Bbb Targeting Businesses With High Complaint Records

The Better Business Bureau, hoping to encourage improvement, is publicizing a list of businesses that have unsatisfactory records with the agency.

“These companies all have an unsatisfactory record for the sheer volume of complaints compared to their peers, or a pattern of complaints - the same thing over and over - compared to their peers,” said Jan Quintrall, president of the area BBB.

“What the pattern tells us is that they haven’t addressed the core issue that is causing the complaints.”

In January, the BBB listed on its Web site more than 100 companies or organizations it said have been unresponsive to complaints by consumers, made through the BBB. That list is updated monthly.

This week the agency also listed 37 charitable groups it said failed to provide adequate financial and operational information for evaluation.

The BBB’s new listing for businesses in its “unsatisfactory” category include: America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, CW Distributing, Community Resource Service, Country Choice Meat Co., Movie Poster Shop, Petite Magazine, Raven Roofing, United Furniture Warehouse, Webb Contracting and Home Show USA.

Two companies with numerous complaints from consumers - Community Resource Service and Raven Roofing - are no longer doing business in Spokane. With two others - Webb Contracting and Home Show USA - the BBB board of directors revoked the companies’ memberships for failing to meet the agency’s standards, Quintrall said. The remaining companies were named because of repeated and unresolved customer complaints.

Bill Koonar, corporate counsel for Vancouver, British Columbia-based United Furniture Warehouse, said most of the Spokane store’s complaints originate with customers angry over the company’s no-return policy.

“We’ve probably had a manager or two managers who may not have been good at taking care of those types of things,” said Koonar, who added, “I know our store is doing quite well down there, and if we were mistreating consumers, we wouldn’t do very good.”

At Movie Poster Shop, owner Robert Candel said he has responded to all complaints made through the BBB, but added that he has been unable to settle them all.

“We have over 7,000 satisfied customers,” he said, “but you can’t please everybody.”

Quintrall said the BBB takes unreasonable customers into account when it evaluates companies’ records.

“In the cases that we close as disputed, we’re saying that the consumer has a legitimate right to be unhappy,” she said. “They’ve all been warned, and we’re more than happy to work with them. Usually the fixes are so simple. It’s the companies that don’t care that concern us.”

Consumers can access the full listing of unresponsive charities and businesses on the Better Business Bureau’s Web site at www.spokane.bbb.org.