I left a review on the BBB, when I was a student, after being promised a gift card for a video interview of a product for one of the large tech companie's PMs.
I refused a free trial or some other token offer by a call center employee that the company sent as part of the BBB resolution process.
Not long after,the BBB removed my review even though I offered email evidence between the PM and I. I emailed one of their managers asking for an explanation for why they removed it. They gave me some vague boilerplate that didn't address the issue.
Because they weren't clear in their communication with me on the reasons why, I couldn't help but wonder whether they had some similar incentive in their relationships with certain companies to remove problematic reviews.
The BBB is geared for companies, if you have an open issue, it becomes a back and forth ping pong match to see who can outlast each other. Companies HR will respond to the BBB update, they wear you out, and it gets closed as resolved.
Its not.
Its utterly useless.
Same goes for some state agencies, file a complaint, but turns into a response back and forth, until someone finally gives up responding, and default closed.
Systems are designed to make you give up and go away.
Once I requested an insurance reimbursement for a transportation expense of about $20.00, on the basis that their chosen service failed me that night.
The reimbursement was denied, so I appealed. COVID lockdowns were active, and the petty bureaucrat on charge of my appeal barely knew how to use her phone. She said the request was denied due to illegible documentation, which was bullshit.
They announced that the appeal was still undecided, but they wanted to grant themselves an extension of several weeks to study it more closely. I appealed the extension, and presently I was mailed a check for the full amount.
How much is your time worth? Is $20 worth an hour of wrangling bureaucracy?
I would log into the BBB couple times a week and respond, "Still not resolved, did not receive refund", and click the "not resolved". The business would reply "We sent the check", after 90 days, I didnt log in for a week, auto closed as resolved.
I refused a free trial or some other token offer by a call center employee that the company sent as part of the BBB resolution process.
Not long after,the BBB removed my review even though I offered email evidence between the PM and I. I emailed one of their managers asking for an explanation for why they removed it. They gave me some vague boilerplate that didn't address the issue.
Because they weren't clear in their communication with me on the reasons why, I couldn't help but wonder whether they had some similar incentive in their relationships with certain companies to remove problematic reviews.