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Comment by charlesabarnes | Hacker News Reader

The BBB complaints list is a glorified internet post. It's not keeping a business any more honest than posting a review on Google or Yelp.

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That’s exactly right. BBB is Yelp for boomers, and that’s it. I’ve heard plenty of older family and acquaintances wave it around like a weapon: “if they don’t honor my (ridiculous) request, I’ll sic the BBB on them!” And then… what? I’m sure someone, somewhere checks BBB before doing business with a company, but I’ve never personally seen someone do it, and without that feedback loop, the BBB is just another private review site with zero teeth.

And in the same vein, yelp is bbb for millennials.

No argument from me on that one. The main difference is that I’ve actually steered away from businesses with bad Yelp reviews.

Speaking for myself, I know that I have never looked up a business for BBB accreditation. (I am 43 and a half).

Yelp reviews, TripAdvisor, Google reviews, yes.

And as honestly never crossed my mind to check with BBB about anything.

But I haven't done any major purchasing like with property, land, or similar.

I’m a bit older than you, but same. I’ve bought property and land, and it never occurred to me to check BBB for anything, ever. I know it’s a thing that exists, and that’s about the extent of it.

I think a lot of older people really thought the BBB was an arm of the government and had power to enforce things.

I think they were clever with the name “Bureau”. It has a connotation of officialness, like “Agency” or “Administration”.

You can still hear on the local news here: “Or you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.”

People don't look businesses up on Facebook or X much here either, and yet many times I've witnessed my SO break through being stonewalled by some business with just a simple line, delivered in calm voice: "okay, I'll take it to Facebook, we'll see if you like a drama there" (or "X" more recently). Just like that, 90% success rate, and no actual public drama on social media.

Don't know how that works. It's Poland, approximately nobody here even used Twitter, nor do they use X - and yet, businesses big and small seem super sensitive to that.

>. BBB is Yelp for boomers,

Complete with undeserved reputability and "pay to remove" system to extract $ on the business facing side.

The person you're responding to literally claims otherwise. Are you calling them a liar or do you have something to substantiate your claims?

They mean inherently I think. As in it doesn't enforce any "better business" practices. The only threat is public shaming through them. But they themselves won't actually solve it.

I don't understand why they need to "substantiate" their opinion, but the commenter they're replying to wouldn't need to substantiate their anecdotal evidence. They can "literally" claim anything.

I do think Mindless2112's experience is common with larger businesses, making the BBB potentially more effective in those cases than online review sites like Google or Yelp. Also, do those sites send complaint letters? I don't know.

There is a miles of difference between providing one specific claim based on experience that does not claim that this happens with all businesses. Vs the other claim that BBB complaints doesn't work and is no more than a glorified lists in general.

Agreed! My question remains – why does one need to be substantiated while the other doesn’t?

I don't see anything to indicate that Mindless2112 is "lying," but it does look like they might be a bit confused. BBB really is just another review website like Yelp and Google reviews (with the added step of sending the business a letter in the mail).

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