Seeing that Zango (I’d link to their Wikipedia article, but they keep editing it themselves) was a member of the Better Business Bureau was a big laugh from get-go. I came across that tidbit of info back in November when I saw a BBBOnline Reliability Program seal on Seekmo - one of Zango’s properties. Doing a quick search on TheBBB.org revealed that Zango was in fact a member back then. Not just regular members though, those asshats were in the President’s Club of the BBB!
“We’re beginning to wonder whether George Bush is going to get around to declaring in a State of the Union speech that Zango belongs to the Axis of Evil.”
- The Guardian
How exactly does a company with such a super-duper-scumtastic reputation gain membership to the BBB? And, what retard over there approved their application for the President’s Club? It’s not like they hadn’t already been outed for being downright thieves and interweb hoodlums while operating under the name 180solutions.
Dear BBB…
Seriously… When you Google a company’s name and you have security product companies buying adwords with titles like “Remove 180Search Hijacker”, you might want to research those guys a bit to see how many of your membership standards they’ve already fallen short of. You can start by simply reading through some of the write-ups listed on the first page of organic search results.
“I came across that tidbit of info back in November”
Why am I finally writing about this now?
I’ve been busy with all sorts of awesomeness:
That, and I was waiting to see if the 3 million dollar fine from the FTC would get Zango booted from the Better Business Bureau. After such a blow, there would be no way the BBB could claim that they believed the PR spin Zango always puts on things. If Zango kept their membership status it would inarguably mean that the BBB doesn’t give a shit about “standards” or ethical business practices, only membership dues.
Fast forward a handful of months and take a look at Zango’s entry on TheBBB.org now…
“BBB Membership: This company is not a member.”
Ouch… Looks like somebody got shit-canned. Oddly enough they are still listed as members of the President’s Club. I figured that the BBB simply hadn’t updated that page yet or it’s a quarterly or yearly kinda deal that Zango is still locked into after having coughed up the dough for it.
To satisfy a bit of curiosity, I sent the below message to the BBB:
“Hello,
I’m just wondering if membership in your President’s Club is available
to companies that aren’t a member of the BBB? Or, do I have to join
the BBB first? And, how much does it cost for the different levels in
the President’s Club?
Thanks in advance,
Loren J. Williams”
I got back the following reply:
“Loren-
Yes your company would need to be a member of the BBB in order to become
a President’s Club Participant. I would need more information about your
company to determine if your company qualifies and how much your annual
dues would be. If you are interested in becoming a member please give me
a call.”
Yeah, I was a deceitful little bastard. I just wanted a quick answer without having to wait 10,000 years for an official response. So, my assumptions were right. Zango is either locked in because their dues are paid up or that page simply needs to be updated. I’m going to send a link to this blog entry over to the BBB to see if I can get an official response about Zango. I’ll update this entry if / when I get a reply.
“I would need more information about your company to determine if your company qualifies”
Major LOLz at that one. Since Zango originally made the cut, the BBB would be hard pressed to deny membership to Enron.
Oh yeah, Seekmo is still proudly flaunting a BBBOnline Reliability Program seal. I searched for them on BBBonline.org and they were nowhere to be found in the database of “trusted sites”. I guess they got the boot from that too.
Even if I don’t get a message from the BBB, I bet Zango does.
“Dear Retards,
Remove that seal or we’ll sue…”
/lolz
~
~
Update (4-27-07):
Just noticed that Seekmo no longer has a BBB seal. Zango is still listed as a member of the President’s club though. And, the BBB is naturally giving me the silent treatment. :P
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6 brave souls have commented on this post
Sounds like the “good old boys” club to me…
still waitin for that video tho~lol
dude, the BBB so doesn’t give a shit about anything. My boss is an independant contractor, and he’s a member or whatever. He has the friggin governor (well, the one we just kicked out of office, heh) and the mayor of our and all surrounding cities in his back pocket, so he gets away with clocking people in and out that aren’t there, writing out paychecks for employees we’ve never met, SEXUALLY harassing his workers, which, by the way, he informed me that he ONLY hires ‘hot young girls,’ AND somehow managing to FIRE them when they say stop touching me. Dude, if some guy just walked in and handed him a resume, you can watch him look at the name to see the gender, and TOTALLY throw it away if its a man’s. Doesn’t matter on qualifiications. Only girls can work for him. AND 4 out of 6 of us are all 27. Creepy? Yes. I ramble, sorry. My point being, if you got money, you got a BBB endorsement.
Go get ‘em LoLo, you really should be getting paid for this stuff though. x;)
>“Dear Retards,
>Remove that seal or we’ll sue…”
Oh man, don’t you wish that business communications could cut to the chase like this? It would save us so much time and energy (and no lawyers required to ‘dress it up’). Awesome!
I did business with a company named “Classic Carpet, Inc.” whose web site is http://classiccarpet.us/. It bears a BBB endorsement. Only problem, there is no “Classic Carpet, Inc.” registered with the State of Florida. I brought this to the attention of the BBB of NW FL and received written communication from their President, Norman Wright. He wrote “Thank you for the interest in BBB files and reports. I spoke with Mr. Roper and he indicated he would have the Inc removed from Classic Carpet Inc on the web site. When this change occurs I will consider this issue over.”
Over? He is now endorsing another unregistered Florida business, “Classic Carpet.” According to the Florida Division of Corporations’ web site, there is no registration of the company, a fictitious name or a DBA under the name of the owner, Alford Roper, Jr. (web address is: http://www.sunbiz.org/corpweb/inquiry/cormenu.html)
Add to the above the web site’s claim that they had been in business since 1987 which the BBB did not seem to take exception with in spite of the fact the company did not register with the State and the only company I found registered to Mr. Roper, “Classic Carpet Cleaners of Bay County, Inc.,” was registered in 1995 not 1987. So I guess claims that are unsupported are okay too.
Trust the BBB logo at your own risk. If they will endorse unregistered businesses, what trust is there in their branding?
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