YOU MUST SPEND TIME READING THESE ARTICLES ON THE BBB OTHERWISE YOU WILL CONTINUE TO BE LIED TOO!!!!
The article below sums up the TRUTH ABOUT THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU. Read it and immediately share it with friends and spread the word not to do business with sites and brick and mortar stores that sport the BBB logo. If you notice they give the credit for having ratings even before the year is even here. For example, the logo might say member of the BBB in good standing throught 2011. Well 2011 is not even here yet but since the business owner paid the dues they get to sport to you the consumer the BBB logo. I will post three companies here in Nashville and nationwide area that have over 300 complaints and all of them have A+ BBB ratings. That's right A+. Just look at the number of complaints and they still have an A+ rating.
#1 Video Professor - http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/computers-training/video-professor-in-denver-co-15503
#2 Asurion Cell Phone Insurance - http://www.bbb.org/nashville/business-reviews/insurance-companies/asurion-insurance-services-in-nashville-tn-2131781
#3 Car Max - http://www.bbb.org/richmond/business-reviews/auto-dealers-new-cars/carmax-inc-in-glen-allen-va-4008970/
When you support businesses that are members of the BBB you are supporting racism. I wonder how many people of color work in this organization. If you know someone email me. Having diversity is Better Business but you won't find that in the BBB. They will falsify to the media and other agencies information in order to oppress some businesses. especially the ones who are not a member of the BBB. For example, why do you think when the recent earthquake hit in Haiti, the BBB and the Washington Post immediately slandered Wycliff John's' Yele foundation worldwide saying his organization is not to be trusted. Lastly, when a ex-company does not want to re-new their membership there is no enforcement to have them remove the BBB logo sticker or other information which again leave unreading clients thinking that the business they are sitting is is good based on something that is not even current and is a Sham anyway. If you want to support racism then keep usesing companies that pay to play with the BBB.
Click link to see article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504024.html
The reason they did is so that any money that you the consumer give can go to their members, supporters and to keep blacks economically deprived. This man is haitian born but no way did they want his group to succeed so they slandered him but you will not hear them slander the people who took millions from Katrina, 911 and other tragedy's like people in the United Way who retire behind incidents filthy rich. By the way the ravished areas of NO are still oppressed and there is still no memorial at the 911 site but three digit millions were donated. They flat out lied on me saying they met with me when in actuality I met with them. But in order to justify their existence they will do whatever they have to to keep businesses down and oppress black businesses. Once I post the contact info you can order active products against the BBB.
This article can be found by clicking here http://www.thebluesmokeband.com/bbb.php. But I posted it for your convenience.
The Better Business Bureau:
It's not what you think!
Living a dream, I recently filed a "Fictitious Business Name" with Riverside County in California. This is public information, much like getting a mortgage and transfer of property title. In one sense, this simply means that you get a lot of telemarketing calls. This is all fine and dandy – in fact, the fact that there is a wealth of public information out there is somewhat comforting. Enter The Better Business Bureau. Until last week, I thought that the BBB was a government-run organization, funded by my tax dollars. I thought that it was a neutral observer of business standards and practices, a place where one could get information on a legitimate business or where one could lodge a formal complaint against a shady one. Just about none of this is true.
The BBB is not run by the government, but they do a lot of business with the FTC — at least that's what I hear. They are a non-profit, charity organization known as a 501(c)(3). This means that whatever money you donate to their cause is tax-deductible. The money that you donate is supposed to go into programs and charitable causes. The organization is supposed to report their income, report their board of directors, report about their programs, and so on. This information appears on IRS form 990.
990s are public information. So, with my wife's help, I got hold of the 990 for our local BBB. Turns out, they report no income, no board of directors, no contractors who earn over $50,000 per year, and they have no programs. All they appear to have is -$849 in assets. This is, to say the least, shady.
