Auto dealers continue to top regional BBB complaint list

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:

  1. Auto Dealers – New
  2. Collection Agencies
  3. Auto Dealers – Used
  4. Auto Repair
  5. Banks

2017:

  1. Auto Dealers – New
  2. Collection Agencies
  3. Auto Dealers – Used
  4. Furniture Retailers
  5. 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.

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