BBB is a scam, they extort companies to pay them to remove stuff basically. Not very helpful for consumer reference if companies can pay for a good profile.

It is true about the extortion-based mud-cleanup shady way of operating. But from a consumer standpoint they still get results often enough. I’ve experienced it 1st hand w/many complaints I’ve filed with different BBB agencies. I’ve experienced roughly an even distribution of these outcomes:

1. the business confesses, apologizes, and makes the situation right. The complaint pays off 100% (and it costed nothing back when fax numbers worked).
2. the business responds defensively, refuses to remedy the problem. In some of these cases BBB spanks them with a bad score. In other cases BBB plays the deadbeat and does nothing. Which way it goes depends to a notable extent on the bribe money from the merchant to BBB. Even when the bribe works and the company gets off despite wrongdoing, at least they still have the hidden penalty of paying the bribe.
3. the business ignores the BBB. This should always be automatic condemnation and an extra poor score. But in reality sometimes BBB is just fucking lazy themselves.
4. BBB does not even accept the complaint and the merchant is not even contacted. This is the most infurating and unjust scenario. Some BBB agencies are anti-consumer. In principle, this is still not an entire loss because there is a potential shred of justice in going to the press to embarrass the BBB.

Perhaps you have a quite high bar with high expectations. For me, if BBB forces a silent merchant to talk, that’s already sufficient progress to justify the complaint. Communication is half the battle.