LOS ANGELES – The Better Business Bureau that served the greater Los Angeles marketplace has been expelled from the national organization, according to the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
In a statement in March, the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which is the umbrella organization for 113 local, independent BBBs across the United States and Canada, said BBB of the Southland lost its right to use the BBB name and logo, and was cut off from services.
“We hold businesses to high standards for honesty, transparency, fairness and integrity, and we hold ourselves to those same standards,” said Carrie A. Hurt, president and CEO of CBBB.
“Over a period of more than two years, BBB of the Southland failed to resolve concerns about compliance with several standards required of BBBs, including standards relating to accreditation, reporting on businesses, and handling complaints.” Hurt said.
The expulsion of BBB of the Southland, the largest in the BBB network, comes after an ABC 20/20 investigation revealed that the local chapter was accrediting companies without checking their credentials to be sure they were eligible.
In one instance, a blogger working with ABC filled out an application for the terrorist organization Hamas.
The terrorist organization briefly appeared on the BBB Southland website as a BBB Accredited Business with an A+ rating.
Hurt said the ABC investigation helped the Council realize that the local group had to change or be expelled.
“When you are a standards-based organization, there is no such thing as ‘too big to fail,’” Hurt told ABC.
“BBB is not abandoning the LA market,” Hurt said in a statement.
“We have been preparing for this possibility for months, and the entire BBB system is dedicated to building a strong, standards-based Better Business Bureau in the Los Angeles market,” she said.
She said that Los Angeles area businesses that are currently BBB accredited could continue to use the BBB seal during the transition.
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Weekend June 22-25, 2013 Sec A pg.6)