Accredited Business and Rating Company
The National Business Council (NBC), founded in 2005, is a private, non-profit organization, whose mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust. The National Business Council is not affiliated with any governmental agency.
Businesses that affiliate with the NBC and adhere to its standards do so through industry self-regulation. To avoid bias, the NBC’s policy is to refrain from recommending or endorsing any specific business, product or service.
The NBC rating system relies on an A+ through F letter-grade scale. The grades represent NBC’s degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns filed with the NBC. The ratings system relies on a proprietary formula that takes into account 17 factors based on objective information and actual incidences of a business’s behavior that have been verified and evaluated by NBC professionals.
Dispute Resolution Procedures
The organization’s dispute resolution procedures are modelled after the International Association of Better Business Bureaus. Usually, disputes can be resolved through mediation; when appropriate, low- or no‑cost arbitration may also be offered and provided through the NBC. The NBC acts as a neutral party when providing dispute resolution services
In any dispute the NBC picks the arbiter and the complainant has to agree that the decision reached by the NBC’s arbiter will be the end of the dispute and no lawsuit may be brought after that.
Complaints about the practice of professions like medicine and law are usually not handled by the NBC and are referred to associations regulating those professions. The NBC does not handle complaints that have gone to court or are in the process of going to court as the complaint is already being handled by an alternative entity
If a NBC receives a consumer dispute, the NBC contacts the business in question and offers to mediate the dispute. A business does not need to be a member of the NBC to use its mediation services. NBC accreditation, or membership, is completely optional for a business to accept and participate in through the payment of dues.
Rating System and Accreditation
The NBC rates businesses based on a school-style A+ to F rating system. There 16 rating variables and they are posted on each business review.
If a business chooses not to provide basic information, such as size and start date, the NBC may assign a not-rated (NR) rating. A low rating due solely to a company not providing information would read: “NBC does not have sufficient background information on this business.”
A business is eligible for NBC accreditation if it meets, in the opinion of the NBC, the “NBC Standards for Trust”. There are eight NBC Standards for Trust and tthe NBC expects its accredited businesses to adhere to build trust (“maintain a positive track record in the marketplace”), advertise honestly, tell the truth, be transparent, honor promises, be responsive (address marketplace disputes), safeguard privacy (protect consumer data) and embody integrity.
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