Press release from the Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont and Western North Carolina:
Better Business Bureau of Southern Piedmont and Western North Carolina released its 2018 annual report today, detailing consumer activity related to businesses located in the BBB’s 37-county service area.
This report includes statistics on consumer complaints, verified customer reviews, website inquiries and the top five types of businesses that generated the most complaints.
Consumer Complaints
In 2018, consumers filed more than 16,000 complaints against area businesses, showing an increase in just over 1,000 complaints from 2017.
“A small increase in customer complaints is certainly not unusual. With new businesses opening regularly, it just means that there are more businesses to work with and more customers to satisfy,” said BBB Regional Director, Julie Goodwin. “Business growth is wonderful for our economy, and making sure consumers are satisfied is extremely important.”
Verified Customer Reviews
In 2018, customers submitted more than 9,500 verified reviews about businesses, showing no changes compared to 2017.
“Customer reviews are still fairly new to BBB,” said Goodwin. “We are thrilled to see customers continuing to take advantage of this outlet by sharing positive or negative feedback about their experience with a business.”
Website Inquiries
In 2018, total inquiries were up nearly 4% over 2017, showing a total increase of roughly 135,000.
According to Goodwin, “It’s great to see the number of inquiries up, as this represents more consumers using our website to vet businesses before making purchases. It continues to prove how important Accreditation truly is to consumers.”
Top Complaint Generators
2018:
- Auto Dealers – New
- Collection Agencies
- Auto Dealers – Used
- Auto Repair
- Banks
- Auto Dealers – New
- Collection Agencies
- Auto Dealers – Used
- Furniture Retailers
- Extended warranties
Consumers can visit www.bbb.org to check out a business, file a complaint or leave a review. For more information, contact Julie Goodwin a 828-253-7222 or julie@asheville.bbb.org.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.