by Net Reputation
Are you wondering how to remove a BBB complaint to protect your business’s online reputation? We have solutions to improve customer satisfaction and protect your brand’s digital presence.
If your business has a presence on the web, chances are that people are searching for information about you and your company before paying your business a visit or placing an order online. The information they find in search results can have a profound influence on purchasing behaviors.
When negative reviews on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website threaten to undo all you’ve worked so hard to achieve, you may wonder how to get a BBB complaint removed.
In this guide, we’ll explore what the Better Business Bureau is, how customers perceive a company based on their BBB profile, and how to remove a BBB complaint that is threatening your business prospects.
We offer professional reputation management services for businesses. Get started today with a free consultation with one of our experts. Call us at 888-826-5760 or fill out the contact form below.
Key Takeaways
- The BBB will not delete a complaint simply because you ask. Your realistic options are getting it closed as “Resolved,” disputing it if it violates BBB guidelines or waiting for the automatic removal that happens three years after the filing date.
- Businesses have 14 calendar days to respond to a complaint. Missing that window can result in an “Unanswered” status that damages your rating and reputation.
- The BBB is a private nonprofit with no government authority. It cannot suspend or shut down your business.
- Reviews and complaints are separate systems on the BBB and they follow different processes. Customer reviews do not affect your BBB rating, but complaints do.
- Responding well matters more than approval. How a business handles a complaint often carries more weight with prospective customers than the complaint itself.
- The BBB won’t remove a review just because you disagree with it. Reviews are only removed under specific conditions such as no genuine marketplace interaction or a voluntary withdrawal by the reviewer.
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What Is the Better Business Bureau?
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1912. According to the official BBB website, its vision is to create “an ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers trust each other.”
Today, over 400,000 businesses in North America have BBB accreditation. Accredited businesses pledge to adhere to the organization’s Accreditation Standards. These standards put a premium on ethical, transparent, and customer service-oriented practices. Individuals use the ratings and recommendations of the BBB every day to make informed purchasing decisions. And bad ratings can damage what you’ve worked so hard to achieve in your business operations.
What Tools Does the BBB Offer?
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a nonprofit organization that helps consumers locate trustworthy businesses and resolve disputes with companies. The BBB provides business owners and consumers with a wide range of tools, including:
- Business locator
- Scam search feature
- Scam research and studies
- BBB business profiles
- BBB accreditation procedures
- Consumer review tools
- Consumer complaint filing tools
For this guide about removing negative BBB reviews, the consumer review and complaint tools stand out. These tools allow consumers to make fair and honest assessments of the companies they do business with. Unfortunately, some consumers abuse these tools, potentially putting your brand reputation at risk.
It’s not uncommon for any review site, including the BBB, to receive defamatory, fake, and malicious complaints and reviews. Automated tools sift out these complaints from legitimate ones. However, any misleading complaint that slips through the cracks puts your business at risk.
Your BBB Profile
Business owners can create a business profile on the BBB website by submitting basic information, such as the business’s name, address, and niche. Once you enter this information, you can opt in to learn more about getting BBB Accreditation.
After completing the form, click Add My Business To the Directory, and the Better Business Bureau will create a profile. This profile is the foundation of your digital presence on the BBB site and serves as a portal for customers to learn about your business.
The BBB’s Rating Criteria
The Better Business Bureau does not rate only accredited businesses; the organization rates every business, even non-accredited businesses, that submits a profile request to the BBB directory.
The BBB rating system assigns businesses a letter-style grade from A+ to F. The grade is based on how the business performs across several categories, including:
- Business type
- Business practice transparency
- Complaint volume
- Unanswered and unresolved complaints
- Delay of complaint resolution
Each of the BBB’s grading elements corresponds to a points system. Companies can earn or lose points depending on the BBB’s analysis of the business in question. Note that customer reviews are NOT used in the BBB rating, while complaints are.
The key takeaway is that the rating system shows how well (or how poorly) a given business interacts with its customers.
BBB Complaints vs. BBB Reviews
In any discussion of the Better Business Bureau, it’s important to understand the difference between complaints and reviews.
- A BBB complaint is a formal complaint filed by a consumer who believes a business failed to meet its obligations. Complaints are intended to seek a resolution, such as a refund or replacement. Businesses are allowed to respond, and the way they handle complaints can affect their BBB rating.
- A BBB review, by contrast, is a customer’s opinion about their experience with a business. Reviews typically include a star rating and written feedback, but they aren’t part of the BBB’s dispute-resolution process and do not affect a business’s BBB rating.
For a single marketplace experience, the BBB generally allows a consumer to submit either a complaint or a review, but not both. This distinction helps separate formal disputes from customer feedback.
The processes for addressing complaints and reviews also differ. Complaints may be challenged or resolved through the BBB’s dispute procedures, while reviews are subject to a separate set of standards and removal criteria. Complaints can affect your rating, but reviews do not.
You can take control of your online reputation and your company’s digital presence. Call us at 888-826-5760 for more information.
How Are BBB Complaints Putting My Business at Risk?
BBB complaints can affect how consumers view your business. A pattern of unresolved complaints can damage your reputation, lower consumer trust, impact your BBB rating, and influence whether prospects choose to do business with you.
In today’s highly connected digital environment, one of the first places people turn for information about businesses in their area is the web. A simple Google search can turn up pages of information about local businesses, including online reviews, BBB ratings, and BBB complaints.
Because the Better Business Bureau’s website is such a trusted resource, complaints and ratings tend to rank highly in online search results. In other words, if your business has received a BBB complaint, chances are that the complaint is at or near the top position on Google search results pages. Since those top results are the ones customers click on, negative ratings or complaints by customers are far more likely to be spotted by someone searching for business information online.
As customers research your business, they may be confronted by these negative reviews and ratings. Any negative sentiment can erode trust between you and a potential customer, often leading to that customer frequenting your competitor. Can you afford to lose out on business because of negative feedback, including an unfair BBB complaint, a bad review, or a negative rating?
Can the BBB Shut Down My Business?
No. The BBB is not a government agency and cannot fine, close, suspend, or shut down a business. Its role is to collect consumer complaints, publish business profiles, and assign ratings based on factors like complaint history and responsiveness.
That said, BBB complaints can still affect your business indirectly. Many consumers check BBB profiles before making a purchase or hiring a company. If they see a low BBB rating or a business that does not respond to customer concerns, they may decide to take their business elsewhere.
The good news is that BBB complaints aren’t permanent judgments. Businesses have the opportunity to respond to complaints and work toward resolutions. In many cases, how you handle a complaint matters more to prospective customers than the complaint itself.
While the BBB cannot shut down your business, ignoring complaints can damage consumer trust over time. Responding promptly and professionally helps protect your reputation and shows potential customers that you take their concerns seriously.
The BBB Complaint Process: What Happens After Filing
When a customer files a complaint on the BBB website, that complaint goes through a multi-step process before it affects your current rating on the platform. Here’s an overview of the complaint process:
- First, the BBB complaint is filed by the customer. Within two business days of filing, the BBB forwards the complaint to the business owner, usually by sending the complaint to the email address listed in the business profile.
- Next, business owners have 14 days from the date filed to respond. If no business response has been made in that timeframe, a follow-up letter will be sent to the business’s physical address and email address.
- After a representative of the business responds to the BBB complaint, the customer filing the original complaint will be notified and asked to provide a response.
- The complaint process typically ends after 30 days, which is when the complaint is closed. However, the BBB may keep complaints open if there is an exchange of responses between the business owner and the person filing the complaint. In this case, the complaint process will end once the situation is resolved.
When a complaint is closed, the BBB assigns it one of five closing statuses:
- Resolved: The business addressed the complaint and the customer indicated that the issue was resolved. This is generally the best realistic outcome for a BBB complaint.
- Answered: The business responded to the complaint, but the customer did not indicate whether they were satisfied with the outcome.
- Unresolved: The business responded, but the customer remained dissatisfied with the resolution offered.
- Unanswered: The business failed to respond to the complaint.
- Unpursuable: The BBB could not process or continue investigating the complaint, either because the necessary information was missing or the complaint fell outside BBB guidelines.
In most cases, the goal isn’t to have a complaint deleted. Instead, businesses should focus on responding promptly and working toward a Resolved status whenever possible. A resolved complaint demonstrates responsiveness and a willingness to address customer concerns. This can help protect your reputation even when a dispute occurs.
It’s also important to point out that not all complaints on the Better Business Bureau platform are legitimate. Business owners in every industry have experienced negative BBB reviews and ratings based on misunderstandings or misleading information posted by competitors or others who wish to harm the company.
Still, these customer complaints represent a very real risk to your business’s success and your positive online reputation. Having negative reviews removed is a critical step toward protecting what you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
How To Respond to a BBB Complaint
Businesses have 14 calendar days to respond to a BBB complaint once it’s forwarded by the BBB. Responding within this window is important because timely engagement signals that you take customer concerns seriously. This can positively influence how the complaint is recorded and the impact it has on your BBB rating. Delayed or missing responses can result in an “Unanswered” status and may negatively affect your business’s public perception.
A strong BBB response is professional and solution-oriented. The goal isn’t to “win” the dispute but to show accountability and a willingness to resolve the issue.
