must include your full name and either a postal address or an email address plus postal code, the business's name and enough information to contact it, and, in the guidelines' words, 'Typically, the issue complained of must have arisen within the previous 12 months (Note: warranties/guarantees or other extenuating circumstances may supersede this criterion).' The guidelines also say the complaint 'is not in litigation when filed with BBB and has not been resolved by a previous court action, arbitration, or settlement between the parties' and 'contains no abusive language or serious threats'. They state that 'Consumers must be located in the United States (U.S.) or Canada' and that consumers temporarily located abroad, including members of the U.S. or Canadian Armed Forces stationed abroad, 'are not automatically excluded'; consumers are limited to one complaint against the same business during any three-month period.
• BBB's FAQ describes its role as forwarding the complaint to the business and acting 'as a neutral intermediary'; it adds 'We do not take sides, and we cannot force a business to act.' A complaint, unlike a review, can affect the business's rating, according to the FAQ.
• Disputes BBB lists as outside its process include employer/employee disputes, complaints about government agencies unless they offer a commercial service, and claims for personal injury compensation.

To report suspected fraud. BBB's file-a-complaint page and About page link to a BBB online tool for reporting a possible imposter, fraud or scheme. BBB describes itself as 'not a government agency' with 'no regulatory power', so serious fraud can also be reported to the FTC, your state attorney general or local law enforcement.

If you are a business with a listing or rating you dispute. BBB's FAQ says each BBB operates independently and to contact yours directly for anything local. The site footer's 'Contact Us' link opens BBB's 'Find Your Local BBB' directory, and the IABBB page on BBB.org lists a mailing address but says 'IABBB staff work remotely.' In the sources checked on October 11, 2026, no central complaint desk for business disputes was identified. The ratings page says BBB Business Profiles generally explain the most significant factors that raise or lower a rating, and, among the listed elements, that a rating is lowered when a business 'is not transparent — for example, incomplete product, service, or ownership information, or a false or undeterminable address' and when it 'fails to honor commitments made to BBB, including mediation settlements or arbitration awards'.

Before relying on a rating. BBB itself says a rating is 'BBB's opinion' and 'not a guarantee of a business's reliability or performance'. The mechanics of the rating and accreditation systems are described in the sections below, with BBB's own wording.

Regulators and BBB: Connecticut attorney general 2010, bureau expulsions 2013 and 2024, FTC staff letter 2000

Connecticut Attorney General, 2010. On September 9, 2010 then-Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office issued a statement that read, in part: 'I remain concerned about the Better Business Bureau's rating system and my office's investigation is continuing. We have reached no conclusions.' It said his office had written the Connecticut BBB the previous month about 'the role of dues in determining ratings' and added: 'BBB ratings should be based exclusively on performance, honesty and responsiveness. Rankings should not be affected by membership in the BBB.'

On November 18, 2010 the same office announced that the BBB 'has agreed to his demands that it stop awarding rating points for dues and make other changes to its rating system.' The release quotes Blumenthal: 'Pay-to-play -- or its perception -- is unacceptable and unconscionable, as the BBB has rightly recognized.' Blumenthal also said, in the same release: 'While I applaud this significant step, I remain troubled by the BBB's rating system. The BBB lacks the resources to verify much information used to rate, rendering its ratings unreliable and suspect.' He added: 'The BBB has a long and laudable history of consumer advocacy, and has partnered with my office on many occasions to fight scams.' The release is a statement by the attorney general; it is not a court order or a finding in a proceeding.

Expulsion of a local bureau, 2013. An Associated Press report, published by Fox News on March 12, 2013, says the Council of Better Business Bureaus expelled BBB of the Southland (Los Angeles), which lost the right to use the BBB name, logo and trademarks. The report quotes the Council's president and chief executive officer, Carrie A. Hurt: 'Over a period of more than two years, BBB of the Southland failed to resolve concerns about compliance with several standards required of BBBs, including standards relating to accreditation, reporting on businesses, and handling complaints.' According to the same report, the bureau's chairman, Jerry Dominguez, denied in a letter to the Council that there were any widespread problems and said the chapter had resigned from the organization; the bureau also stated that it had simply followed a BBB policy of 'only awarding A-plus grades to accredited businesses', and a Council spokeswoman replied that grading is based on merit. The report links the investigation to a 2010 ABC television report.

