If you check out Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant on the Better Business Bureau's website, you'll discover that, under the organization's new rating system, the world-famous Beverly Hills eatery merits a grade of B-minus.
Why? That's hard to say. The online report says the bureau has received no complaints about Spago from customers and is unaware of any government actions against the restaurant.
Now check out the considerably less prominent Cafe Santorini in Pasadena. It too has prompted no complaints to the bureau and has no government actions outstanding. It gets a grade of A-plus.
One big difference: Cafe Santorini pays the bureau about $350 a year to be listed as an accredited business. Spago makes no such payments and is thus an unaccredited business.
The private, nonprofit Better Business Bureau insists there's no "pay-for-play" component to its new rating system.
But a random search of the organization's database of about 4 million North American companies seems to show that the roughly 400,000 accredited businesses, even those that get numerous complaints, very often receive higher grades than unaccredited companies with spotless complaint records.
"There is no guarantee that an accredited business will get an A-plus," said Steve Cox, a spokesman for the Better Business Bureau. "But should they get an A-plus? The answer is yes if they uphold the standards we espouse in the marketplace."
Then why do so many unaccredited businesses get significantly lower grades?
"I can't explain that," Cox replied. "Clearly we need to do a better job in articulating what the differences are."
The bureau announced this month that it would change its ratings to a letter grade system from the previous "satisfactory or unsatisfactory" system.
"We wanted to get rid of any ambiguity," Cox said. "A letter grade speaks to our degree of confidence that a business operates in a trustworthy manner. We're talking about business integrity."
If that's the case, the Better Business Bureau may want to get its own house in order first.
The majority of the bureau's funds come from selling accreditation to companies. Depending on the size of the business, accreditation costs between several hundred and several thousand dollars a year, Cox said.
Accredited businesses are expected to uphold the bureau's standards for good conduct. In return, the companies can use the bureau's logo in their advertising and marketing materials.
