Ratings, Reviews, and Accreditation: What to Trust

Plenty of companies gather customer reviews and assign ratings to help you choose the right business. But with so many review sites and rating systems, it's getting harder to figure out which one is actually a good guide. Here are a few things to check before you decide.

Paid vs. free review sites

Some review sites — like Trustpilot and ShopperApproved — require a monthly payment from the businesses they rate. They provide a valuable service, but they're for-profit companies, and they only show ratings for businesses that pay them. Google Reviews, the most popular system, is free for any registered business. Google is surely making money somehow, but at least it isn't paid by the business it's rating.

There are pros and cons on both sides. Some paid review companies verify that a reviewer is an actual customer, instead of letting anyone — including non-customers and employees — leave a review.

Look for multiple ratings whenever you can

It helps to look at a company's rating across several platforms, like Google and Trustpilot. Check whether the rating and the number of reviews are similar across them. If one is poor and another is great, be more skeptical of the good one.

Watch for high stars with few (or dated) reviews

Beyond the number of stars (5 being the highest), look at the number of reviews. You'd never trust a restaurant with a high rating and only a handful of reviews — likely from the owner, friends, and employees. A large company with many customers should have many reviews. Also check that reviews are recent, not from months ago.

For example, Trustpilot shows a 1.3 rating from only 1,544 reviews for Chase Bank and a 1.3 from 1,911 reviews for Bank of America. Chase has 62 million customers and Bank of America has 69 million — so a few thousand reviews tells you very little.

Where to find ratings for companies

• Google rating: search "Google rating for [company]" and the business info and rating appear on the right. Some companies don't want their rating shown and require you to find them on Google Maps and click the "Reviews" tab. Others simply don't register with Google, so there's no rating and no way to leave a review.
• Trustpilot: search the company name on Trustpilot.com.
• ShopperApproved: search "[company] on Shopper Approved" — if they're a paying customer, the rating appears.

Accreditation from the BBB

The Better Business Bureau is a non-profit founded in 1912 that provides accreditation and review ratings for businesses. Around 400,000 businesses in North America are BBB-accredited. The BBB is also a popular place to file a complaint and resolve an issue.

Keep in mind that most businesses get a high rating unless they have a large number of unresolved complaints or are facing government regulatory action. BBB accreditation is a good guide, but it may not tell the whole story — you can find an A+ rating sitting next to a poor customer-review score. Always read the Customer Reviews section, not just the letter grade.

Government resources

Many state and federal agencies — like the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and the Bureau of Consumer Protection — offer valuable resources, including access to complaints filed against specific companies. Always check that the website ends in .gov, and don't be fooled by company names that sound like a government agency but are really just for-profit private companies.

Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau