Need input, should I be a member of the better business bureau? What are the pros and cons?

[Jon]

That a great question.  It suppose it can be useful to fly the BBB sign at the shop, website, ect…I’m sure it will bring in a few people per year.  But other than that, I’ve never been a big fan.  I’ve always felt like the BBB strong arms you joining and buying their membership.  I feel if you run your business the correct way, you won’t need BBB at all.

Here’s a link about you may want to read: http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-bureau-should-give-itself-a-bad-grade/

[oldstyle]

We received a “Torch Award” from BBB and it has been the most effective advertising that I have enjoyed. It was followed up with a local news article about the “humble auto shop”. That was 5 years ago and it is still paying off. Bruce

[Linc]

We are an 8000 sq ft 10 employee repair facility and a AAA Approved Auto Repairer for almost 10 years.

I would not support BBB because of the following :

We had a complaint filed with BBB by a customer who felt our estimate for repair was too high. The customer never had the recommended work done but nonetheless felt a disservice had been cast upon him. We responded to BBB and received a letter within a couple of weeks confirming the non-issue with respect to this compliant.

Upon receipt of their letter I contacted the BBB manager and asked ” will this compliant be removed from our file ” they answered no. The compliant would stay, however, be listed as resolved. That was unacceptable for us. Further attempts to BBB’s next level management was unsuccessful.

I do not believe BBB serves any useful purpose.