

11 people have the wrong idea; Call it the "Get Satisfaction" effect - brandnewlow
http://local.yahoo.com/info-41158629-better-business-bureau-chicago?sortreviews=1&allreviews=1

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dustmop
Same idea: [http://www.ok-cancel.com/archives/link/2004/09/google-
answer...](http://www.ok-cancel.com/archives/link/2004/09/google-answers-hci-
phd-program.html)

Guy's blog, named "Ok/Cancel", has a story about Google, and thus comes up
first for the search of "Cancel Google". He gets inundated with comments from
people trying to "cancel" google.

~~~
shizcakes
This is particularly hilarious, and I recommend that people take a glance at
this.

~~~
jamesbritt
I did not care for this comment, and will be posting my complaint on that site
momentarily.

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pyr3
I used to work for the a casino, and as any hotel operates, the prices
fluctuate based on how full we are, if it's a holiday, etc.

I would get A LOT of calls from people that would hit up the travel.yahoo.com
page for our casino/hotel, see that the price was $145, and complain to me
that I wasn't quoting them the price on 'your website'. I would explain over
and over that travel.yahoo.com is NOT owned or operated by us, but these
people would not listen. To be fair, casino patrons are not the brightest
bunch...

But why is it that people are so stupid sometimes? I mean, if I put up a
website that says "Larry's Business" and post a photo of "Larry's Business"
and make some sort of claim about the business, why in god's name do people
think that it __must__ be official? How is this any different than my writing
crap on a napkin in crayon and telling them that it's the 'real deal'.

There were quite a few people that really needed to have a hammer go through
the phone and knock them in the face.

~~~
ableal
I recently came across <http://notalwaysright.com/>

You may have a story or three for them, just for therapeutic purposes.

(Haven't the faintest idea if the site's stories are legit or ghostwritten -
some do seem a stretch.)

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Skeletor
I actually see this as how users can creatively use a site for what they
really want to use it for despite how it is designed. These people wanted to
vent their complaints and have other people see them. Since they were
complaining about really small businesses, few people would ever really see
them unless they searched for that specific business (that is how the site is
designed.)

So by crowding all of their complaints on the BBB listing they can maximize
how many people see their complaints. If Yahoo really cared about this product
they could come up with some creative ways to get the user's entering their
comments in the correct place by also providing an outlet for them to have
their complaints be more visible.

In a sense all of these random comments are complaints against the BBB because
the BBB makes it so hard to complain online (or doesn't provide a better way
to do it.)

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mr_justin
I don't know, people having been doing this sort of thing long before Get
Satisfaction was around. The average web user is very lazy.

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GHFigs
Note well that there is no text on the page unambiguously indicating that this
is something other than what these people think it is.

It'd be easy to say that they are just stupid, but the page is a cluttered
mess in the volume and variety of information it is trying to present and the
number of actions it is inviting the user to do. It is a breeding ground for
stupid.

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buugs
[http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=better+business+bureau+chic...](http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=better+business+bureau+chicago&fr=yfp-t-501-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8)

If a search is so high up and allows people to post comments and the first
comment someone sees is a complaint people will jump on the bandwagon thinking
this is the proper place.

Edit: The top result also has similar 'reviews'.

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swombat
Huh???

~~~
patio11
The submitted page is a directory listing for the Chicago Better Business
Bureau. The directory allows business reviews. 11 people have tagged the BBB
itself as 1 star, with comments indicating that they have a variety of
complaints against non-BBB businesses. The working assumption is that because
this listing for the BBB was the first on a search engine when looking for
"Chicago BBB" or something that people, without reading any of the page to
correct their misconception, decided "Oh, this is where I go to file
complaints WITH the BBB". (Note to non-Americans: the BBB is a semi-official
semi-impartial semi-compliance-mandatory arbitrator between businesses and
consumers, which many people know, in a vague way, will listen to any
complaint you have about any business and try to resolve it for you.)

~~~
silencio
Minus "semi-official", minus "semi-impartial" (well, maybe that depends on the
BBB in question), and minus "semi-compliance-mandatory".

The BBB in no way is official or has the power to do anything (except maybe
help you complain to the people who _do_ have the power to make things happen
without extortion). That's quite possibly the biggest misconception about the
BBB ever. It's a lot simpler to first ask the business, then go to the
city/state/federal licensing and consumer affairs departments and directly
file a complaint. Maybe the information doesn't become public, but businesses
also tend to Start Caring when it's their license(s) or permits at stake, and
it's not like the BBB is even close to acceptable in this regard.

I seem to be writing a lot about the BBB here (i.e.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=541244>), but someone has to spread the
word.

~~~
mynameishere
If a company charges you incorrectly, the best way to complain is to call up
mastercard/visa and let them do it for you. Never fails.

~~~
swombat
I'd like to argue against that. Many people jump straight into charge-backs
without contacting the business first. That's really uncool, because it
doesn't even give the business a chance to correct the situation, but
immediately applies the harshest possible punishment to said business.

Chargebacks are pretty uncool from a small business point of view. There's
pretty much no appeal (there's an appeal procedures but CC companies always
side with their customers, unless you're really big), and they result in:

1) deduction of the charge itself

2) an additional $35 fee

3) bumping you up on the chargeback statistics

If 1% of your transactions or 1% of the amount of your transactions is
chargebacks, merchant banks will often just close your account at short
notice. 1% is not all that much, particularly when you're starting out. Hell,
at the beginning, you may only have a 100 transactions a month. If 1 or 2 of
them do a chargeback rather than talking to you, they can take out your
business before it's even had a chance to take off.

Because of this, if you threaten a chargeback, most businesses will bend over
backwards for you. So, don't actually do a chargeback - give them a chance.

Of course, if the business doesn't respond at all, do go for the chargeback...
just give them a chance first.

~~~
silencio
Very much agreed on all points. Also it should be noted that just doing the
nice thing by contacting the business and letting them know you have a problem
can be a lot faster and nicer than the whole chargeback process.

Like I said, I used to go this route but I stopped when I realized how bad it
was. Now that I let the business know first (and I appreciate when customers
at my businesses do the same), most of them have fixed the problem and usually
thrown something extra in too - free shipping, store credit, extra products,
and what have you. No need to even threaten a chargeback unless it's been like
a week or two since the problem started and nobody's even replied back.

