I have been involved with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) here in St. Louis for about 30 years. I continue to serve on the Standards and Compliance (formerly Ethics) Committee. This committee reviews cases where a company has not responded regarding a complaint and, therefore, is in line to be expelled from the BBB. I continue working with the BBB on this committee because one of my stated personal goals is to do everything I can to upgrade the professionalism of businesses in general and HVAC businesses specifically.
When our committee receives a list of companies who are up for expulsion, my chosen task is to contact each of them and discuss their situation. I have found this exercise to be beneficial to the company, the BBB, and myself as well. I explain to the company the importance of not only responding to the BBB after a customer makes a complaint but that it’s even more important to make every effort to satisfy the customer. I’m frequently amazed at the small nature of the unresolved complaints. You may have seen the numbers wherein a dissatisfied customer tells 20 times more people than a satisfied customer. Then assume those people who are told about the unsatisfactory service that was received tell 10 more people, and so on — soon you have several hundred people discussing the poor service your company provided. I have seen examples where the cost to solve the problem and satisfy the customer was under $100. In these cases, usually someone’s temper and ego got in the way of common sense.