Do:
- Acknowledge the customer’s concern clearly and respectfully
- State that you take the issue seriously and want to resolve it
- Move the conversation to a private channel (email or phone) for sensitive details
- Offer a specific and realistic next step
Don’t:
- Argue with the customer in a public response
- Share private information, account details or other personal data
- Use emotional or defensive language
- Ignore the complaint or delay responding
Sample Response Template
“We’re sorry to hear about your experience and appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We take your concerns seriously, and we want to make this right. A member of our team has reached out directly to discuss the issue and find a resolution. Please contact us at 844-461-3632 so we can resolve this as quickly as possible.”
This type of response keeps the tone professional and helps move the conversation toward resolution rather than escalation.
What To Do if You Receive a BBB Complaint
The Better Business Bureau prides itself on the quality and transparency of the customer-to-business interaction. The BBB takes complaints seriously, and the organization works hard to facilitate a resolution between those filing a complaint and the business owners targeted in the complaint.
There are several types of complaints the BBB will not act on, including:
- Employer/employee disputes
- Complaints against out-of-business companies
- Debt collection of money owed
- Pure price/buyer’s remorse disputes
- Matters already settled in court
- Anonymous complaints
It’s important to understand that non-accredited businesses are under no obligation to respond to complaints. The Better Business Bureau requires only BBB-accredited companies to respond to a complaint filed by a customer.
Resolving a Customer Dispute
The first step for any business owner facing a BBB complaint is to resolve the dispute with the customer. After all, the Better Business Bureau’s goal is to facilitate an interaction to resolve each dispute. This also gives the business a chance to increase customer satisfaction.
Businesses have two options: reach out to customers directly or use the BBB’s tools to have a conversation with the customer.
Proposing a Resolution
The Better Business Bureau handles correspondence between businesses and customers who file a complaint. The owner can submit a proposal to resolve the dispute, leaving it up to the customer to decide if the proposal solves the problem or not.
If you feel as though the complaint is unfair or if the customer is not satisfied with your attempts to resolve the issue, you may pursue Better Business Bureau arbitration.
Arbitration and Mediation With the BBB
When you choose mediation, the BBB employs a professional mediator to work with both parties to resolve any potential issues that led to the complaints. The mediator or arbitrator reviews all evidence supporting each side of the conflict to create a possible resolution that satisfies both parties.
For mediation, the Better Business Bureau chooses a meeting place and time for each party in the complaint to resolve the dispute. Typically, meetings take place at a local BBB office that’s convenient to both parties. Resolution services vary by region and may be handled online, not just at a local office.
How To Get a BBB Complaint Removed (What Actually Works)
The BBB doesn’t remove or delete valid complaints simply because a business requests it. Once submitted, complaints remain part of your business profile and can only change status (not disappear) unless they fall under specific exceptions.
Instead of focusing on removal, there are three legitimate outcomes businesses should understand.
1. Resolution: Best Outcome
The most practical path is working directly with the customer to resolve the issue. When the customer confirms satisfaction, the complaint is closed as “Resolved.” This is the strongest signal to future customers that the issue was handled appropriately.
2. Dispute Under BBB Guidelines
A business may challenge a complaint if it violates BBB Acceptance Guidelines. For example, this might apply if the complaint is fraudulent or it falls outside BBB’s scope. In these cases, the BBB will review the dispute and may adjust or dismiss the complaint if it doesn’t meet eligibility standards.
3. Time-Based Removal
Even unresolved complaints don’t remain on a profile indefinitely. In most cases, BBB complaints are removed from a business profile three years after the filing date, regardless of the outcome.
Due to these rules, the most effective strategy is not attempting removal but focusing on resolution and professionalism. A thoughtful, solution-oriented response can often turn a negative experience into a closed or even resolved complaint and significantly reduce its long-term impact on your reputation.
Ultimately, while BBB complaints can’t be erased on demand, they can be managed and often neutralized through consistent and transparent communication and a genuine effort to make things right.
How To Withdraw or Cancel a BBB Complaint (Consumer Side)
Only the consumer who filed a BBB complaint can request to withdraw or close it. Businesses cannot remove or directly edit a complaint on behalf of a customer. Once the underlying issue is resolved, the customer may choose to update the BBB and indicate that the matter has been settled. From there, the complaint can be closed as resolved.
For businesses, the correct approach is to focus first on resolving the problem completely. This means addressing the customer’s concern directly and offering a fair solution, then ensuring the issue is actually corrected. After that, it’s appropriate to politely let the customer know they can return to their BBB complaint and update the status if they feel the matter has been resolved.
Businesses should never condition a refund or replacement on the customer withdrawing a complaint. The BBB explicitly discourages any pressure or “remove it to get help” arrangements. Customers are encouraged to report such attempts to influence or coerce changes to their complaint.
The safest and most effective strategy is the simplest one: Resolve the issue first. Then, allow the customer to decide whether to update the complaint based on their experience.
