Saturday, December 21, 2002

Christmas Driving

I've done almost all of my Christmas shopping but today I had to do a little last minute shopping. What is it with people behind wheels at this time of year? A minority, a very noticable minority, of them go crazy just before Christmas. They become rude, aggressive, monsters that will risk lives to get a parking place. Even in Oklahoma, where most drivers will stop to let pedestrians cross a street (try that in Dallas!), the normal civility is hard to find at these times.

Friday, December 20, 2002

BBB to the Rescue?


I recently had a need to enlist the aid of the Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma. I had been ripped off by an auto repair shop in a small town near Oklahoma City and they were refusing to even deal with me. I didn't want to go to the expense of suing the shop so I contacted the BBB on their national website, filled out their online complaint form and waited. The BBB in Oklahoma City was pretty quick about writing the auto shop and asking for their side of the story. The crooks at the auto shop wrote back and denied any responsibility even though I had written statements from a car dealership saying the little shop caused hundreds of dollars of additional damage to my car in their bungled attempt to fix a small problem.

Here's where I thought the BBB would either whip the crooks into shape or at least force them to settle with me - or maybe just humor me a bit. Instead, the BBB did nothing. They did not reply to my letter stating my dissatisfaction with the auto shops refusal to consider a remedy and with the BBB's lack of aggressiveness in the matter. Apparently, the BBB can't do a thing about businesses that rip customers off. The most the BBB does is keep a record of complaints. And that is not reliable. Months after I filed my complaint it still hasn't shown up in the BBB online database on that auto shop. All their database tells one about the company is that it is a member of the BBB! Hmmmm?

If you have a complaint against a business that rips customers off and doesn't care - don't waste your time with the BBB of Central Oklahoma. Where do you go to file a complaint against the BBB?