Complaints and reviews are two different systems
Most businesses contact us about “a BBB review” and turn out to be dealing with a complaint, which is an entirely separate process with its own rules and its own effect on your profile. Getting this distinction right first saves weeks.
A customer review is an opinion posted to your profile. A complaint is a formal filing that the BBB forwards to you, expects you to answer within a set period, and records the outcome of. Complaints feed your letter rating. Reviews largely do not.
That means a business panicking about star ratings while ignoring an unanswered complaint is working on the wrong problem. The unanswered complaint is what is damaging the rating.
Answering a complaint is the highest-value thing you can do
The BBB records whether you responded and whether the matter was resolved. A complaint you answered promptly and settled reads very differently on your profile from one marked unanswered, and the rating reflects that.
This is unusual among review platforms: the process actively rewards engagement. Where a customer’s complaint is reasonable, resolving it and having that recorded is worth more than any removal, and it is entirely within your control.
The rating is calculated, and some inputs are fixable
Your BBB letter grade is generated from factors including complaint volume, complaint resolution, how long you have been in business, licensing, and whether your business information is complete and accurate. Several of those have nothing to do with customer satisfaction at all.
We regularly find businesses marked down for incomplete profile data, an unverified license, or an old complaint they never saw because it went to a former address. Those are administrative problems with administrative fixes, and correcting them can move a grade without a single review being touched.
What can be removed
Grounds that work
- Reviews or complaints from people who were never customers
- Filings about a different business with a similar name
- Complaints that fall outside what the BBB handles, such as employment disputes
- Abusive or defamatory content
- Duplicate filings about one transaction
- Competitor submissions
- Incorrect profile, license or ownership data
Grounds that do not
- A genuine customer with an unresolved issue
- Complaints you did not answer in time
- Accurate accounts of a dispute
- Matters already closed against you
Employment disputes are worth checking for. Former staff filing complaints about their job is outside the BBB’s remit and those filings can be challenged on that basis alone.
What it costs
Priced per case. Profile corrections and out-of-scope filings are quick. Working through a backlog of unanswered complaints is more involved but usually has the biggest effect on the rating.
Nothing up front, and nothing on removals until they are complete.
How we handle a BBB case
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We separate complaints from reviews
Different processes, different deadlines, different impact on your grade. Almost every case starts with this being clarified.
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We deal with anything unanswered
Open complaints are the most damaging item on most profiles and the most straightforward to improve.
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We audit the rating inputs
Licensing, business details, ownership, time in business. Administrative gaps quietly cost grades.
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We challenge what is out of scope or ineligible
Non-customers, competitors, employment matters and duplicates, each argued against the specific rule.
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We work on the search result
BBB pages rank strongly for company names, so the profile is often the first thing a customer sees regardless of what your site says.
Choosing help
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They know the difference
A company that uses “review” and “complaint” interchangeably will work on the wrong thing.
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They prioritize unanswered complaints
This is the fastest available improvement on most profiles and it is frequently overlooked.
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They check the administrative inputs
Grades are affected by licensing and profile completeness, not just customer sentiment.
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They are realistic about accreditation
Paying for accreditation is a separate decision from fixing your rating and should be presented as one.
The realistic outcome
Out-of-scope and ineligible filings are removed, open complaints are answered and recorded as resolved, and the administrative gaps in your profile are closed. For most businesses the letter grade moves for reasons that have little to do with deleting anything, which is why this platform rewards doing the work rather than fighting it.