BBB Top Ten Complaint Industries

The Better Business Bureau of Utah (BBB) has compiled the Top Ten industries for customer complaints according to their final statistics for 2011. For the year, the BBB provided 1.8 million total instances of service to the public, a new record.  The BBB’s business reviews were viewed more than 1.6 million times, nearly double the viewings of the previous year.

The BBB received more than 17,000 complaints in 2011—down 8.6% from 2010—and resolved just over 74% of them. “Our complaints have decreased slightly,” said Jane Driggs, president and CEO of the BBB. “We believe this is due to consumers spending less, therefore fewer transactions and less chance for complaint. We hope that the increase in consumers accessing BBB business reviews indicates that consumers are checking first, before they do business with any company.”

Complaints against alarm companies continue to top the list.  Utah is home to numerous alarm companies.  The resolution for the alarm companies continues to improve, however the number of complaints rose slightly.  The BBB encourages businesses to review their complaints and determine how they can eliminate or reduce their customers’ concerns. 

The category “Untested Medical Products or Supplements” remains high on the list.  These companies sell products that often make big promises (usually for weight loss or to help improve some aspect of your health) and usually come with trial offers and monthly fees that are not spelled out clearly and conspicuously. 

One industry in which the BBB saw a 715% increase in complaints was penny auctions.  This industry is receiving numerous complaints and resolves only a small percentage.  The BBB urges consumers to carefully read all the terms and conditions on any website that offers penny auctions prior to giving a credit card number to participate. 

Finally, while the majority of consumers contact the BBB via the Internet (99%), we saw an increase in the number of phone calls to the BBB, up to 62,106 calls. 

Total Instances of Service: 1,860,176 (up 11% from 2010)

            This number includes all phone calls, clicks on the BBB’s online seal, requests for quotes by consumers, BBB business reviews, lists of companies by type of business, general information on a type of business, and complaints. 

BBB Business Reviews Issued:  1,674,569 (up 95% from 2010)

            BBB Business Reviews (formerly known as reliability reports) are issued on the more than 67,210 companies in our database.  We provide information, where available, on when a company started business, the principal officer, basic contact information, complaint information, government actions if applicable, advertising review issues, and other information contained in our files.  These reviews offer a grade from A+ to F, based on 16 factors. The BBB routinely asks businesses for background information; however businesses do not always provide that data, so some reports may state we do not have information.  BBB business reviews are available free at http://utah.bbb.org/Business-Search/. 

Complaints Received: 17,156 (down 8.6% from 2010)

            The BBB of Utah handles only complaints on companies based in Utah.  Other complaints are sent to be processed by the BBB where the company is headquartered.  There are currently 116 BBBs in the U.S. and Canada.  Of the 17,156 complaints received by the Utah BBB last year, 13,723 were in the areas of consumer concerns that we handle and were sent to the company for a response and resolution.  The BBB was able to resolve 74.25% of these complaints.   Not being a government agency, the BBB does not have enforcement power.  Therefore, we can only ask and encourage the company to respond to the consumer and resolve the matter.  Companies are not required to respond.  However, all complaints made against companies within our purview are made known to the public in our BBB business reviews.   

1 Complaint rank is out of 3,947 industries categories.

2 Average resolution rate across all industries for 2011 was 74.56%.

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