internet better business bureau - BBB provide charity and compan

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) plays a vital role in fostering trust between consumers and businesses, especially in the digital realm. By offering various services, including reliability reports, complaint resolution, and scam warnings, the BBB helps individuals make informed decisions and resolves disputes effectively. Understanding how the BBB operates can empower you to shop more confidently and identify potential fraudulent activities.

What Services Does the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Provide?

The BBB offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to promote ethical business practices and consumer confidence. These services include:

• **Charity and Company Reliability Reports:** These reports help consumers and businesses make informed purchasing decisions by providing detailed information about a company's history and performance.
• **Complaint Resolution:** The BBB facilitates informal resolution of disputes between consumers and businesses through written communication and telephone mediation.
• **Arbitration and Mediation:** For more complex disputes, the BBB offers arbitration services if both parties agree to settle with an impartial arbitrator.
• **Advertising Review:** The BBB reviews advertising claims to ensure accuracy and transparency.
• **Scam Warnings:** They issue alerts about fraudulent schemes to protect the public.
• **General Subject Information:** The BBB provides educational resources on various consumer and business topics.

What's Included in a BBB Reliability Report?

BBB reliability reports are a valuable resource for evaluating businesses. Each report typically includes:

• General information about the business.
• Customer experiences and feedback.
• The company's response to BBB requests for substantiation of its advertising claims.
• Any government actions taken against the business.
• The Bureau's history of complaints regarding the company.
• An overall rating of the company's business record (satisfactory or unsatisfactory).

How Does the BBB Complaint Process Work?

The BBB's complaint process aims for an informal resolution. They provide easy methods for communication, including telephone, email, written correspondence, and their website. By facilitating communication, the BBB helps parties reach a mutually agreeable solution. If an informal resolution isn't possible, the BBB also offers arbitration services, provided both parties agree to this method of dispute resolution.

What Influences a Business's BBB Rating?

A business is more likely to achieve a satisfactory BBB rating by:

• Promptly responding to BBB's requests for information.
• Addressing advertising issues that raise concerns.
• Obtaining and maintaining appropriate competency licenses and bonds.
• Effectively resolving customer complaints.

Conversely, businesses that fail to respond to complaints, operate without proper licenses, engage in fraudulent offers, or consistently fail to address the root cause of complaints are likely to receive an unsatisfactory rating.

BBB Seal Programs: Reliability and Privacy

The BBB offers seal programs that help consumers identify trustworthy businesses online.

BBB Reliability Seal Program

Many online shoppers prioritize the reliability of a business when making purchasing decisions. The BBB Reliability Seal Program allows concerned websites to apply and, upon fulfilling statutory requirements, display a seal indicating their commitment to ethical practices. This seal helps build consumer confidence in online transactions.

BBB Privacy Seal Program

Similarly, a significant majority of online shoppers feel more confident shopping on sites that display the BBBOnLine Privacy Seal. This program helps websites demonstrate their commitment to protecting user privacy. Websites interested in displaying this seal must apply to the BBB, meet specific formatting requirements, and fulfill all statutory obligations related to privacy.

BBB's Role in Combating Online Scams

The BBB actively works to warn the public about scams and misuse of its trademarks. For example, the BBB has issued international alerts regarding individuals misusing BBB and BBBOnLine trademarks to extort money from online shoppers.

A Case Study: The Fake Auto Escrow Scam

In one instance, the BBB received an inquiry from an online shopper seeking an automobile on cars.com. The shopper received a fraudulent email invoice from someone posing as an escrow service. This email falsely displayed cars.com and BBBOnLine banners, along with listings of several legitimate BBB entities like BBB Dispute Resolution and the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB).

The fraudulent email claimed that the Better Business Bureau and cars.com were trusted, neutral third parties and assured buyers they would receive merchandise before the seller was paid. Buyers were instructed to make cash payments via Western Union to an address in Sweden.

Steve Cole, then president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., emphasized that these scam artists were falsely using BBB and BBBOnLine trademarks to inspire trust. The CBBB took action to prevent further victimization by demanding that the individuals involved cease and desist from using BBB trademarks for their extortion schemes.

It's crucial for the public to understand that the Better Business Bureau, BBBOnLine, or any other BBB entity, and cars.com, are not affiliated with such emails. The BBB does not provide escrow services or secure financial transactions. While cars.com does not provide escrow services directly, it does offer consumers access to reputable escrow services through its partnership with escrow.com. Cars.com also explicitly states on its website that it is not involved in transactions between buyers and sellers, and any reference to a "cars.com security center" in such emails is not legitimate.

Chris Long, cars.com's director of product management, advised consumers to use only licensed, reputable escrow services and never blindly accept one proposed by a buyer or seller. He also recommended extreme caution when dealing with parties claiming to do business overseas, as this is often a red flag for fraudulent activity.

Tips from the BBB to Avoid Scams

The BBB advises consumers to take the following precautions:

• Always contact the BBB when you have questions about the legitimacy of an offer or an unknown business entity. You can find your local BBB at www.bbb.org.
• Always check with the BBB if its name is being used in an unusual or questionable manner.
• When you see BBBOnLine Reliability or BBBOnLine Privacy program seals on merchant websites, "click to check" them to verify their authenticity, or visit www.bbbonline.org for a list of merchants meeting BBBOnLine standards.