BBB Extortion Scheme / Cliff Kurt "Investigator" bbb / better business bureau is a proven extorter / blackmailer of businesses. They call, email, and harrass you to get information from you to get you to pay them momey. They accept bogus complaints from people who have no legitimate complaint and then try to get you to pay or you're name will be negatively impacted. They do not update records for non-paying customers as 20/20 and many others people have found. No self-respecting person should participate in the bbb extortion scheme. Arlington Virginia

BBB Extortion Scheme / Cliff Kurt Investigator

BBB Small Business Extortion Scheme

If you do not want to read further, just know that no self-respecting person or business owner would ever pay money to the BBB extortion / blackmail machine.

Don't take our word for it, search the Internet (BBB / Extortion), ABC News, 20/20, etc. They are a disgraceful organization and are not in it to help consumers, only to line their pockets and harrass honest people and businesses.

Also know that 1 in 10,000 people ever searches the better business bureau before doing business with a company. They don't do it. You are horribly naive if you think they do. The BBB has also ruined their reputation so badly that even seeing one of their logos on your website does nothing for you. A bbb symbol on your site only idicates you're incredibly naive. Spend the blackmail money you give them on advertising or something useful. The bbb does NOT equate to more business for business. This is a well documented fact.

After repeated and documented attempts to have the BBB stop harrassing our company through their phone calls and emails, they again today did not respect our request and they called one of our 800 numbers. Cliff Kurt left an obnoxious message in which he actually read information directly from our website as if this was a reason to call them back. Cliff Kurt is exactly what is wrong with America.

Keep in mind, they have their spiel all worked out. They want details from you to implemented their extortion. They will ask you for address, owners names, etc. under the guise of saying, "we just want to know so when people call to enquire we can give them correct information". That was Clifford Kurt's tactic, but we know where he's going with this and we're not participating.

Clifford Kurt of Martinsburg, who was married to Shelley Aikens on Sept. 19, 2009, at the train station in Shepherdstown, ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Earl Hairston, was the latest person to call and harrass our company.

As we told him, we will never succumb to their documented lies and tactics to bring us on as new customers. They are no different than the mob that shakes down businesses in the area. Kurt was incredibly rude and obnoxious throughout the phone call and kept offending the person that was speaking to them. For example, he kept saying "what kind of a man doesn't give their name or calls from a block number". A man that doesn't wish to participate in small business extortion.

Kurt's a long-time operative for the BBB. He seems to be in some kind of Lead Extortionist role. He came across to us as completely unprofessional, manipulative, angry, and just an overall rude and vindictive person. He even is referred to on the Internet as an investigator. An investigator? Really. The BBB needs investigators. Extortionists is a better way to put it. You get the point.

The BBB's mission is to garner as many complaints as possible, whether true or not, most of them are from competitors or mentally disturbed consumers by the way, and then investigate companies to try and get them to pay. DO NOT DO IT. NEVER ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH THE BBB. You can contact him. Clifford Kurt, Council of Better Business Bureaus, ckurt@council.bbb.org, 703.247.9391

Let's be objective and clear regarding the BBB. The BBB is not about protecting consumers. The Better Business Bureau is nothing but a legalized blackmailing and extortion racket that makes money from fees. They are no different than the mafia in our opinion.

They accept any form of a complaint whether the complaint is legitimate or not and then continue to harrass the business in hopes that they will open an account and pay them a fee. If you reply to a complaint, and you are not a BBB paying member, your account will continue to show either UNSATISFACTORY and UNANSWERED.

By federal law, the BBB must keep the same records for both members as non-members and give out the same to inquiring consumers. The BBB does not practice this. That has been proven. They allow allow non-members records to stay negative even when answered, and paying members records are updated with accurate information immediately on request by the business.

This is extortion. This is blackmail.

Again, businesses should be aware that consumers almost NEVER make the effort to search the BBB before doing business with a company. You may think they do, but they do not. You are wasting your money. You are mistaken to think that because you have a BBB logo on your site that this is resulting in additional business for you. You are horribly naive if you believe this. Take that same money and do something useful with it.

Anybody, real or fake, can file bogus claims with the BBB. People and competitors do this all of the time to try and damage the reputation of quality businesses. The BBB accepts anything. We were shown an actual BBB complaint that said the person was mad because they felt an email they received from a business was rude! Really? That is the kind of complaint they accept. I guess they will take anything if it means the can have a chance to extor money from a person or business.

Again, the main mission of the BBB is to not help consumers, it is to collect dues from businessess, period.

NO SELF-RESPECTING PERSON OR BUSINESS SHOULD EVER BECOME A MEMBER OF THE BBB.

Go ahead, see where your dues go.. Non-profit? They have people being paid over $3-400,000

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-best-ratings-money-buy/story?id=12123843

"Right now, this rating system is really unworthy of consumer trust or confidence," said Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal in an interview to be broadcast as part of an ABC News investigation airing tonight on 20/20.

In an official demand letter sent to the national headquarters of the Better Business Bureau Thursday, Blumenthal called on the BBB to stop using its grading system, which he said was "potentially harmful and misleading" to consumers.

They're more interested in the money than their credibility. Do not support the long-standing BBB tactics of intimidation and coercion of businesses across the US.