- Report: #5253
Complaint Review: Better Business Bureau BBB - Massachusetts
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Better Business Bureau BBB
Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
BBB Better Business Bureau victimized me too what a joke they are. *REBUTTAL*EDitor's Comment
I find your stories concerning the BBB very interesting.
I too, found the BBB NOT to be helpful. Several years ago, I hired a heating "expert" to put a radiator in an addition on my house, attaching it to my existing heating system. After completion, the radiator never worked correctly. I had no heat from the radiator and had water spurting out the top, similar to a whale spouting water.
When I contacted the BBB they said I needed to file a complaint I decided first to try mediation through a local community college. Little did I know it was a student handling my case. He never contacted me, and when I called him after 2 months, he took sides with the plumber and said I didn't have a case! It is forbidden for mediators to take sides, but he did just that.
At this point, I had not filed a complaint with the BBB, but I proceeded to take the heating expert to small claims court and I won even though he hired a lawyer and I represented myself with no attorney!
Then I contacted the BBB in writing with copy of my victorius win from the court. However, the BBB didn't do anything about making the public aware of this because "unfortunately I hadn't filed a claim first." So when I go to their website now and see that this plumber is in good standing, it makes me angry. He is not an honest and reliable person.
Now, when I go to the BBB's website, I take any reports about the quality of companies with a grain of salt. I also have little faith in the BBB, their policies, and the way they rate companies.
I applaud your efforts and wish you well in your endeavor.
P.S. I also feel similar about my State Attorney General's Office here in Massachusetts. I have had different problems over the years and they always refer me to the community college mediator program, which is a joke! No wonder there are so many unscrupulous companies in operation. Little is done about them unless there are hundreds and hundreds of complaints and the
Attorney General's Office files a class action suit.
For small rip-offs, the consumer is at the mercy of these dishonest "businessmen," unless of course, you have money to hire a lawyer which will cost more than the job that wasn't
done right!
Sincerely
DLF
aol5-24
I too, found the BBB NOT to be helpful. Several years ago, I hired a heating "expert" to put a radiator in an addition on my house, attaching it to my existing heating system. After completion, the radiator never worked correctly. I had no heat from the radiator and had water spurting out the top, similar to a whale spouting water.
When I contacted the BBB they said I needed to file a complaint I decided first to try mediation through a local community college. Little did I know it was a student handling my case. He never contacted me, and when I called him after 2 months, he took sides with the plumber and said I didn't have a case! It is forbidden for mediators to take sides, but he did just that.
At this point, I had not filed a complaint with the BBB, but I proceeded to take the heating expert to small claims court and I won even though he hired a lawyer and I represented myself with no attorney!
Then I contacted the BBB in writing with copy of my victorius win from the court. However, the BBB didn't do anything about making the public aware of this because "unfortunately I hadn't filed a claim first." So when I go to their website now and see that this plumber is in good standing, it makes me angry. He is not an honest and reliable person.
Now, when I go to the BBB's website, I take any reports about the quality of companies with a grain of salt. I also have little faith in the BBB, their policies, and the way they rate companies.
I applaud your efforts and wish you well in your endeavor.
P.S. I also feel similar about my State Attorney General's Office here in Massachusetts. I have had different problems over the years and they always refer me to the community college mediator program, which is a joke! No wonder there are so many unscrupulous companies in operation. Little is done about them unless there are hundreds and hundreds of complaints and the
Attorney General's Office files a class action suit.
For small rip-offs, the consumer is at the mercy of these dishonest "businessmen," unless of course, you have money to hire a lawyer which will cost more than the job that wasn't
done right!
Sincerely
DLF
aol5-24
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Cindy
Edmond,Oklahoma,
U.S.A.
We were misled by the BBB too, and so were many others
#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, December 31, 2002
When we were researching builders before buying a new home the BBB told us there were "no complaints" on our builder. We now are living a nightmare due to defects and omissions of material that our builder covered up and refused to fix under warranty. To make a long story short, we found others with problems with this builder who had filed complaints before we bought. Thus, we were lied to by the BBB and it has cost us nearly three years of our lives and thousands of dollars to lawyers and structural engineers, etc. Now, nearly three years after complaints that we know of were being filed, the BBB in Oklahoma City has FINALLY changed this builder's rating so that it reflects that there have been some complaints. That's far too late for dozens of people here who bought homes built by this con artist before he left the state and left the home owners without their warranty work completed. Anyone that thinks you can just "get a lawyer" and it's all taken care of has NOT been thru this...most lawyers don't take these cases because they don't pay well enough to interest them. The BBB could have divulged complaints as they mislead the public into thinking they do, and saved many of us a huge problem. But instead they lied and covered up, while calling themselves a consumer orgainization. What a cruel joke. We eventually located many other unhappy customers of our builder on the ripoffreport.com site, and also www.hadd.com The so-called public records in this state are not so public, and the BBB should be shut down for misrepresentation. It is NOT a consumer organization, it is a BUSINESS organization.
Bridgett
weymouth,Massachusetts,
you are so right
#3Consumer Comment
Sat, September 21, 2002
How true it is you file a report and it gets ignored without the proper amount of green back lubrication-- I have had many similar experiences just another way of proving the the state does not know what it's doing and doesn't care unless YOU PAY FOR IT
Until you file a complaint everything is only 'hearsay' or gossip. ..plus *EDitor's comment
#40
Wed, June 20, 2001
This email is a rebuttal to RipOff #5253.
It was sent by Ivy at [email protected].
BBB Better Business Bureau victimized me too ..what a joke they are.(#5253)
They filed the following rebuttal to the above Rip-Off Report:
Their email: [email protected]
Their name: Ivy
Their phone number: 6045839667
Their relationship to the company: REBUTTAL
Rebuttal:
How can you blame the BBB for what happened? You are the one who chose NOT to file a complaint with them, therefore it is YOUR fault they are still listed as a member in good standing! Do you really think they can take credibility from a company without first having a report filed?
Until you file a complaint everything is only 'hearsay' or gossip. It was in your hands and you didn't accept the BBB's help and instead went to a college for guidance?? And you didn't know it would be a STUDENT that was mediating?? Come on! Think about it! It's a COLLEGE!? Did you think you'd get the Supreme Courts?
The BBB is a business that has to maintain some fair reporting standards, otherwise they would be drowning in slanderous reports from vengful people and would lack the facts to back them up. Like anywhere else, there is a procedure that has to be followed....you never did start this procedure so what can you expect?
:::::::::::::::::end of REBUTTAL
EDitor's Comment:::::::::::::
Obviously, this person writing the REBUTTAL works for the BBB or is some sort of a die-hard member.
The person who filed the complaint above did send a letter. Simply, the BBB could haven take a moment to enter that information into the file of the ''heating expert'' so unsuspecting consumers would know in the future. Even IF the victimized consumer had filed an official complaint, the BBB would never tell them anything about any specific complaint. Never. The BBB would simply say, satisfactory or unsatisfactory rating. Maybe they would include information like they have answered complaints in the past. You might hear the words, resolved or unresolved. ..You will never ever know what the complaint was. BBB will tell you how long the business was in business. A business can provide what ever they want about them selves to the BBB. The BBB does no verification.
