To Charge Or Not To Charge Better Business Bureaus Split Over Proposal To Allow Them To Impose Fees For Services

Better Business Bureaus nationwide soon may have the option of charging the public for services they have provided free for more than 80 years.

In an issue that has sharply divided members of one of the United States’ oldest consumer-protection organizations, the bureau system began voting last week on a proposal to allow the 137 bureaus nationwide to break with tradition and charge for their business reports and customer-complaint resolution.

The voting, which will end July 15, follows years of debate, surveys and tests.

Regardless of the vote outcome, residents of the Inland Northwest don’t have to worry about being charged for services - at least for a while, said Lisa Stephens, president of the BBB of the Inland Northwest.

“At this time, we’re not looking at charging fees for services,” Stephens said. But she added, “It could be anytime, or it could be never.”

Proponents say the additional source of revenue is needed to help the business-funded bureaus improve services. But opponents say the pay-for-service system would discourage people from using the bureau, especially the poor and elderly, the ones most often victimized by unscrupulous businesses.

Each year about 10 million people call the nation’s non-profit Better Business Bureaus to obtain reports on businesses and non-profit organizations, to file complaints and to find the answers to general questions on how to buy products and services. The organization dates from 1912.

Current rules prohibit bureaus from charging for basic services without approval of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which is based in Arlington, Va.

The proposal would give bureaus the option of charging for the services, as long as they are “value-added.” Exactly what that means would be worked out later by the national council. But one example would be issuance of reports that tell the public not only whether businesses have generated complaints, but also the number and type of complaints and how they were resolved. Some bureaus already provide such information.

Bureaus that adopt the fee-forservice option would be required to maintain a system through which the public could continue to use basic bureau services for free, most likely by mail.

The proposal leaves it to the council to decide what the service fees would be. A dozen bureaus that have been testing the idea have been charging either a flat fee - in most cases $3.80 - or 95 cents a minute for an average four-minute telephone call, using a 900-prefix telephone number. Callers pay through their telephone bill or credit card.

The proposal, endorsed by the national council April 1, is the result of years of debate, as the bureau system looks for ways to boost revenue. The bureaus have been facing increasing financial pressure as their member businesses have sought ways to cut costs.

Critics of the national pay-for-service proposal say it would discourage calls.

“If people are going to have to pay a fee for access … they will stay away from us in substantial numbers,” said John V. Myers, who heads the Memphis bureau, which covers portions of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas.

A council study shows an average 14 percent decline in the number of inquiries consumers made to nine bureaus that have been testing a pay-for-service program since as early as 1991.

Those bureaus include the three in New York state and those in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and Seattle.

Myers said lost calls hurt not only those seeking help, but also the bureaus, which rely on consumers for information about local companies.

Critics say the pay-per-service option would confuse the public because only some bureaus will charge. They say this contradicts the council’s objective of creating a national bureau network with consistent service.

“I’m hoping, for the good of the (bureau) system, that (the proposal) doesn’t pass. I feel passionately that it is a mistake,” said John F. Riggins, president of the Fort Worth, Texas, bureau and a member of the council board of directors.

Last Monday, 505 ballots were mailed to the bureaus, the council’s board of directors and its national members, who are 321 major companies such as AT&T, General Mills Inc. and Ford Motor Co.

The bureaus get from two to 10 votes, depending on the size of the dues they receive from their member businesses.

Whichever way the vote goes, Myers hopes it will end the debate.

“It’s been just a festering kind of an issue for nearly six years now,” he said. “We’re ready to get on with our lives.”

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The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Anthony Giorgianni The Hartford Courant Alison Boggs contributed to this story.