re. Reed's quote <<My personal issues have all been disclosed>>
All of them?
What about these two run-ins with the Better Business Bureau?
**************************************
The San Diego Union-Tribune
December 31, 1990, Monday
SECTION: BUSINESS; Ed. 1,2,3,4,5; Pg. A-15
LENGTH: 277 words
HEADLINE: Complaints raised over mailings of state firm selling credit-card data
SOURCE: AP
BODY:
The Better Business Bureau reports it has had complaints since summer over
mailings from a California company offering what appears to be a low-interest
credit card.
Joanne Scrivo, a trade specialist with the BBB of Cleveland, told The Plain
Dealer newspaper that her office had received numerous complaints about the
Better Home Financial Group of Rancho Cucamonga.
The complaints were mainly from people who sent in either $98 or $119,
expecting to get a low-interest credit card but instead getting a list of banks
to which they could apply for a credit card.
Consumer magazines, newspapers and other outlets offer that information
already, at little cost.
Many of those who sent money to the California company said they were unable
to get their money back.
There was no answer yesterday at the Better Home Financial Group office in
Rancho Cucamonga.
Some of the group's mailings have said it could provide a credit card with no
annual fee at a rate as low as 11.88 percent.
But Scrivo said the bank offering the 11.88 percent rate did charge an annual
fee.
She cautioned that such mass mailings sometimes carry the logos of well-known
credit cards to entice customers.
"Even the literature carries Visa or Mastercard logos, making it appear they
are endorsed by these companies when they are not," she said.
Dorian Reed, a Better Home manager, told The Plain Dealer that the
literature was not misleading and that potential customers were not told they
would get a credit card.
Reed said his company stopped using the Mastercard and Visa logos a year ago
but that other firms were still using them, the newspaper reported today.
LOAD-DATE: December 14, 1995
==========
Copyright 1996 PR Newswire Association, Inc.
PR Newswire
March 25, 1996, Monday
SECTION: Financial News
DISTRIBUTION: TO BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS
LENGTH: 741 words
HEADLINE: BBB URGES BUSINESSES TO ADHERE TO ETHICAL PRACTICES IN THE ON-LINE
MARKETPLACE
BODY:
The Council of Better Business Bureaus announced it is urging businesses to
adhere to ethical advertising and selling practices in the on-line marketplace.
The Council is the umbrella organization for the nation's 137 Better Business
Bureaus (BBBs).
"The consumer marketplace is poised for a revolutionary expansion as a result
of new opportunities presented by electronic commerce. The BBB urges
companies and entrepreneurs that do business on-line to adhere to ethical
marketplace practices. Only with consumer confidence can the vast potential of
the Internet as a trustworthy, convenient and expedient place to do business be
fully realized," said James Bast, president and CEO of the Council.
The Better Business Bureau offers its traditional guidelines, which have
proven to be very successful for businesses and entrepreneurs advertising or
selling products and services in any medium, for use in the new "cyber"
marketplace:
-- Provide the physical location (address and phone number) of your
company so that consumers can check on your reliability with outside
organizations, like the BBB and consumer agencies;
-- Refrain from using advertisements which are untrue, misleading,
deceptive, fraudulent, falsely disparaging of competitors, or make
insincere offers to sell;
-- Adhere to the basic principles embodied in the BBB Code of
Advertising;
-- Comply with local, state and federal laws and regulations
governing advertising and sales practices;
-- Refrain from using words in a company name which would mislead
the public either directly or by implication; and
-- Refrain from unauthorized use of company names and logos.
"The issue of name and logo protection in cyberspace is as crucial
to the consumer as it is to the companies involved," Bast said.
"Practitioners who attempt to trade upon the good reputation of
established brand names could destroy customer expectations of fair
dealings in the electronic marketplace."
The Council recently reached an agreement with an organization that
advertised on-line under the name Internet Business Bureau (IBB). The
IBB advertised consumer protection and business reliability reporting
services that purported to be virtually identical to services provided
by the Council and by Better Business Bureaus.
"We demanded that the company cease infringement of our trademarks.
By using a mark confusingly similar to the Better Business Bureau's, the
organization was likely to confuse the public and jeopardize the BBB's
long-held reputation as the source of high caliber consumer protection
services," Bast said.
The company agreed to change its name to Internet Business
Broadcasting, Inc. and to cease holding itself out as providing consumer
protection services or screening advertisers in the future. Internet
"search engines" have been notified of the name change.
"The primary responsibility for truthful and non-deceptive
advertising rests with the advertiser. That's true in any medium it
uses," Bast said.
Businesses, entrepreneurs, and consumers seeking information about
ethical marketplace practices can contact the Better Business Bureau or
use the BBB World Wide Web Server, located on the Internet at
bbb.org. The BBB Code of Advertising, publications for
businesses and consumers, scam and fraud alerts, and BBB program and
services information are available through the BBB Web Server. The BBB
provides complaint-resolution assistance on-line and "off-line" to
consumers and businesses.
The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) is the umbrella
organization for 137 Better Business Bureaus (BBBs) across the U.S.
Through the national memberships of more than 350 leading edge companies
and the network of member BBBs, the Council promotes the highest ethical
relationship between businesses and the public through voluntary
self-regulation, consumer and business education, and service
excellence.
/EDITORS' ADVISORY: The full text of this and other CBBB press
releases are available in the "What's New" section of the BBB World Wide
Web Server, located on the following Internet address:
bbb.org ./ |
