So Cal Better Business Bureau fraud

[nate]

This is pretty f'd up.

 

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/03/12/socal-bbb-chapter-kicked-out-for-pay-to-play-scheme/#.UT9HpyRVtao.twitter

[gotbeer]

Hmm.  I always thought that the BBB was a government org and not a private one.  Guess it's as useless as I thought.

[Ray McKigney]

A start up company that I worked for about 5 years ago ran into this issue. The three owners of the company actually had a BBB "salesman" pitch them the A-rating. They wanted them to pay a certain amount of money to get a rating higher than a B. They were informed that it "isn't possible" to get a rating any higher than a B without being a paying member.

[gotbeer]

Wonder how many lawsuits are going to be resulting because of this?

[Ordos]

I remember also running into instances where they would not resolve complaints favorably unless they were paid for membership. Glad they got caught.

[Brandon]

Nothing new here. A lot of the other state and local/city/county entities similar are the same.

On a new start up I started last year I got a line on a guy that has ties and knows the process of these pay for play type gigs. It wasn't discussed at length because it was the least of our worries, but you pay city officials or fees to their company and slap stickers on the front window or hang a plaque up. I think it was more along the lines of having their backing for inspection, permit, and licensing aspects.