What Happened to My Unanswered BBB Complaint?

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What Happened to My Unanswered BBB Complaint? Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 by Leslie Kish Leslie Kish \| Director, Operations & Accreditation Complaint information is one of the key components of a BBB Reliability Report and a major factor in a company’s BBB letter grade. From time to time, Cincinnati BBB gets calls from consumers who are wondering how a company can have an A rating or a “no complaint” report when they had filed a complaint at some point in the past. BBB reports are based on a three-year reporting period. The three-year time frame pertains to most of the information in a BBB report including complaints and government actions. This means that complaints filed by consumers are listed in the BBB Reliability Report for three years. After three years, the complaint, regardless of its outcome, expires and is no longer included in the report or factored into the rating. The complaint data in BBB Reliability Reports is updated daily as old complaints expire and new complaints are added. So why three years? I’m not exactly sure how BBB arrived at the three year period but I do know the theory behind it. BBBs want to focus on the most pertinent information to consumers making purchasing decisions today. We understand that over time businesses change – there is employee turn-over, changes in management, changes in advertising, products, policies and technologies. All of these things can impact the complaints that a company receives and how they handle them. BBB also wants to encourage businesses to use complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve their practices and that should be reflected in the Reliability Report. Chances are if a company has big problems that they fail to correct, new complaints will be filed to replace those that drop off after three years. If you have questions about BBB Reliability Reports or Ratings, please post your comments or email me. Your questions may be answered in an upcoming post.

What Happened to My Unanswered BBB Complaint?

Posted Monday, November 16, 2009

by Leslie Kish

Leslie Kish | Director, Operations & Accreditation

Complaint information is one of the key components of a BBB Reliability Report and a major factor in a company’s BBB letter grade. From time to time, Cincinnati BBB gets calls from consumers who are wondering how a company can have an A rating or a “no complaint” report when they had filed a complaint at some point in the past. BBB reports are based on a three-year reporting period. The three-year time frame pertains to most of the information in a BBB report including complaints and government actions. This means that complaints filed by consumers are listed in the BBB Reliability Report for three years. After three years, the complaint, regardless of its outcome, expires and is no longer included in the report or factored into the rating. The complaint data in BBB Reliability Reports is updated daily as old complaints expire and new complaints are added.

So why three years? I’m not exactly sure how BBB arrived at the three year period but I do know the theory behind it. BBBs want to focus on the most pertinent information to consumers making purchasing decisions today. We understand that over time businesses change – there is employee turn-over, changes in management, changes in advertising, products, policies and technologies. All of these things can impact the complaints that a company receives and how they handle them. BBB also wants to encourage businesses to use complaints as an opportunity to learn and improve their practices and that should be reflected in the Reliability Report.

Chances are if a company has big problems that they fail to correct, new complaints will be filed to replace those that drop off after three years. If you have questions about BBB Reliability Reports or Ratings, please post your comments or email me. Your questions may be answered in an upcoming post.

Comments

Here is a link to our report on Hearing Plus:

http://www.bbb.org/cincinnati/business-reviews/hearing-aids-and-assistive-devices/hearing-plus-in-cincinnati-oh-90001021/

Generally a warranty is only as good as the company that issues it so if a company goes out of business, you may no longer be able to receive warranty service. If you purchased a product from a retailer who has since closed, it's possible that the warranty is issued by the manufacturer and will still be honored by them or another retailer. You can find additional information on dealing with out of business companies in this BBB tip article:

http://cincinnati.bbb.org/article/bbb-tips-on-out-of-business-companies-1249

Comment By Leslie Kish At 12/18/2009 12:45 PM

i need to know if HEARINGPLUS ON 9560 MONTGOMERY RD. IS OUT OF BUSINESSES. I PURCHASED HEARING AID FROM THEM AND NOW THERE IS NO PHONE TO TALK TO THEM. I HAD A YEAR YEAR WARRANTY.

Comment By RONALD GROOMS At 12/18/2009 10:38 AM

Most businesses do respond to complaints. Locally about 10 - 12% of complaints filed each year go unanswered. Sometimes we will find that the same problematic businesses have several unanswered complaints. While BBB cannot guarantee results or a response from a company, particularly one that is not BBB Accredited, your complaint still makes a difference. Without your complaints, we cannot report your experience to other customers. Complaint data makes up 85% of a company's BBB letter grade rating. Unanswered complaints usually result in an 'F' rating at BBB, make a company ineligible for BBB Accreditation and may, depending on the circumstances of the complaint, trigger a BBB investigation or further action.

Comment By Leslie Kish At 11/20/2009 8:54 AM

Why people dont' complain: here is my reasons
1. called and was told you need to work it out whith the business.
2. emailed, faxed and called, I have over 100 hours working on the complaint.
3. the business stopped answering emails and calls from BBB
all three was different businesses, The common thing between all three , NOTHING WAS DONE.
ANSWER: MY TIME IS WASTED AND PRICELESS.

Comment By Jim At 11/19/2009 6:14 AM