Frequently asked questions

• Only the original consumer who had a marketplace interaction with a business can file a BBB review. Money need not have changed hands. The only exception is for incapacitated consumers who are unable to file a BBB customer review themselves.

• BBB does not accept incentivized customer reviews. This includes, but is not limited to, situations where a consumer may receive a discount or a gift in exchange for a customer review, or a “mystery shopper” or the like, where a consumer is compensated (either by a third party or the company itself) to shop a company who then submits a customer review.

• Consumers with a bona fide business experience may file either a BBB customer review or a BBB complaint, but not both.

No, reviews and complaints are different. A consumer files a complaint when the consumer wants BBB’s help to resolve a dispute with a company, usually (but not always) involving a monetary claim, and wants to share the outcome with the public. Customer reviews allow consumers to share with BBB and the public their opinion — good or bad — about companies with which they had a marketplace interaction.

BBB takes steps to verify customer reviews before they are published. Consumers provide their name, which is shared with the business to help confirm the interaction and allow a response. This and other measures help maintain the integrity of BBB Customer Reviews and reduce fake or misleading submissions.

No. Unlike complaints, customer reviews are not considered as part of a business’s BBB Rating.

No. You must choose whether to file a complaint or submit a customer review with BBB.

BBB does not accept anonymous customer reviews.

Leave a customer review for a business you’ve used at BBB.org/Leave-a-Review.