What are the pros and cons of the Better Business Bureau (BBB)? Businesses build relationships of trustworthiness and reliability to acquire and maintain their customer pool. This trust is earned over a period by executing ethical business practices and providing high-quality customer services.
People are always asking for recommendations before choosing any brand to assess the transparency of any business, getting saved from scams and facing poor customer service.
Hence a tool or scale is always required to rate the businesses and Better Business Bureau (BBB) serves this purpose. It also acts as an intermediate party between companies and the public and facilitates customers by providing necessary information and ensuring compliance with business rules and regulations.
BBB rates companies on a standard scale that is set by this organization, based on certain factors. Like every system it also has its pros and cons, let’s have a look into them.
PROS
Helps in Building Customer Trust
BBB website is among the top 300 most-visited websites in the United States which shows that the public and other stakeholders trust and explore BBB accredited companies before shopping or getting services. Its logo has earned customers’ reliance and positivity and acts as another layer of credibility.
Source of Information
BBB provides reasonable information about companies and their market-related data, to the general public. Furthermore, they are responsible for raising awareness among customers by highlighting customers’ rights and providing a course of action to address potential issues.
Dispute Handler
Problems can occur between a company and its customers or stakeholders. BBB is a middleman that serves as a problem and dispute handler in a time-saving and cost-effective way. This also helps in avoiding long legal proceedings.
CONS
Exposure Decline
Today, it is not difficult to do online research about companies by sitting at your home. People go to websites and explore products and services by checking reviews before shopping. The extent of reaching BBB to get information about any company is decreasing.
Biases
According to some critics, BBB is having biased behavior towards businesses and it does not honestly rate the businesses’ performance. The rating scale is self-regulated by BBB and it accesses the firms on its own standards.
Annual Charges
Depending on the size and type of business, BBB charges an annual fee for the services it provides as a middleman. Other than that, there are membership charges for taking preference services in disputed situations.
All these fees put a monetary burden on companies which restrict many small enterprises especially, from getting hooked with BBB.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) serves as a mediator between businesses and the public or other stakeholders. It makes sure that there is no violence against consumer’s rights along with educating them about their responsibilities.
It has both, advantages and disadvantages like every system. Benefiting the customers by providing information, building a relationship of harmony and effectively handling issues are the plus points for BBB accredited businesses.
However, there are some problems associated in case of hooking with BBB as well. It depends on each business whether to go for BBB accreditation or not according to their preferences and priorities.