How To Remove or Dispute a BBB Review
The process to remove negative reviews from the Better Business Bureau is similar to the process needed to resolve a dispute. It is important to understand that BBB customer reviews and BBB complaints are separate systems. Unlike complaints, customer reviews do not affect a business’s BBB rating.
Start by asking the customer to retract or remove the negative review. If they agree, they must use the same email address they used to post the review in the first place. Again, work with the customer to resolve any dispute and to restore a trustworthy relationship. If done correctly, having negative BBB reviews removed from your profile will help you protect your reputation and brand identity.
Businesses should set realistic expectations. The BBB generally won’t remove a review simply because a business disagrees with it or believes it to be unfair. The organization does not investigate whether a review is “true” or “false” in the way a court might. Instead, it applies the same content standards to all reviews.
In most cases, the BBB will only remove a review if:
- There is no genuine marketplace interaction between the reviewer and the business
- The review is determined to be false, anonymous, or improperly incentivized
- The review contains profanity or harassment of any kind, or identifying information
- The reviewer voluntarily withdraws or removes the review after the issue is resolved
How your business responds is critical. In every piece of communication between your business and its consumers, you must take ownership of any problems, issues, or business failures that led to bad reviews.
Because BBB rarely removes reviews on a business’s request alone, your most effective tools are a professional public response and a real effort to resolve their concerns. Once you’ve addressed the issue, you can politely ask the customer to update or remove the review if they believe their concerns have been addressed.
Offering to correct the problem can help consumers regain the trust they had in your company. This alone may encourage them to honor your review removal request.
What You Should Know About Review Management
The Better Business Bureau is a popular platform where customers can share their experiences with local businesses. But for company owners, the BBB is not the only place to worry about negative sentiments, bad reviews, or other unflattering information.
Third-party review sites like Trustpilot, Yellow Pages, and Google Reviews all feature prominently in search results. Every time a bad review gets posted to one of these platforms, your business’s online reputation is at risk. This can potentially shut you out of new business opportunities.
The solution is review management. As part of a more comprehensive online reputation management campaign, managing reviews across web platforms allows you to take charge of the online narrative. With review management at your side, you can establish brand awareness, preserve the strength of your digital footprint, and rebuild the trust lost to unflattering reviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to some of the most common questions we receive about removing a BBB complaint online.
How long does a business have to respond to a BBB complaint?
Businesses have 14 calendar days to respond once the BBB forwards a complaint. Responding within this window signals to the BBB (and potential customers) that you take concerns seriously. Missing the deadline can result in an “Unanswered” status, which may negatively affect your BBB rating and public perception.
Can a BBB complaint be removed?
The BBB will not remove a valid complaint on request. However, businesses have three legitimate paths they can take. These include resolving the issue and closing the complaint as “Resolved,” disputing a complaint that violates BBB Acceptance Guidelines, or waiting for the BBB to automatically remove the complaint three years after the filing date.
Can the BBB shut down a business?
No. The BBB is a private nonprofit organization. It has no authority to suspend or close a business. That said, a pattern of unresolved complaints can drive potential customers to competitors, so the reputational impact is real even if there are no legal consequences.
How long do BBB complaints stay on your profile?
BBB complaints remain on a business profile for three years from the date they were filed, regardless of the outcome. This means that prompt, professional responses are essential. How a business handles a complaint often matters more to prospective customers than the complaint itself.
Can I cancel a complaint I filed?
Only the consumer who originally filed the complaint can request to withdraw or close it. Once the underlying issue is resolved, the customer can return to the BBB and update the complaint status, which may result in it being closed as resolved.
Do BBB reviews affect the rating?
No. Customer reviews are separate from complaints and aren’t factored into a business’s BBB rating. Only complaints influence the letter grade assigned to a business, with key factors being the volume, whether they were answered and how quickly they were resolved.
Getting Help With BBB Complaints
If your local BBB office has been unable to help you resolve customer complaints, there’s another solution. Leading online reputation management (ORM) service providers work tirelessly with the Better Business Bureau and third-party review platforms to help business owners recover from the reputational damage caused by bad BBB reviews or negative ratings.
NetReputation’s team of expert content removal professionals can show you how to remove a BBB complaint. You’ll also learn how to protect your online reputation from the damage caused by consumer complaints. Take a look at our reviews on Trustpilot and Clutch to see what others have said about the quality and effectiveness of our online reputation management services.
Call Us Today for Online Reputation Management Services
Don’t let BBB consumer complaints and negative reviews stand in the way of your success. At NetReputation, our team of review management experts can help you resolve, dispute, and suppress a BBB complaint. Since 2014, we have helped thousands of clients with proven strategies that deliver the results you deserve.
Contact NetReputation today at 888-826-5791 or complete the online form below to get started with a free consultation.