Expulsion of a bureau, 2024. In a news release dated June 17, 2024, BBB states that the International Association of Better Business Bureaus 'expelled the Better Business Bureau of Canada's Northern Capital Regions and Quebec from the BBB system on June 3, 2024, for not meeting BBB standards', and that the Eastern Ontario, Quebec and Edmonton, Alberta service areas continue to receive BBB services through other member BBBs. The release does not describe the standards at issue.

FTC staff letter, 2000. An FTC closing letter dated November 7, 2000 is addressed to the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. It concerns a JC Penney fine-jewelry price-advertising matter that the Division had referred to the FTC, and states that FTC staff 'determined not to recommend any law enforcement action in response to the referral'. It is not a proceeding against the BBB system.

Other regulators. This profile does not list other FTC or state attorney general actions against the BBB system because none was opened and read for this page; the sources above are the ones checked on October 11, 2026.

How BBB is organized: local bureaus, IABBB and BBB National Programs

Structure, in BBB's own words. On its About page BBB says independent local BBBs serve communities in the United States and Canada and that the International Association of Better Business Bureaus (IABBB) is 'the network's coordinating organization'; it 'sets shared standards, supports local BBBs, and operates BBB.org'. The Terms of Use say the sites include the websites of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., 'separately incorporated Better Business Bureau organizations in the United States and Canada', BBB Foundations and the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust. The IABBB page on BBB.org gives its address as 4250 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 600, Arlington, VA 22203 and says its staff work remotely.

2019 restructuring and BBB National Programs. BBB National Programs states on its own FAQ that in 2019 the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) 'restructured and created two independent non-profit organizations': the IABBB and BBB National Programs. It describes BBB National Programs as 'an independent, nonprofit organization with a shared history, but not affiliated with, the International Association of Better Business Bureaus' and says the two 'are no longer affiliated with one another'. BBB.org's footer, in contrast, lists BBB National Programs under 'Affiliated Programs' beside the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance. Both statements are quoted here as the organizations' own descriptions. The Council is therefore the predecessor national body of both organizations, not a simple earlier name of IABBB. IRS data republished by ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer lists the IABBB under EIN 83-3454617 with a tax-exemption date of January 2020, and lists 'Council Of Better Business Bureaus Inc' separately under EIN 23-7079691 with an exemption issued in September 1918. Complaints in our archive filed before 2019 that name the 'Council of Better Business Bureaus' concern that predecessor body.

Tax status. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, citing IRS data, lists the International Association of Better Business Bureaus as designated a 501(c)(6) business league and states that donations to it are not tax deductible; BBB's own pages describe it as a 'nonprofit'.

Funding. BBB's FAQ says 'Dues paid by Accredited Businesses fund our work, which is how we keep our information free for you.'

What this profile covers. The page describes the BBB organization as presented at BBB.org. It does not rate or score any local bureau, and statements about individual bureaus or businesses apply only to the bureau or business named in the cited source.

Complaint record: Trustpilot and our archive (as displayed October 11, 2026)

Complaint and review counts as displayed on October 11, 2026. No BBB.org Business Profile or rating for the International Association of Better Business Bureaus was found in a BBB.org search run on October 11, 2026. For outside reviews, Trustpilot shows an unclaimed 'Better Business Bureau' page for the bbb.org domain with 476 reviews, an average of 1.5 and 94 reviews in the last 12 months; Trustpilot's page covers the web domain generally, so it is not limited to one local bureau, and it is shown here once without being combined with any other number.

