Better Business Bureau STINKS!

I just wanted to post this little warning to all brides that the BBB is completely useless!

In July 2001, I booked my wedding at a private club in Brooklyn. I then proceeded to book the remaining vendors and make all plans for my Oct 2002 wedding around this place.

Come Jan 2002, I find out accidently (never got a call from the hall or manager - found out another way) that due to a change in local laws/ordinances, they would no longer allow me to have music in the ballroom. This was a big problem for me and as a result I had to go on a mad hunt for a new location.

We were lucky in finding a new location for the same date but we did have to replan many items and it ended up costing us a few thousands dollars.

Never received a single apology about the inconvience from the original vendor. In fact, they had the nerve to try to give me a hard time about getting our deposit back and said that it was 'not their responsibility' to inform me of this huge policy change.

I digress....

So i immediately contact the BBB. More for the fact that I wanted future brides to see there were complaints against them rather than actually get any restitution. Several weeks later I checked the clubs BBB rating on the web - no change.

Several months later I receive a request from the BBB for more information in a form letter and fill that out. Several weeks later I checked the clubs BBB rating on the web - still no change.

This week I got a letter from the BBB saying that my complaint did not fall into the scope of the items they handle and to have a good day. Of course, there is still no change to the BBB rating.

So my point is - checking a vendors BBB rating is meaningless. Im sure Im not the only client who has issue with this vendor but the world at large will never know because they have a clean rating.

I agree about the Better Business Bureau - I don't think they are a reliable source of information at all. I actually have a different problem with them. My dad owns a business and a few months back, a customer filed a complaint against him with the BBB. The complaint was completely frivolous and unfounded, but the BBB specifically states that it does not investigate the validity of complaints...it justs posts them. Also, once he had that complaint listed against him, he checked out the ratings of some of his competitors...people he knows run shady businesses and who his customers complain about all the time. They didn't have one complaint listed against them with the BBB! I don't know if it's because they've changed their names so many times or what, but it sounds like a similar problem to what you had Stef.

I don't place much value on a private agency that doesn't investigate any of the complaints filed with it, but my point is that a lot of people do. It's a very misleading agency.

I used to work for a company that got many daily complaints from the BBB (don't ask). I am very familiar with the process, and you all should know that there are many misconceptions about the organization.

They are a private organization. They are not state or federally funded and therefore have no real jurisdiction over any business. They are basically a private mediator. They cannot force a business to take any kind of action, nor can they assign any consequences to the wrong party. They simply try to resovle the issue by sending the company a letter asking for an explanation and a resolution. If the company chooses not to respond, there is no consequence other that the fact that they note on their report about the company that they have not responded to a complaint. If they do respond, they don't have to even resolve the issue. Think of it as a report card for a company. And keep in mind that there is no real recorse for the actions of any of these businesses other than the courts.