The Better Business Bureau of the Southland publishes defamatory Reliability Reports about certain non-BBB members. They trumpet the First Amendment as their license to bully, meanwhile wrongfully crushing certain small businesses.
The [BBB of the Southland] never as a rule investigated the truthfulness of any complaint. They took all consumer complaints as true, at face value. Therefore the [BBB], &without any formal finding of fact, &published its so called opinion that plaintiff's and their business were rated unsatisfactory. [See Goldwine v. BBB of the Southland].
I work for a small company that has been bullied by the BBB. The BBB of the Southland has published false and/or inaccurate information about our company from unverified sources. They toss allege and believe in front of the unverified information then state our business is unsatisfactory. When we challenged them regarding the report there response was, "we will not argue the point whether or not the allegations are correct or incorrect for the simple fact that they are allegations and are identified as such in the report. Of course, all the allegations are not identified as such, and regardless, what good is a report based on unverified allegations?
In addition, the BBB has no set policy for publishing reports, such that a company with 2000 complaints can have a satisfactory rating and a company with 4 complaints can have an unsatisfactory rating.
The BBB of the Southland has been the subject of media scrutiny regarding issues such as its alleged improper membership sales practices and the alleged shaking down of small businesses by offering to clean up their reports for money. [See the Orange County Register online archives]. The defamatory reports we are complaining of are just one more item to add to their list of alleged wrongdoings.
Despite being the subject of media scrutiny and sued by various business owners for defamation, the National BBB appears to do nothing to reprimand the BBB of the Southland, likely because the Southland office is a huge moneymaker earning over $4 million per year.
We are a small company. We and various other companies, have been the victim of the BBB's "Reliability Reports. Our company is suffering financial because of this inaccurate report. These business loses are the result of a scathing report based on a total of 4 complaints (3 unverified, and the 4th resolved with the customer).
Small businesses cannot afford to fight a rich foe like the BBB. Thus, they are forced to suffer from severely dampened sales and face possible closure.
The public should be aware that they are relying on the BBB to provide accurate, verified, and unbiased information about businesses. Most importantly, small businesses that cannot afford to hire lawyers should not unfairly suffer business losses, and possible closure, as a result of unverified reports the BBB publishes.
Howard
Inglewood, California
U.S.A.
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