High standards keep members on toes

With money tighter than ever, consumers are better scrutinizing who they do business with, says the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado Springs.

Visits to the BBB's Web site have spiked in recent months, said Katie Carol, director of media relations and communications.

"We provide the public with objective information so they have the opportunity to make an informed decision before making a purchase," Carol said in an e-mail statement.

In its 29th year, the BBB of Southern Colorado, which serves 25 counties, is part of a national network of bureaus that strive to promote and foster the highest ethical relationship between businesses and the public through voluntary self-regulation and education, Carol said.

In an interview, she answered questions about the BBB.

Question: What services do you provide?

Answer: The most important thing we offer is information about businesses. That information includes how long they've been in business, who the owner is, where they're located, type of business, any type of government action they're involved with, such as licensing.

The most important thing is our rating system, which grades businesses from A-plus to F.

Q: Explain the ratings.

A: It's just like in school. A-plus is best. F means fail. It's based on 16 different variables plugged into a formula. Variables include type of industry, length of time in business, complaint history, whether they've made a good-faith effort to respond to complaints, licensing compliance, pending governmental actions and adherence to the BBB's advertising review process, which looks at whether their ads are on the up and up, and whether they deliver what they say they'll deliver.

Q: How does a consumer report a business with which they've had a bad experience, and does it have an impact?

A: Between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. we have people on hand to take complaints by phone.

Consumers can call us and ask about this company or tell us about a situation. Or, they can go to southerncolorado.bbb.org to file a complaint.

We send complaints to the business. If they are a member, an accredited business, they have agreed to respond or make a good-faith attempt to make it right.

Most companies we send complaints to are not members. We have 33,000 companies in our database and only 3,000 are members.

If they don't respond, there's nothing we can do. That goes into the formula for their rating.

Members who violate the BBB Code of Business Practices answer to a standards committee, comprised of the director of operations and people from our board, which decides whether to revoke their membership. And that does happen once or twice a month.

Q: With the economy suffering, have you seen a drop in membership?

A: Actually, we've seen a slight uptick.

Q: Why is that?

A: Because now more than ever they have competition. Consumers are being careful about spending money, and they want to know they're spending with a company they trust. It's important to differentiate yourself from other companies. By being a member, a company has agreed to behave according to a code of business practices. That means you tell the truth, advertise honestly, have integrity, honor your promises and safeguard people's privacy. Usually in a bad economy, marketing and PR are the first to go. That's the worst time for it to go.

Q: Have more consumers been inquiring about companies in the last several months?

A: Inquiries by phone and the Web site have decreased a tiny bit, but not that much. We get roughly 25,000 inquiries a month.

The way we serve you best is to offer this nationwide database where you can look up a business and hire a trustworthy company before you get ripped off.

-

Call the writer at 636-0238.