Bureaus look to improve local information on national chains

By Peter Lewis
Seattle Times consumer affairs reporter

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As it does for everyone, the Web presents both challenges and opportunities for the BBB.

The good news is the Web makes it relatively simple to file complaints and get reliability reports on businesses.

The bad news is those reports are not always cross-referenced. Rick Weirich, director of information technology for the Council of Better Business Bureaus, demonstrated the problem in New Orleans earlier this fall at a BBB national convention.

In a presentation to BBB leaders, Weirich visited the main Web site (www.bbb.org) where an index of business-reliability reports from bureaus around the country is compiled. He selected the state of Virginia and searched for "Circuit City." That produced five hits, including one for a BBB-member outlet in Richmond.

Like most BBB reliability reports, the Richmond report included information on the consumer experience with the store. Then Weirich clicked on one of the other hits, leading to a Circuit City outlet in a different part of the state.

That report had this to say: "We are attempting to develop information on this company. At the present time we do not have enough information to issue a report."

That kind of message makes the BBB look "stupid," Weirich said, because in fact the bureau does have information about Circuit City. Overall, the BBB can do a better job of consolidating its information and pointing consumers in the right direction, he said.

As part of a "data warehouse project," Weirich said, the council and local bureaus are trying to improve the system with a view toward pooling information more effectively.

Under the existing setup, the BBB where a national company is based usually compiles a central report based on complaints from around the country. One goal of the project is to allow local bureaus to extract information about the consumer experience with a chain's local outlets.

For example, the Atlanta-area BBB would continue to compile national statistics on Atlanta-based Home Depot. But the BBB of Oregon and Western Washington would be able to publish individualized reports for the Home Depots in its service area.
 
Peter Lewis: 206-464-2217 or plewis@seattletimes.com