You might ask, "Why is he so interested in the BBB?" They cold called me. Mind you, this was back when (last week) I thought that they were a legitimate organization. It went something like this:
The "Guy" called and said that he was from the Better Business Bureau. My ears perked up: I thought either I have already done something wrong (!), or that they are a really conscientious organization interested in how I conduct my affairs. He said that he wanted to set up an appointment to visit my business. When I balked, he said that he could just ask me some questions over the phone. So I assented. He asked questions that were already answered on the county DBA filing, so I answered diligently, thinking that he was probably checking up on me to verify if I had been honest on the DBA application. He finished his simple questions (e.g., do you have employees? How long have you been in business? What is the nature of the business?), and told me:
It costs $465 a year and that will carry you through June 2006. We take credit cards or check by phone. I was floored. The "Guy" cold-called me and thought that I'd start doling out credit card numbers? Insane. I asked him, "Excuse me, you can't bill?" He answered, "We do credit cards or check by phone." Wary of phishing schemes, I told him that I had no way to know that he was who he claimed to be and that he would have to give me his information and I would call back if I was interested.
He gave me the information, and there started the investigation.
There are a lot of problems, right from the start — even before you start reading the complaints against the BBB. Most importantly, there is the obvious conflict-of-interest problem. They take "subscription" or "membership" donations from businesses. This means that businesses are the BBB's source of income (even though they don't report income). But businesses are their object of complaint. So, if I as a consumer complain to the BBB, I'm complaining about one of their sources of income. Obviously, this is a problem. The problems run deeper. An hour or so after they talked to me, my business appeared on their web site (if you're interested, find the Southern California BBB site and look for "Bluewood Designs"; I resist linking to them). The information on the site is the information that I told them over the phone.
They never confirmed that information. Furthermore, they assigned me a "BB" rating. This means, paraphrased, that they have no reason to believe that anyone would have trouble doing business with me.
This is true, to some extent — they have no reason to think much of anything about me because, well, they know virtually nothing about me. What's curious is that many other local businesses, who are members of the BBB, have "A" or higher ratings. Hmmm. I wonder what my rating would be if I paid for a "membership".
More curious, and again I encourage anyone to look this stuff up, I checked out the local Wal-Mart: they are a "member" of the BBB. They have had one complaint against them, but it apparently was resolved. So, they have an "AA" rating. I checked out the local Lowe's. They have 14 unresolved complaints against them and have an "F" rating. They are not members of the BBB. What makes this case curious, in my estimation, is the number of lodged complaints. These stores are no more than a couple of miles from each other and so have basically the same customer base. I find it impossible to believe that the BBB has only received one complaint against Wal-Mart and 14 against Lowe's. This makes me suspect that a) the BBB is not recording complaints against their members; b) the BBB is not recording responses from non-members; c) the BBB might be "creating" complaints against non-members. Or some combination of these or others. That last point is one that I've now read about (check out badbusinessbureau.com for more). Somehow this doesn't seem unreasonable — I consider how much due diligence the BBB did to get my business information. I imagine that they do similar diligence on complaints that they receive.
Speaking of how complaints go, a friend of mine, let's call him "Scott", lodged a complaint with the BBB against a local car dealership. The dealership had tried to make him replace a $500 part on his car when it was really just a fuse that had blown. That complaint, on the BBB web site, is listed as resolved. This is probably because "Scott" grew tired of the paperwork and didn't pursue the complaint further. The BBB let it end. The car dealership is a member of the BBB. They have a "B" rating and 14 complaints.
But Scott felt that he had lodged a complaint with a reputable organization and that something might be done about their business practices. This is not the case, for the BBB has no authority over businesses and no significant legal influence with state or county authorities. Yet arguably, they market themselves as having that kind of authority. This succeeds to dupe consumers into thinking that their complaints will actually be heard by someone who can or will do something about it. In the case of my friend, this stopped him from taking the complaint to an authority, such as the state Attorney General.
There are numerous other resources and anecdotes about the BBB out there on the web. This article aims only to raise a healthy suspicion about the organization and to encourage business owners and consumers to proceed with caution when doing business with the Better Business Bureau.
One final irony: if you have a complaint against the Better Business Bureau, you can't file it with the Better Business Bureau. And just as Groucho Marx once quipped that he would never join a club that would have him as a member, the Better Business Bureau is not a member of its own organization.
Maybe it's all a big joke?
