The Online Business Bureau is NOT a BETTER Business Bureau Washington, District of Columbia

After reading the reports on OBB, I've decided not to join.  But, I also have a comment about the Better Business Bureau and THEIR registration "rules".

I started my business, using my own name, in 1994. In 1996 I took it online and--the following year--registered the name, Best Prices Storable Foods.  I later contacted the Better Business Bureau and asked for membership, figuring it might help sales.  All of our customers had been very happy with us. We had no known complaints. No product returns.

Heh.

I was rejected because of the business name, "Best Prices".  They said I'd have to prove to them that I had the best prices.

I asked them why they gave BEST BUY membership.  Did Best Buy have to prove that they had the "best buy"??

The BBB had no answer to that.  (Maybe it was because we were doing only a million-a-year in sales and Best Buy does a billion-a-year?)  I haven't yet researched if other companies with names starting with Best have been granted membership....

My point in all this is that the BBB DOES discriminate in awarding/denying membership, and--if they rate the OBB with an F--that, in and of itself, tells me nothing about the reliability of the OBB ... from personal experience with the BBB.  They MAY just resent that they didn't think of the name first!

They arenot called the online BETTER business bureau for a reason! Their trusted site endorsements (for scams like A1 Marketing Unlimited) mean trouble.