Complaint Review: Better Business Bureau - Dallas Texas

I filed a complaint against Choice Homes with the Better Business Bureau. The builder replied with what I felt was an extremely dishonest reply. BBB sent a letter dated May 11. It was meter postmarked for May 16 and arrived on the 17th.

The letter gave me five days to respond. The same day, late at night, I got on the computer to respond, and the case was already closed! It stated on the letter that if we did not respond within 5 days, it would close as "Assumed Satisfied"! Therefore it will reflect to the consumer that all was resolved. This is an outcry! By operating as such, they are intentionally misleading the public.

The city where we live also is involved in having the builder correct the problems. So the city is stating there is a problem while the BBB stated it was "satisfied".

In addition, the BBB does not provide an email address for the Director of Complaint Resolution Department. The phone hours for calling are minimal and we feel we were treated rather rudely by more than one person answering the phone (when we finally were able to speak with someone!)

I belong to a new homeowners organization which specifically addresses issues with homebuilders. It appears that the BBB is quickly losing credibility with members of not only this organization, but several others homeowner organizations we have looked into as well.

Before purchasing our home, we had checked with the BBB and found there to be zero complaints with Choice Homes. After the extensive problems developed, we later discovered that Choice Homes was listed by the BBB twice and we had checked the wrong listing, assuming that they only made one entry. This listing had the same address and office phone number.

I spent much time calling the Better Business Bureau to explain to them that they needed to correct this and they said they would look into it. I called the main headquarters in Virginia, who acknowledged the problem and said it needed to be corrected. As of one month later, it is still not corrected, and as far as I can tell, they have no intentions of making the corrections to ensure that consumers are not mislead.

My suggestion....Don't waste your time with this worthless organization. I feel it is totally misrepresented and in business for the purpose of protecting only the business owners. I feel the Attorney General needs to investigate how this company is operating under the misleading guise of "consumer protection". It is my opinion that their operations are "fraudulous and misleading". The consumer is better off going to check court records, asking previous customers or homebuyers, checking RIPOFFREPORT.COM, Federal Trade Commission, and if your state has one, inquiring of the state contractors board.

Sherry

Midlothian, Texas
U.S.A.

STOP! ..before you think about using the Better Business Bureau (BBB)... CLICK HERE to see how other consumers were victimized by the BBB's false or misleading information. Don't be fooled! It has been reported, when there are thousands of complaints and other investigations underway by authorities, the BBB has no choice but to finally give an UNsatisfactory rating to a BBB member business that is paying the BBB big membership fees every year. When a business is reported that is NOT a BBB member, BBB files WILL more likely show an UNsatisfactory rating, then reportedly shake down that company to become a member of the BBB. One positive thing about the BBB is, either way, if a business has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB, you can be sure, the business is bad. But what about all those BBB member businesses that had complaints filed against them? Consumers never get to hear about them. What about the BBB advertising to the public? Is this a false and misleading perception they are giving about consumer confidence when dealing with a business? Click here to understand more of what consumers and business alike are saying about the BBB. You decide. ..Remember. The BBB membership is not earned, it's paid for!