Research · 10 min read
What a Better Business Bureau Rating Is, and What It Is Not
A letter grade is one of the easiest things to put on a landing page and one of the least understood. The organization behind it publishes exactly what the grade is built from, what it leaves out, and what buying accreditation does and does not buy.
Key takeaways
- The organization calls a rating its opinion of how a business is likely to interact with customers, and says it is not a guarantee of reliability or performance.
- The grade is built from complaint history, complaint responses, transparency about practices, and licensing or government action — and a business can be graded down for withholding information.
- Customer reviews are not used in the calculation of the letter grade; complaints can affect it and reviews cannot.
- Accreditation is voluntary, carries a fee, and is separate from the rating — the organization says dues do not buy a rating or remove a complaint.
- It states that it generally does not report private lawsuits or small claims actions, and that it is not a government agency and holds no regulatory power.
The short answer
The grade is an opinion, and the organization says so in the first line of its own explanation. A rating represents the bureau's opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers.
It runs from A plus at the top to F at the bottom, with a separate no-rating marker for a file the bureau says it does not have enough information about, or is still reviewing.
The organization also states plainly that a rating is not a guarantee of a business's reliability or performance, and recommends weighing it alongside all other available information.
None of that makes the grade useless. It makes it a specific instrument with a specific input, and knowing the input is the whole of the skill.
What goes into the letter, in the organization's own words
The published description names four inputs: a business's complaint history, how it responds to complaints, how transparent it is about its practices, and any licensing or government action against it.
A fifth statement matters as much as the four. A business may receive a lower grade when it will not give the bureau the information it asks for.
Read that carefully, because it inverts the usual assumption. A low grade can record a refusal to answer rather than a finding about a product, and the two are different facts wearing the same letter.
Ratings also update automatically as new information arrives, and the profile page generally explains the most significant factors that raised or lowered a particular grade. If a grade matters to your decision, the explanation on the profile is the part worth reading, not the letter.
The single most misread line: reviews are not the rating
Customer reviews are not used in the calculation of the letter grade. That sentence appears on the ratings explainer and again in the organization's own questions and answers.
The distinction the organization draws is between a complaint and a review. A complaint is a formal request for help with a marketplace problem, such as a product or service that did not deliver what the business promised. A review records an opinion and an experience.
Complaints can affect a rating. Reviews do not. So a profile showing a wall of unhappy reviews beside a high letter grade is not a contradiction, and it is not evidence that the grade was bought.
The organization does say it requires a name on a review, monitors internet addresses, and rejects paid reviews. That is a moderation claim about the review section, not an input to the grade.
What accreditation is, and what the dues pay for
Accreditation and the rating are two different things, and the organization separates them explicitly. Accreditation is voluntary, and a business can hold a top grade without being accredited.
To be accredited, a business affirms that it meets eight standards: build trust, advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive, safeguard privacy and embody integrity.
Several of those have concrete sub-requirements that are unusually relevant to a subscription health program. Under transparency, a business is to clearly and prominently give customers a direct and effective means of contact, its return and refund policy, and the total cost of the transaction before it is completed. The same standard covers any recurring commitment the customer may be entering, including automatic renewals.
The organization charges a fee for accreditation and says so, describing fees as based on several factors including the size of the business. It also states that accreditation dues do not buy a rating and do not remove a complaint.
Eligibility has a floor. A business is invited with a record of delivering on its promises and a grade of B or better, and needs at least six months of serving customers. Accreditation can be revoked when a business stops meeting the standards.
Not a government agency, and not one organization
Two structural facts change how much weight a grade can carry, and both come from the organization's own description of itself.
The first is authority. It describes itself as a nonprofit, states that it is not a government agency, and says it holds no regulatory power. On scams specifically it says it holds no legal or policing authority, and shares what it learns with law enforcement and government agencies.
The second is structure. Each local bureau operates independently, and readers are told to contact the one serving their own area. A grade is therefore issued within a network of separate organizations rather than by a single national office.
That is worth holding beside the parts of this market that operate nationally. A telehealth business selling in every state has a profile in the system somewhere, and the office that holds it is a local one.
The omission that matters most here: lawsuits
One published answer draws a boundary that is easy to miss and hard to work around.
The organization reports fines, penalties and other government agency actions when they relate to marketplace issues that matter to consumers, and reports criminal convictions connected to a business's dealings with the public.
It then says it generally does not report private lawsuits or small claims court actions.
So a profile can be silent about litigation that exists. A grade is not a docket search, and it was never built to be one. If the question you actually have is whether a company has been sued, this record is the wrong instrument and a court index is the right one.
The same logic applies in reverse. A profile that does report a government action is telling you the action exists, not how it was resolved.
What filing a complaint does
The published process is short. A complaint is forwarded to the business, the organization asks for a response, and it works with both sides toward a resolution.
It describes its role as a neutral intermediary. In its own words, it does not take sides, and it cannot force a business to act.
A filed complaint becomes part of the business's public profile. That is the durable effect, and for many readers it is the point: the record outlasts the individual dispute.
