Though the Better Business Bureau is a trusted institution, many businesses insist the rating system is akin to robbery. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

One of the supposed safeguards against unethical companies is the Better Business Bureau ratings system. Customers have long relied on the bureau’s grading system, but now the BBB is plagued by allegations that it runs a “pay-for-A” scheme.

Long-standing business rating service admits mistakes were made

The Better Business Bureau is thought to be among the few resources that consumers can trust in order to find out whether a business is trustworthy. The BBB has existed for decades and gives the public at large a way to vent frustrations at dealings that went sour, but there is a growing body of evidence that something could be rotten about the state of the BBB. Allegations have been made repeatedly over the years that businesses have to pay for a membership to get an “A” rating. According to a recent article at DailyFinance.com, the finance and business news site of AOL News, in response to questions on whether its rating system has a “pay to play” component, a BBB rep admitted “mistakes” had been made.

Rating system changed after news sting

The BBB announced last year that it was going to change its business rating system following a sting operation by a small group of Los Angeles area businessmen, an anonymous blogger and an accompanying “20/20″ news segment, according to ABC. It was also revealed that some very high profile companies have received disparaging grades for not being members. Some companies that have received F grades that aren’t BBB members include Wolfgang Puck restaurants, Disneyland and the Boston Ritz Carlton hotel. The Boston Celtics basketball team at one point held a D minus, and the New York Yankees currently have a C minus. The Boston Red Sox, as fate would have it, have an “A plus” rating– and the team is a BBB member. The sting operation by some Los Angeles area businessmen established a company called Hamas, after the Palestinian terrorist organization, and by simply paying $425 for a membership, Hamas received an A minus rating.

Holes exist in some nets

The group that created the Hamas company also created a BBB listing for a company they called Stormfront, the name of a neo-Nazi organization, which also received an A rating. It is not that the BBB is simply a “pay to play” organization, though it has been criticized as such by a fair number of people. The BBB does give consumers a legitimate forum to air grievances and use an impartial third party to register legitimate complaints about businesses.

Sources

Daily Finance

ABC

ABC on BBB Hamas

ABC on Ritz Carlton

BBB New York Yankees

BBB Boston Red Sox

Chan Ho Park and wife Ri-hye Park. (Photo: Ump Bump)

While the initial reaction of many Americans to New York Yankees pitcher Chan Ho Park’s diarrhea comment will undoubtedly be laughter, the reality is that the incident reflects a cultural divide between South Korea and America. Sports media in America – particularly New York – approach players aggressively. Players are expected to “play ball” and submit to their questions, or they’re labeled some form of “malcontent” or “clubhouse cancer.” Credit repair is needed after those labels are affixed. Yet South Korean culture dictates that athletes and citizens in general place high value on such concepts as che-myun (“saving face”) and kongson (“politeness”). In explaining why he’d pitched ineffectively in his two appearances previous to the legendary April 7 “Chan Ho Park diarrhea” video, Park no doubt wanted to establish common ground with the American reporters and be cooperative while establishing the bigger picture for his stint of poor pitching.

Chan Ho Park and diarrhea – not a unique New York Yankees experience

Back in 1986, if Chan Ho Park had announced diarrhea to the New York Media, they’d have told him to come up with an original excuse. You see, Yankees pitcher Ed Whitson was already feeling the heat of the New York spotlight back then, and it literally caused him gastro-intestinal distress. Chan Ho Park experienced a human ailment that’s easy to address with payday loans if his salary was tied up in investments at the moment. Yes, diarrhea may be funny to Americans, but South Koreans do not necessarily share the same sense of humor. And, as stated above, it is culturally taboo not to cooperate with authority figures (and the media are treated with less scorn in Asian countries like South Korea than they are in America). Chan Ho Park was only being honest, and if you watch the video, it seems clear that he’s confused by how funny the American reporters find his statement. Either that or he has a great poker face.

What Chan Ho Park diarrhea has to do with the Power Distance Index

According to Dutch psychologist Geert Hofstede, the Power Distance Index (PDI) measures how a particular culture deals with hierarchy and authority. According to veteran military pilot and essayist Albert Southwick, “a culture with a high PDI is more apt to respect authority even when authority is plainly in error.” This could possibly suggest that America’s low PDI score – in tune with the nation’s general lack of respect for authority and foreign beliefs – indicates why the American sports media is always pushing for the sensational story. A native of South Korea – a nation with a high PDI score – would respect the media authority, even if they’re invading his privacy. That could be why Chan Ho Park complied with their questions and revealed what Americans would consider TMI – too much information.

But that’s nothing compared with flaming plane wrecks

Further study of Southwick’s article illustrates the Chan Ho Park diarrhea dynamic, but on a much more serious scale. In the 1990s, Korean Airlines jets got into fatal accidents. The reason speculated is that rather than questioning the clarity of English language instructions from air traffic control towers and possibly appearing as though they were questioning authority, the Korean pilots remained silent and misunderstood. “Chan Ho Park diarrhea” is hardly a “Koreagate” when compared with loss of life, right?

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