Did The BBB Give Goldline an Easy A?

<a href="http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/Goldline-International-Inc-35002328">Los Angeles BBB</a>

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When Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) released a report yesterday accusing Glenn Beck’s favorite gold company and sponsor of ripping off consumers, the company sent out a press release disputing the charges. Among the defenses it raised was Goldline’s “A+ rating” from the Better Business Bureau. Beck, too, has highlighted the BBB endorsement in his defense of Goldline. But does that rating really mean anything?

After all, a Mother Jones investigation found that more than 40 people have filed complaints against Goldline with that very same BBB, and seven of those people reported back that Goldline refused to make them whole. Goldline also engages in a few practices that don’t seem like they quite fit in with the BBB’s stated ideas about good consumer practices. For instance, Goldline requires people to sign a nondisclosure form promising never to complain publicly about the company as a condition of getting a refund. It also aggressively uses caller ID to identify incoming callers so it can call them back and pitch them more stuff just like any telemarketer. And it presses people into making “investments” in European gold coins that lose a third of their value the minute they are purchased. Does that sound like an A+ kind of business?

Well, as it turns out, it doesn’t take much more than a big fat check to the BBB to get the erstwhile consumer agency to grant a company its highest ranking. According to the Los Angeles Times, most of the bureau’s funding comes from selling “accreditations” to businesses. In a story last year, the Times found:

a random search of the organization’s database of about 4 million North American companies seems to show that the roughly 400,000 accredited businesses, even those that get numerous complaints, very often receive higher grades than unaccredited companies with spotless complaint records.

Some outraged business owners have put up their own site to complain about the LA BBB allegedly trying to squeeze money out of them to improve their ratings. So it’s no surprise, really, that Goldline has such a glowing recommendation. The company has aggressively worked to defend its public image. After dozens of people wrote up scathing complaints about the company on the Ripoff Report, Goldline joined the site’s “Corporate Advocacy” program and—voila!—the complaints are now buried under a pile of verbiage suggesting that after a thorough investigation, Ripoff Report now believes:

Goldline International commits to total customer satisfaction, pledges to address complaints & inquiries. Goldline.com commitment to Rip-off Report Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation & Customer Satisfaction Program. Goldline employees will go above and beyond the client’s expectation in the pursuit of excellence in every aspect of the business – Goldline has been helping consumers buy gold and other precious metals since 1960. They provide extensive free information to help people make informed choices when buying precious metals. – feel confident & secure when doing business with Goldline International.

And just in case that didn’t do the job, Goldline has set up its own review site filled with nothing but kind words from happy customers. Given the company’s track record in image-scrubbing, if Beck wants to shoot down Weiner’s report, he’s going to have to find better ammo than a rented endorsement from the BBB.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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