BBB ratings switched to letter grades

The Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado has switched its rating system from pass-fail to letter grades on 33,000 businesses in Colorado Springs and Pueblo to provide more detailed information to consumers.

The nonprofit group had previously given businesses only satisfactory or unsatisfactory ratings and has been trying to switch to a letter-grade system ranging from A+ to F since October 2007.

That was also when it adopted several other changes, including calling its members "accredited" businesses instead of members to reflect that they have been investigated and met the bureau's standards for customer service and resolving complaints.

"This is good for good businesses and bad for bad businesses. We have been hearing for some time that our reports on businesses are not clear enough," said Carol Odell, executive director and chief executive of the local group. "This is something we have wanted to do for more than a year, but it turned out to be more of challenge. It took awhile to refine the process and get everyone to agree to this system."

The local bureau's 3,100 accredited businesses have to maintain at least a B grade to keep that status; the seven that received lower grades have a year to bring up their grade to that level or lose the bureau's accreditation, Odell said.

About 750 southern Colorado businesses and charities received a failing grade in reports posted Monday on the local bureau's Web site - www.southerncolorado.bbb.org.

The grades are based on how long a business has been operating, whether the business has a government license, whether government actions have been taken against the business, the number of complaints filed by customers, whether those complaints were resolved in a timely manner, and other factors.

The local bureau unveiled the ratings during a news conference Monday at Colorado Technical University attended by about 50 local businesses.

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