Can You Trust What You Learn about a Company from the Better Business Bureau?

I have written several books containing fraud-prevention advice, so when someone I knew (not me, I swear) told me he was consulting a credit counseling agency in Florida for debt management, I asked whether he had researched the company. He essentially said, “No worries. I saw it on TV. The company’s website has the Better Business Bureau seal of approval on it, and the guy I talked to said the company had been BBB accredited for the past 16 years.” I decided to poke around a little myself.

The company’s called Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. Hearing it’s stationed in Florida was an instant warning sign. Florida seems to attract a fair share of shady business types (sorry Florida). I visited the company’s website and got a pop-up – another strike against the company.

I scrolled to the footer and clicked the Contact Us link. The Contact Us page included a toll-free phone number and an email address, but no mailing address – another bad sign. The experts tell you to always work with “brick and mortar” businesses – businesses that have a street address and are actually housed in a building, preferably locally.

The site claims:

Member BBB Since 1998
ISO 9001:2000 Registered
Trained and Certified Credit Counselors

Okay, that adds some credibility. Unfortunately, the guy from the company said it had BBB accreditation for 16 years. 2009 – 1998 = 11 years. Credit counselors who can’t do basic math… that’s interesting, but it still doesn’t prove the company’s shady.

Next, I tried to verify the company’s BBB accreditation, so I Googled “better business bureau florida.” At the top of the search results was a link for the BBB of Central Florida: Home. I clicked the link, clicked the CHECK OUT A BUSINESS OR CHARITY button, and searched for “consolidated credit counseling service.” That gave me one link to a company located at 5701 W Sunrise Blvd Ste 200, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33313. I clicked the link and got a page that included this blurb about the company’s BBB accreditation… or lack thereof.

Bingo! I’d discovered a scam operation, right? Well, not so fast. I called Consolidated Credit Counseling Services toll free at 1-800-320-9929 as instructed on the Contact Us page and got a recorded message. I pressed Option 4 to get the company’s mailing address. I wanted to verify that this company was the same one listed on the BBB of Central Florida site. Unfortunately, Option 4 led me back to the beginning of the message and did not provide me with a mailing address.

I tried Option 1 next to get general information. To my surprise, an actual person answered. I explained that I had visited the company’s website and saw the BBB logo at the bottom, but when I looked up the company on the BBB website, it showed the company as not having BBB accreditation. He sounded genuinely perplexed, saying “We’ve had BBB accreditation for the past 16 years! Are you sure?”

I said, “Yes, I’m on the Central Florida BBB website right now at www.orlando.bbb.org. I’m looking at the entry for Consolidated Credit Counseling Service, located at 5701 W Sunrise Blvd Ste 200, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33313, is that you?”

“Well, the suite number is wrong, but that’s us alright. I know we have accreditation. I’m going to call the BBB right now.”

We exchanged niceties and hung up.

My next call was to the Better Business Bureau of Central Florida. I went back to the BBB website, clicked Contact Us, and then dialed their number: 407.621.3300. After a long wait, I finally reached someone. I explained what was going on. She searched Consolidated Credit Counseling Services on her system and said she couldn’t even find the company. I explained that I was on the Florida BBB website looking at the listing for the company, and it states that the company does not have BBB accreditation.

She asked for the company’s address, and I provided it. She said companies in Fort Lauderdale were not in this particular branch of the BBB’s database. I would have to contact someone in the Southeast Florida BBB. I explained that I was looking at her branch’s website, and it listed Consolidated Credit, but showed the company as unaccredited.

She asked me the address of the BBB website I was on. I told her www.orlando.bbb.org. She replied, “Well, that’s the problem! We haven’t used that website for two years!”

“Well, then,” I asked, “Why is the site still up?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the webmaster!”

“Yes, but if consumers Google ‘florida bbb’ and land on this old website and search for this company, as I did, and this site lists the company and not accredited when it is, in fact, BBB accredited, doesn’t that do them a disservice?”

She agreed and said she would look into the matter. She also provided me with the Southeast Florida BBB website address: www.seflorida.bbb.org. After hanging up, I headed to the Southeast Florida BBB website, clicked the CHECK OUT A BUSINESS OR CHARITY button, and searched for “consolidated credit counseling service.” Again, the search turned up one link. I pointed to the link and up popped a box showing that Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, located at 5701 W Sunrise Blvd Ste 200, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33313 did, indeed, have BBB accreditation. Moreover, it had an A+ Rating!

The moral of this long and winding story is this: Be careful with what you find out about a company you’re researching on the Web. You could be encountering a case of mistaken identity or reading a rip-off report from one disgruntled customer when the company has provided outstanding service to 50,000 others. You might just dismiss a top-notch company due to bad information.

Another moral of the story is this: If you’re a business, you really should Google yourself and poke around the Web to see what people and organizations are saying about you and have in their databases.

Disclaimer and Other Notes: This article is no endorsement for Consolidated Credit Counseling Services. I have no personal experience and absolutely no relationship with the company, so I can’t say with any certainty whether it provides valuable credit counseling services.

I also know very little about the BBB, and this represents only one instance of a BBB website mistakenly providing inaccurate information about a company. I’m not sure how accurate the BBB’s information is overall, but I continue to use the BBB as one way to verify the legitimacy of a company or organization.

When researching the BBB, you would probably do better to start from the main BBB page at BBB.org, where you can type in a company’s Zip code to find the right BBB website for doing your search. If you just Google it, like I did, you might just land on an old site with old information… one that should have been taken offline years ago!

Let me know what you think. If you’ve had any experience with the BBB – as a consumer, business, or organization – or if you’ve had any dealings with Consolidated Credit Counseling Services of Fort Lauderdale, please post a comment to share your experiences and insights with others.