What it is not is an enforcement route. A body with no regulatory power cannot order a refund, and a program that ignores the process has not broken a rule that anyone can enforce against it.
How to use the grade without over-reading it
Treat the letter as a pointer to the profile, not as a verdict. The explanation of what moved the grade is more informative than the grade itself.
Check the accreditation status separately from the rating, because they answer different questions. One says a business affirmed a set of standards and pays dues. The other is an opinion built from complaint behavior and public records.
Verify a displayed seal at the source. The organization says a seal shown anywhere other than its own site may be out of date or used without permission, which makes an image on a landing page the weakest possible form of the claim.
And check the name you are searching. A profile is attached to a business, and the business behind a consumer brand may be registered under a different name entirely.
Then go and look at the records this one does not cover. Court indexes, regulator actions and a state licensing register each hold something a letter grade cannot.
Sources
- Overview of ratingsThat ratings represent the bureau's opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers; that ratings run from A plus to F with a no-rating marker for insufficient information or a file under review; that profiles generally explain the most significant factors raising or lowering a rating; that ratings are not a guarantee of reliability or performance and should be considered alongside all other available information; and that customer reviews are not used in the calculation of the letter grade.
- Frequently asked questions about BBBThat the organization is a nonprofit, is not a government agency and holds no regulatory power, and is funded by dues paid by accredited businesses; that each local bureau operates independently; the four rating inputs and the statement that a business may be graded lower for withholding requested information; that accreditation is voluntary and separate from the rating and that dues do not buy a rating or remove a complaint; that a seal shown outside the organization's own site may be out of date or used without permission; the complaint process, the neutral-intermediary role and the statement that it cannot force a business to act; the complaint-versus-review distinction; that it holds no legal or policing authority; and that it reports government actions and relevant criminal convictions but generally does not report private lawsuits or small claims court actions.
- BBB Accreditation StandardsThe eight standards a business affirms in order to be accredited; the requirement to be actively selling for at least six months and to maintain at least a B rating; the transparency sub-requirements to disclose a direct and effective means of contact, the return and refund policy, any recurring commitment including automatic renewals, and the total cost of the transaction before completion; and that the organization charges an accreditation fee based on factors including the size of the business.
- Complaints about consumer products and servicesThat the federal government's own consumer complaint directory routes a product or service problem to a company, then to a federal or state agency, and separately to a state consumer protection office — a route that is distinct from a private ratings organization's complaint process.
Frequently asked questions
Does an A plus rating mean a company is trustworthy?
The organization describes a rating as its opinion of how a business is likely to interact with its customers, and says directly that ratings are not a guarantee of a business's reliability or performance. It recommends considering a rating in addition to all other available information. The grade is built from complaint history, how the business responds to complaints, how transparent it is about its practices, and any licensing or government action against it. A high letter therefore describes a complaint and disclosure record, which is real information and is not the same thing as a judgment about a product or a course of care.
Can a business pay for a better rating?
The organization says no, in those terms. Accreditation is voluntary and separate from the rating, and a business can hold a top grade without being accredited. It states that accreditation dues do not buy a rating and do not remove a complaint, and that its published answers are free and no business pays to change them. There is a fee for accreditation itself, based on several factors including business size, and that fee buys the right to display the seal, access to dispute resolution, and the standing that comes with having met the standards.
Why does a company have a high grade and terrible reviews?
Because reviews are not an input. The organization states that customer reviews are not used in the calculation of the letter grade. It also separates a review from a complaint: a complaint is a formal request for help with a marketplace problem, while a review records an opinion and an experience. Complaints can affect a rating, and reviews do not. So the two panels on a profile are measuring different things and can point in opposite directions without either being wrong. If you want the reviews to count for something, read them as reader testimony rather than as a challenge to the grade.
Will a profile tell me whether a company has been sued?
Generally not. The organization says it reports fines, penalties and other government agency actions when they relate to marketplace issues that matter to consumers, and reports criminal convictions connected to a business's dealings with the public. It then says it generally does not report private lawsuits or small claims court actions. That is a deliberate scope, not an oversight. A profile with nothing on it about litigation is not evidence that none exists, and litigation is a question for a court index rather than for a ratings profile.
Is this a government agency?
No, and it says so in its own answers. It describes itself as a nonprofit funded by dues paid by accredited businesses, states that it is not a government agency, and says it holds no regulatory power. On scam reports specifically it says it holds no legal or policing authority and shares what it learns with law enforcement and government agencies. It also describes itself as a network rather than a single office: each local bureau operates independently, and readers are directed to the one serving their own area.
What actually happens if I file a complaint?
The published process is that the complaint is forwarded to the business, a response is requested, and the organization works with both sides toward a resolution while acting as a neutral intermediary. It states that it does not take sides and cannot force a business to act. The complaint becomes part of the business's public profile, which is the part that lasts. If your goal is an enforceable outcome rather than a record, that is a different route — a state consumer protection office, a card issuer's dispute process, or a court, depending on the problem.