Complaint Acceptance Guidelines

If a complaint meets the following criteria, it must be accepted by BBB and treated as a complaint for purposes of reporting.

BBBs typically do not impose additional requirements, such as requiring that complaints meet a certain monetary threshold. And, while BBB’s strongly encourage consumers to first contact the business, a complaint will not be rejected because the consumer declines to do so.

Better Business Bureaus accept all complaints that meet the following criteria:

1. The complaint includes the complainant’s full name, with either the postal address OR an email address and postal code.
2. The complaint includes the business’s name and provides sufficient information to contact the business.
3. The complainant seeks assistance from BBB.
4. The complaint is from a person (or a person’s authorized representative) or entity (business-to-business) that had a marketplace “relationship”.
5. The complaint relates to a marketplace issue. Typically, the issue complained of must have arisen within the previous 12 months (Note: warranties/guarantees or other extenuating circumstances may supersede this criteria).
6. The complaint alleges a problem experienced with the services or products the business provided or allegedly agreed to provide.
7. The complaint is not in litigation when filed with BBB and has not been resolved by a previous court action, arbitration, or settlement between the parties.
8. The complaint contains no abusive language or serious threats.

Marketplace issues do not include the following:

1. Employer/employee disputes.
2. Complaints about government agencies (administrative units of local, state, federal, or provincial government) unless they offer a commercial service establishing a buyer-seller relationship.
3. Complaints against individuals who are not engaged in business (e.g., a person who sells his personal car through a classified advertisement).
4. Complaints solely seeking criminal penalties or findings of criminal violations, such as:

   • Robbery (such as a homeowner alleging that money, jewelry, electronics, etc. were stolen by a contractor who was working in their home).
   • Assault/battery (complainant alleges company personnel threatened physical violence or caused actual physical harm).
   • Extortion (the gaining of property or money by almost any kind of force or threat of violence or property damage).
   • Vandalism (the intentional destruction of another person’s property).
   • Trespassing (unlawful intrusion, even if property is not stolen or damaged).

   Additionally, because BBB does not make findings of criminal violations or impose criminal penalties, BBB would not pursue complaints that seek solely to have company personnel fired, arrested, jailed, or prosecuted. However, BBB does accept complaints alleging business conduct that might also be considered a criminal violation, such as deceptive advertising, telemarketing fraud, pyramid schemes, identity theft or computer trespass.

The following are examples of what BBB would pursue concerning allegations of business misconduct:

• Deceptive advertising - ads that misrepresent the nature, characteristics, qualities or geographic origin of goods, services or commercial activities.
• Predatory sales practices - aggressive sales practices that involve misleading claims or prey on vulnerable populations (such as lengthy and expensive alarm service contracts that target senior citizens or short-term loans with hidden and exorbitant fees that prey on low-income individuals without access to credit).
• Telemarketing fraud - fraud perpetrated over the telephone by a person who is trying to trick a victim for financial gain. Examples include prizes/sweepstakes; advance fee loans; work-at-home schemes; pay-per-call services; slamming; magazine sales; credit card offers; lotteries; business opportunities/franchises; travel/vacations, etc.
• Pyramid schemes - the main characteristic of a pyramid scheme is that participants only make money by recruiting more members. Some pyramid schemes do not involve the sale of products. New participants pay a fee to participate and hope to profit by recruiting others into the system. Chain letters are an example. In product-based pyramid schemes, “distributors” buy products but few products are ever retailed to the public. All “distributors” recruit other distributors and are told they can receive commissions on the purchases of the chain of distributors “below” them.
• Identity theft - when someone steals your personal information and uses it without your permission. Common scams used to steal someone’s identity include work-at-home offers, rental schemes, phishing emails, overpayment scams, sudden riches (such as Nigerian letter scams), etc.
• Computer trespass - allegations that someone knowingly uses, causes to be used, or accesses a computer, computer service, or computer network without authorization. Computer trespass can occur by clicking on links in emails from unknown sources, clicking on links in pop-up windows, etc.
• Damage to or theft of personal property - allegations that, during the provision of a service, the business its employee damaged personal property or stole personal property. One example is a moving company that refuses to deliver a consumer’s possessions until the consumer pays an increased price.
Note: Patterns of complaint alleging criminal misconduct while performing services should be addressed with the business and documented with custom text in the BBB Business Profile.
5. Complaints that challenge the validity of local, state, provincial, or federal law. For example, BBBs would not accept a complaint against a cable business seeking a change in rates set by law. BBB would accept a complaint against a cable business alleging its charges were inaccurately computed in accordance with applicable rates.
6. Complaints seeking compensation for personal injury - BBBs do not handle complaints seeking compensation for bodily injury or emotional distress (this includes, but is not limited to: slip and fall accidents, ingesting food or other substances that cause illness, rashes, burns, or allergic reactions caused by use of a product, product defect accidents, mental distress or anxiety suffered as a result of a marketplace transaction, etc.). These types of complaints are more appropriately handled in the judicial system. While we would not address damages for personal injury, we would handle the customer service aspect of these complaints and allow the complainant to seek a refund.