I think most companies have abandoned the BBB because the BBB is more consumer geared.
They play the game of, "The company is guilty until proven innocent."
In some cases, a company providing proof that it is in the right, can be very difficult.
Many companies look at complying with the BBB means losing a lot of money, because the BBB essentially allows consumers to rip companies off, through the power of public complaint. In fact a friend of mine joked that they should change their name from the BBB (Better Business Bureau) to the OBB (Out of Business Bureau), because essentially a lot of legit business have been financially affected negatively, due to the ease of filing a false complaint with the BBB.
Quite possibly companies are beginning not to care about the BBB, because giving them one ounce of credibility means losing money, in some form or another.
Our experience with the BBB was exactly the same.
A customer was not entitled to a refund. They ordered a dedicated server, which they broke. We fixed it free 3 times. One of which was a hardware issue caused by their abuse of the server. We offered them a credit, and then resolved the issue by agreeing to move them back to a reseller account (at their request). Our TOS states clearly that once a solution has been offered and agreed to by the client, they are no longer entitled to a refund.
A few weeks later the client decided that they really wanted a dedicated server. So decided to file a PayPal dispute for the amount, knowing that they weren't entitled to, nor would get a refund from us, according to the TOS they agreed to. They wanted to use the amount to pay for a new server elsewhere. Since PayPal declined their dispute, they sent us a certfied letter, threatening to sue. When that didn't work, they decided to go to the BBB.
The BBB sends the company a letter with the complaint filed included. First off, this customer told the BBB that they paid $200 more than they actually did, hoping to get an extra $200 out of the deal. They then proceeded to openly state to the BBB that they never read the TOS, then began quoting from it. After all of that, and after the BBB could openly read the the customer was lying, they still tried to force us into refunding the customer in the form of public humiliation.
So I wrote a certified letter to them stating, that their listing means nothing to our company, and they are free to do whatever they wish, as there is no way in hell we're going to permit a 3rd party organization to force us into allowing a customer to steal from us, especially after we provided sufficient proof showing that we owed the customer nothing.
Soon after (about a week), we received a letter from the BBB stating that they have dropped the case.
I give no credibility to the BBB whatsoever, because:
1. It's simply too easy for a consumer to file a false claim.
2. It's too easy for the consumer to provide false facts.
3. The BBB takes the consumer's word as fact, until proven otherwise.
4. The BBB determines randomly, what they feel is sufficiant proof, to debunk the consumer's claim.
5. The BBB's policies allow consumers to take advantage of legit companies.
I would find the BBB more credible if they made the consumer pay a small refundable fee, to file a complaint. Refundable only if the company was found to be the wrong party. This would keep consumers from filing false claims. If they have to pay a fee, and know that it's possible that the company can prove they are in the right....you'll have far fewer false claims.
