Arlington, VA, August 8, 2006 – The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) to formally establish BBB NAVY LINE, a program to serve the specialized consumer needs of Navy personnel and their families.
“The BBB has a long history of assisting military personnel going all the way back to World War II. Today, with service members and their families focused on combating the Global War on Terror, we at the BBB are working to ensure that they receive the best possible treatment from the business community on the homefront,” said Steve J. Cole, president and CEO of the CBBB.
The BBB NAVY LINE program brings the full resources of the Better Business Bureau to the Navy consumer, no matter where that person is located, through a dedicated Web site and targeted education efforts. The program will assist Navy personnel with complaints against unresponsive businesses, and provide precautionary advice on how to avoid being victimized by predatory lenders, misleading advertisements, high-pressure salespeople and other suspect business practices. Further, the CBBB’s data tracking helps to identify trends and emerging marketplace issues impacting on sailors and their families.
“Locally, our BBBs will be able to more readily partner with nearby naval installations to provide classes, briefings and customized information tools to educate Navy personnel about their rights in the marketplace and to assist them to be wise consumers. Bureaus will also work to rid local marketplaces of unethical and fraudulent businesses that tend to target military customers,” Cole added.
Better Business Bureaus in Jackson, Mississippi and San Diego, California, which have ongoing partnerships with Navy installations in their service area, are contributing their experiences and expertise to BBB NAVY LINE.
“This is a natural alignment that will benefit both the Navy family by providing tailored tools to help them navigate their business actions throughout their active career and when they transition to civilian life, while also providing the CBBB with insightful information into an important domain of society, the military individual, and their role in the consumer-arena writ large,” said CNIC's Vice Admiral Robert T. Conway Jr.
The BBB NAVY LINE Web site can be found as a link off the BBB’s main page at www.bbb.org, through www.military.bbb.org and as a separate site at www.navy.bbb.org.
The CNIC joins with the U.S. Army in supporting the BBB MILITARY LINE program. The long-range goal is to extend the program to all of the military services.
Initial support for the BBB MILITARY LINE program is being provided through funding from the Department of Justice, and a partnership between the CBBB and the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of America, with additional, private sector sponsorship from Equifax and Patton Boggs, LLP.
About the BBB
The BBB system is dedicated to fostering fair and honest relationships between businesses and consumers, instilling consumer confidence and contributing to an ethical business environment, in both the traditional and online marketplace. The first BBB was founded in 1912, and the network of BBBs and the Council of Better Business Bureaus have grown to become the most recognized advocate for promoting ethical business and advertising practices, providing more than 90 million instances of service to consumers and businesses in 2005. The BBB’s Internet self-regulation program, BBBOnLine (a href="http://www.bbbonline.org">www.bbbonline.org), helps consumers identify online merchants that meet BBB standards through its Reliability and Privacy “trustmark” programs and the BBB Code of Online Business Practices. BBBs in the U.S. and Canada are supported by 300,000 business members throughout North America.
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