© 2005 Sorrell
May
When you go to a business online or offline that has a BBB Logo insinuating that it is BBB accredited, don't buy from them. Call that busines and ask them what they did to earn the accreditation? Ask them how much did they pay for the status? Most of all ask them when did the BBB came out to survey their business and its conduct? Lastly ask them when they will be back to see them after they get their membership fee? Don't assume that because a business anywhere has a BBB logo that they are honest and trustworthy. Quite the contrary if you research some of your larger businesses you will discover that they have membership ties to the BBB and will inksteal you blind. It took more than 3,000 complaints for Kathleen Culligan President of he Nashville BBB to finally mention to the public in Nashville anything about the now Bankrupt Bill Heard Chevrolet. It took that many times because most complaints were from minorities in that area and only when a few whites started gripping did it become a problem. They allowed them to extort these minority families and these families had no recourse because any money that could have spent on an attorney was extorted from them at this dealership. If you have a news story that the news will not tell or a bad experience with the BBB you can post it on my upcoming blog spot and I will highlight it on this website and broadcast it on other spots.
The BBB is a legal way to allow businesses to buy status for a fee since the State is not suppossed to discriminate against businesses and accept payment to offer businesses status or favors. The operative word is no suppossed to. So your local BBB is a good ole boy network that allows you to pay to play. Access the Nashville, TN branches tax records and see how much money they filed and then go look at the building they operate out of downtown Nashville and then you be the judge as to who is misleading consumers. It takes money to operate this so called charity and they make a lot of it both tax deduction wise and membership fees and do absolutely nothing on behalf of the communitie`s they exist in except throw lavish parties for the elite. Where are their programs to help struggling businesses or training of any kind? If you are a member you get a good rating and media protection and almost have to assasinate someone for them to take any action.
YOU MUST READ THE INFO POSTED FROM THE LINK BELOW
Also, that membership fee has gone up to $500.00 and something dollars.
See this link for other truthful reading about the BBB
Other Articles About the BBB -
http://atlantiscarpetcleaning.com/#/bbb-rating/4535745563
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/52516/22Feb2010/Better_Business_Bureau_useless/44
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE NASHVILLE BBB BRANCH
In March or April of 2008, I initiated a call to the Nashville Better Business Bureau to set up a personal meeting with them to share evidence with them regarding recent complaints that had come in to them regarding Jones Memorials/Half Off Stones customers and to visually introduce myself to them to reassure them that I was doing what I could to move things along as quickly as possible but had ran into some set backs that would take a little time to overcome. Of course they took credit in their report as always as they have improperly lied to the public by saying they met with me with the implication being they initiated the meeting.
Upon arriving we greeted and introduced ourselves as I stood near a round table with 2 ladies one being Jennifer Smith and the other lady of whose name I cannot recall standing nearby as well. I wanted to meet with them to put a face with the issue and at the time of the meeting I had brought along a cassette tape recorder and one of my initial statements was do I need to have an attorney present and may I use this tape recorder to record this session to make sure that we don't get things crossed up. Immediately, they both responded, no there is no need for an attorney or a tape recorder and they stated that they were glad I took the time out to come in and meet with them. Next, I stated that I was not there in fear but that I wanted to give them the facts of why there had been delays and what my plan was to get things moving again. Both responded that I did not look like what they had in mind of what a memorialist would look like. Of course I did not go and visit them in my dusty work clothes but wore a casual suit with no tie and right from the start they judged me wrongly based on clothes. Doing memorials is anything less than dusty and tough work and I stated to them that this was not the first time I had heard that and it was not the last time I have heard this stereotype since going through this from others involved in this investigation.
So, to back track, first I showed them picture evidence of an accident that happened on 9/30/2005 which was near fatal to the extent that the truck was totally burned and of course everything that was in it and had I not gotten out of it probably would've been dead. SEE PICTURES. I explained to them that I was on my way to Georgia to pick up blank material and was only about 20 minutes away from home and was struck from behind for a total loss and that because of the accident orders that had been pending material pick up for completion were then delayed until I could get the insurance worked out and then get another truck and resume business. An email was sent out to all of my clients and many understood, were understanding and compassionate and allowed me time to recover and as soon as I could I scheduled a trip again to pick up the material and brought it back and then completed and shipped their stones.
