How reliable are the ratings, and information on the Better Business Bureau's website?

Bump.

Most people don't complain, so by the time a company gets a bad BBB rating, they could be really bad. A good rating means NOTHING.

Don't hesitate to file a complaint though.

Well, to be a member you have to agree to a level of customer service –– i think or at least agree to have any customer disputes mediated by the BBB.

My sister in law went to the BBB and had her VW Jetta repurchased by VW of America for failing to meet the lemon law. It took a couple weeks but the factory bought it back and gave her a couple months payments back to boot! All without an attorney and zero cost.

An arbitrator hear the case and sided against the factory in regards to the number of repairs during the initial warranty period.

I have found that the above quote is the case.  A good rating may or may not be meaningful.  A bad rating actually represents the tip of the iceberg.

Bump again.

+1

It took 12 phone calls to get an item put on a company's BBB account when they fried our TV that we had them repairing.

The BBB is largely irrelevant.  Most businesses will laugh at you for threatening a BBB complaint.

The exception is large, established businesses with generally bad reputations, like car dealerships.  Most people don't bother to check the BBB for any reason except looking for a car dealership.  Have you ever checked?  Neither have most other people.

As someone who once had a dispute filed against us by a customer, I want to say just because a complaint is lodged against someone doesn't really mean anything.

In our case, a guy had bought a scooter then brought it back because he was having trouble. Thing is, he had less than 1/8th of oil in it.

Plus he didn't like he had to pay labor on it even though we told him it only had a 6-month warranty on parts, not labor. And by running it with almost no oil in it, that voided the warranty all together.

The BBB sided with us & that was the end of it.