USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia-S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 19, No. 21
Visit The Summation Weekly Online: www.summationweekly.com
May 22, 2019
1 Section, 12 Pages
Ethics in Everything We Do:
The Better Business Bureau helps save by Kaitlyn Peacock time, money and worry In 1985, small and big business companies from Pensacola came together for the purpose of promoting ethics in local products and services. At the time, an organization in Mobile was trying to service the area with a similar purpose, however the distance proved a hindrance for their cause. So, instead of letting Mobile run the show around here, Pensacola business leaders came together to form the Northwest Florida Better Business Bureau. The newly formed BBB served four counties and acted as a watchdog for businesses and customers. Nowadays, the BBB serves 14 counties, but its mission has stayed the same. They continue to serve as the community business watchdog, accrediting businesses, warning people about scams, educating community members, serving as a database among other duties. The smallest of the five BBBs in Florida, the local branch serviced more than 624,000 information inquiries, including approximately 512,000 calls about businesses in northwest Florida, 2,000 complaints and many others. The role that BBB serves in the community fills a very important need as the ethical standard setter for businesses and services, according to the Northwest Florida BBB Branch President and CEO Norman Wright. “Because these people had the vision of promoting ethics in the marketplace, we have a very active, functional Better Business Bureau serving in northwest Florida that has very valuable information in our database to help consumers make wiser buying decision,” he said. “That’s really the main thing that we do, is to help provide consumers businesses’ information so that they can be smarter consumers.” Approximately 1,800 businesses are BBB members,
meaning they have been given a “background check” by the BBB and have committed to upholding the high standards expected. Failure to keep these standards resulted in the removal of eight businesses from the BBB last year. For the last 34 years, the BBB has been a trusted community partner, but as a watchdog, they have to uphold incredibly high standards for themselves. Employees are careful to not support one business over the another and to not show any favoritism for BBB member businesses. In fact, businesses who are a part of BBB must work with consumers and the BBB to keep their membership and their accreditation. Wright said keeping high standards is not all that difficult, especially when he sees their customer as everyone in the community, not just the business or the consumer. “One of the good questions that comes up is who is our customer?” Wright said. “Is it the consumer or is it the business? And in a sense, it’s really both. The consumers use us, but the businesses are the ones that want to continue promoting ethics in the marketplace. So they are financially contributing to what we do.” As online scamming has become a bigger and big-
ger part of life, the BBB has stepped up as a leader in fighting against these scammers. Through educational programs for the elderly, military members and others, Tammy Ward, communications director of the BBB, has been strengthening community members against those who would steal their hard-earned money. “I tell people you never know how you’re going to react to receiving something like that because you don’t know what mindset you are in,” Ward said. “It may hit you along the way, you just never know. The scammers love to the talk to people on the phone if someone actually answers on the phone, it’s like 60 to 75
percent more likely that they can talk somebody into something if they can get them to answer the phone because they are quick.” Scams today are often sent through e-mail, phone calls and even text messages. While most people can spot a scam fairly easily, there are those who are fooled by them, or who are willing to give the scammers money because they are tricked into thinking the scammers care for them. The educational classes Ward gives combat the scammers by teaching their tactics to those who would be most effected by them and those close to at-risk people. “Unfortunately, that age group likes to believe when someone calls them that
they’re telling the truth,” she said. “They’re susceptible to that kind of stuff lots of time because they are lonely and if a scammer calls them and is willing to talk to them, they’ll go ahead and give them money.” Another aspect of scams that people often don’t think about is online identity theft. Several times a year, Ward travels to military installations to speak with the military per-
sonnel and their families about scammers who will steal their pictures from online and use them in their scams. Victims of online identity theft may never know their picture is being used to scam someone else, but it is a risk people take when posting their image online. “For them, it’s to make their whole family aware for their social media what they do as far as when they are in uniform and the pictures that they post,” Ward explained. “A lot of times the scammers will copy their pictures and start a romance through online with someone and tell them that they’re overseas and they want to come meet them but they need money and that kind of thing.”
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Supporting the BBB helps not only support an ethical business environment in Pensacola, but also allows Ward to give classes on these scams to those who may be victims. Wright also said that supporting the local BBB is one of the essential ABCs of business. “I always look at it as three things,” he said. “A business should join their association, join the Better Business Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce. ABC.” Not every business is a member of BBB, but even non-members can be looked up for reviews. Reviews on the BBB website are vetted to make sure that they are from actually customers of the business, whether the review is good or bad. These reviews last for three years, so businesses that start off weak but get better can show their progress and eventually achieve an excellent rating. By remaining a neutral partner to the community, the BBB can provide necessary information to let consumers make more conscience buying decisions. The BBB also incentivizes ethical business practices for members and non-members, as both can be called in for customer complaints. Through arbitration services also offered at the BBB, customers can resolve complaints with willing businesses, which forges a trust in the community between consumer and service. As the watchdog for ethical businesses, the BBB is often a quiet, under looked part of the community, but no less important in their work.
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