Our own archive. The usacomplaints.com archive contains 239 approved complaints, dated from 1999 to 2016, whose named offender is a Better Business Bureau organization (a local bureau, 'BBB' generally, or the Council of Better Business Bureaus). They are visitor submissions and unverified allegations, not findings. Counts by keyword (a post can match several, and these are not complaint categories): 138 mention membership, accreditation, dues or fees; 86 mention a rating, grade or score; 42 mention arbitration or mediation; 32 mention sales calls or telemarketing from the bureau. Complaints about a specific bureau stay with that bureau; they are not attributed to every BBB.

Court decisions involving local BBBs (ratings and a news release)

Three appellate decisions involving local BBBs are listed in the case table. They arose from suits against local bureaus (the Florida opinion notes that the parent organization was also part of the underlying suit), not from a proceeding against the whole BBB system, and the courts decided different questions:

• Caribbean Cruise Line v. BBB of Palm Beach County (Florida, 2015). The plaintiff received an 'F' grade and alleged, among other things, that BBB represented it uses sixteen factors to grade, and did not tell the public that it partly relied on whether a business is accredited. The appeals court affirmed dismissal of the defamation count but reversed the dismissal of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act count, holding that the claim was based on BBB's representations rather than only on its opinions and that the plaintiff did not have to be a 'consumer'. The court did not decide whether the allegations were true.
• Castle Rock Remodeling v. BBB of Greater St. Louis (Missouri, 2011). The court affirmed dismissal of a libel and tortious-interference suit over a BBB reliability report that gave the plaintiff a 'C' rating and described complaints and advertising concerns, reasoning that 'the rating itself cannot be proved true or false' and is therefore protected as opinion under the First Amendment.
• Others First v. BBB of Greater St. Louis (Eighth Circuit, 2016). A charity sued over a BBB news release; summary judgment for the bureau was affirmed. The case concerned a news release, not the rating system.

Taken together, these decisions are not a ruling on whether BBB's ratings are accurate or fair as a whole. Court filings about other local bureaus exist; those that were not opened for this page are not listed.

Is Better Business Bureau (BBB) Legitimate?

BBB describes itself as 'a nonprofit organization that helps people find businesses they can trust' and says it is 'not a government agency' and 'holds no regulatory power'. It is organized as a network of separately incorporated local bureaus coordinated by the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., which operates BBB.org from an Arlington, Virginia address.

How BBB says ratings work. Per BBB's ratings page, a rating is 'BBB's opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers'. It is built from seven elements on a 100-point scale: complaint history, type of business, time in business, transparent business practices, failure to honor commitments to BBB, licensing, and advertising issues. The page's point table lists, for example, up to 40 points for unanswered complaints, up to 30 for unresolved complaints, up to 15 for complaint volume, up to 10 for time in business, and deductions of up to 41 points for type of business, failure to honor a mediation or arbitration award, competency licensing, advertising review per incident and BBB trademark infringement. Scores of 97 to 100 map to A+ and 0 to 59.99 to F; 'NR' means no rating and 'is not a grade, and it is not negative.' Customer reviews are not used in the letter grade.

Accreditation. BBB says accreditation is voluntary, that a business must affirm it meets eight Standards for Trust (build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy, embody integrity), and that 'BBB charges a fee for BBB Accreditation' based on 'several factors, including the size of business'. Its FAQ states 'Accreditation dues do not buy a rating, and they do not remove a complaint', and that a business can hold an A+ without being accredited. BBB also says it can revoke accreditation when a business stops meeting the standards.

The documented debate. In 2010 the Connecticut attorney general stated that ratings and dues should be separate and later announced that BBB had agreed to stop awarding rating points for dues; the statements are described under the regulator section. The ratings page's point table, as displayed on October 11, 2026, lists no points for accreditation or dues. Whether a given local bureau's rating is accurate depends on its file for that business, which the cited sources do not establish. Readers who want the full file should open the business's own BBB profile and the local bureau's contact page.

Court & Public Records

Company Relationships

• Affiliated with: BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust
• Affiliated with: BBB Wise Giving Alliance
• Affiliated with: Local Better Business Bureaus (separately incorporated)

Frequently Asked Questions