I also showed them other factual documents of where a police report was filed for key operational items that were stolen in April of 2007 along with shipping invoices for completed items for some of the backorder clients. Many of the negatives were updated to settled as soon as the client received their products within the BBB’s records.
The BBB themselves acknowledged to me that they were concerned because prior to 2005 – 2006 that they were getting a lot of positive inquiry’s and they thought that I should become a BBB member and I stated to them that I tried to do business down the middle and did not feel that I needed to join and pay money for endorsement. Of course as I went over details to them they starred at me like I was speaking spanish, maybe because they did not understand the process of memorial making or because I looked to clean cut to be doing tombstones to them or because they thought I was just another guy trying to get over. I explained to them that there were crucial steps to getting a monument done correctly and that my set backs were really unavoidable and I hoped that my meeting with them would be an honest gesture to defuse some of the flames.
Lastly, I informed them that a lot of the accusations were false and were completely fueled by Henry Wayne Monk a fired disgruntled employee whom I fired for using my business contacts, content and customers to re-open his once owned Monk Memorials monument. He stole whatever he could from me, money, information, forwarded emails to his personal account to work later, gave out his own phone number for clients to reach him at his own personal number versus giving them the company provided number he was supposed to use. Now in case some of you do not know, Henry Wayne Monk is white and I am black and you say what does that have to do with anything. Well keep reading and you will see. The meeting went well I thought and we politely concluded it and so I went home changed clothes and went back to work.
Now this meeting was again in April of 2008, I had finally gotten the work area enclosed through the winter months, I had partially restored the website that had been interrupted due to Henry Wayne’s Monk identity theft which allowed him to have it shut down which in turn made finances even tighter because new orders could not come in to keep things going. I had finally gotten most of the material ordered during the winter months on site from the quarry and set up like you see it today in order to pull from it to engrave and ship the orders and then right at the brink of recovery along came and then along comes the negative media reports.
Keep in mind that I am having to pay the same inflationary prices as other businesses on things vital to business like gas to drive operate equipment, material etc. Cost went up overnight to say the least! However, I was optimistic to keep on engraving and do what I could with what I had to keep on trucking by snow balling any profits from any new orders to continue to ship out old orders. Finally, you get to a point where there is more going out than coming in and there is only one result from this. Business Collapse!! Devastation is an understatement to describe my feelings. I had finally gotten the work area just like I wanted it and then the recession started to squeeze and then the website is highjacked and then the media is spreading info and then income is challenged and them jobs are scarce and then the bottom falls out. For the record, I asked all media sources that I spoke with on site to consider the facts and material and evidence they witnessed to run the story in a positive way in order to be a part of the solution instead of adding to the problem, you know like one of those help through hard times stories they do for people that they don’t even know any of the facts on that. Each one of them Nancy Case Fox, Andy Cordan News 2, news four reporter can’t recall her name now and news 5 as well that I spoke with on site was amazed at what they saw when they actually turned the corner and came around to the actual work area that they could not see from the road but of course they had to run their story for the bucks and not out of benevolence and certainly not when Henry Wayne Monk who was white had so clearly informed them wrongly about me who was black.
This same media still refuses to inform Nashville about him and just added him with me in their reports after the truth about him was known to them. I will post emails I sent to each of them. Instead of running and filing bankruptcy I decided to perservere and was still making small progress to recover and then came the arrest. With that came loss of job, 2 months in jail before making bail and criminal court and a $300,000 civil judgement that has banned me from doing cemetery memorials in the state of TN. In one of the worst economies ever I am banned and yes there are jobs but not a lot of them so there you have it. Muhammad Ali was banned, Ray Charles was banned, Bob Marley was banned, Nelson Mandela imprisoned and Chuck Berry imprisoned and many others and now I am banned. All of these decisions against these individuals had one underlying component to arrive at these decisions to ban. See if you can figure out what it was.
Sincerely,
Marcus D. Jones