Better Business Bureau looking to sign up business members

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As of late last year, Montanans had a new outlet for complaints if they felt wronged by a business, as the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Washington and North Idaho added Montana to its territory.

By JOHN HARRINGTON – IR Business Editor

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2004/11/21/business/e01112104_01.txt

Now, the regional BBB, headquartered in Spokane, is looking for businesses to sign up as members.

"There had been a lot of requests from the business community," said Jan Quintrall, president of the regional BBB. Quintrall traveled around the state last week, meeting with business leaders, chambers of commerce, government officials and the media to talk about the organization’s efforts to develop a presence here.

"I’ve been meeting with people, looking for some charter or seed money so we can expand into Montana in a big way," she said.

What is the Better Business Bureau? For starters, it’s not a government agency, and it’s not a single national organization. Instead, it’s a private non-profit that logs and helps mediate disputes between buyers and sellers.

Quintrall is quick to note that the BBB also isn’t simply a consumer protection group.

"We’re a neutral third party holding the marketplace accountable through self-regulation, and that means both sides," she said. "We’re a business organization as much as we are a consumer organization."

Consumers can search its Web site, http://www.thelocalbbb.com, to not only learn whether many people have filed complaints about a business, but how the business has responded. If the business is quick to respond and remedy the problem, that’s noted. If businesses shrug off complaints, that’s noted too.

Prior to the BBB’s arrival, Montanans who felt wronged by a business could turn only to the state’s consumer protection office.

"We both take complaints, and there are more than enough complaints, so the more the merrier," said state consumer protection attorney Cort Jensen.

Jensen noted that privacy laws mean his office can’t share as much information as the BBB about a particular business, unless formal action is taken.

While saying the good businesses outnumber the bad in each industry, Quintrall said that her office fields the most complaints about people in two fields: contractors and cars.

"You’ve got some really lousy contractors out there," she said. "If some place is identified as a boomtown, they come out of the woodwork — pun intended."

Generally, the less regulated an industry, the more complaints will be fielded about it, she said.

She also said the BBB will keep track of whether certain individuals are complaining too much.

"There are a lot more bad consumers out there than there are bad businesses," she said. "There’s a growing number of people out there that think that everyone owes them something."

Webb Brown, president of the Montana Chamber of Commerce http://www.montanachamber.net , welcomes the BBB. He noted that an effort to get a chapter started in Montana several years ago was unsuccessful due to lack of funding, but that he’s heard from member businesses that the bureau is a welcome addition to the state’s commercial landscape.

Quintrall said bureau representatives personally visit any business that wants to be a member.

"We don’t take memberships over the phone," she said. "We want to look them in the eye, look into the business and make sure they are who they say they are."

For more information on the Better Business Bureau, including looking up businesses or filing complaints, go to http://www.thelocalbbb.com.

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or [email protected].