Whipped Cream Difficulties

I have often heard the accusation that the Better Business Bureau is more interested in money than protecting customers. That is, if you’re a business that pays enough money to the BBB, you’re guaranteed a high rating, and customer complaints against you might just magically disappear.

I’ve never been able to prove that to my satisfaction. But in at least one case, I don’t have to.

The BBB of the Southland was expelled Tuesday from the national organization, losing the right to use the BBB name and logo.

The BBB of the Southland is the branch that covers LA and the surrounding area. Why did they get kicked out? Some folks may remember this:

In 2010, a group of Los Angeles business owners that had been critical of the BBB conducted a sting operation by paying dues for fake companies, including one named after the Palestinian organization, Hamas, which the U.S. government considers a terrorist group.
The fake businesses were all accredited and given ratings, according to the ABC News report. Hamas received an A-minus rating.

Ken over at Popehat covered this in more detail at the time. I haven’t seen an update from him, but I don’t blame Ken, as he’s been tied up with the whole Prenda Law saga. (If you haven’t been following Prenda Law, I recommend checking Popehat; the entire saga is way to complex for me to summarize here, and Ken’s done a pretty good job of doing so over there.)

I’ve been thinking about posting an update for a couple of days now, but have held off. Why? The update boils down to: the jury is still deliberating.

Today’s events: one of the jurors is sick, so they’re taking the day off. More updates will follow as things happen. At this point, I’d bet on a mistrial.