To help consumers make better decisions on where to spend their hard-earned dollars, Better Business Bureau will now assign letter grades to local businesses ranging from A+ to F. The letter grade system replaces a less-detailed scale of “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” and represents BBB’s degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner.
Consumers can research the grades of more than 14,600 local businesses by reviewing BBB Reliability Reports™, free of charge online at bbb.org.
“Given the current tough economic conditions, consumers literally can’t afford to make bad buying decisions,” said Norman Wright, president and CEO of your BBB serving northwest Florida. “These reports make it extremely easy and convenient for consumers to research and compare local businesses—before they buy.”
BBB’s new letter-grade concept was first developed by BBB|Colton (Los Angeles), and has been test marketed effectively by Colton and several other BBBs (New Mexico, Santa Barbara, Asheville and West Palm Beach). That original concept, with modifications recommended by a national BBB committee is part of BBB’s ongoing commitment to making it easier for consumers to find trustworthy businesses.
BBB’s proprietary ratings formula takes into account 16 weighted factors, using actual incidences of a business’ behavior evaluated by BBB professionals.
Ratings factors include:
- The business’ overall complaint history with BBB
- Whether the business has demonstrated an effort to resolve complaints in a timely manner
- How long the business has been operating and whether it has required licensing
- Whether the business is a BBB Accredited Business, committed to BBB Standards
In its strategy to build trust in the marketplace, BBB also recently changed the way businesses affiliated with the organization were designated, from “BBB Member” to “BBB Accredited Business.” The “Accredited” designation highlights the fact that businesses have been evaluated by BBB and have contractually agreed to meet and uphold BBB’s standards when dealing with consumers.
Both BBB Accredited Businesses and non-Accredited businesses in BBB’s database will receive a letter grade as part of their report.
For more information on BBB ratings and to find out which local businesses made the grade, start with bbb.org.
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