Avoid Deadbeat Clients with BusinessBeware.biz

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Most Frequent Targets

BusinessBeware.biz receives complaints from all over the U.S. and parts of Canada. Contractors can search for complaints about prospective customers via Zip Code or county, state, or province name. A list of customers then comes up, but the user can't see the text of the actual complaints without registering and paying the $5 fee. Likewise, customers who have registered can view what contractors have written about them; they then have the option of posting an explanation with their side of the matter.

If complaint sites like BusinessBeware.biz are the flip side of the BBB, does it mean the most-complained-about industries are the ones most likely to create their own sites about troublesome customers? Probably not. According to the BBB, the top three fields that generate the most customer complaints are cellular phone sellers, auto dealerships, and banks—industries dominated by large corporations that do not want to risk lawsuits or even the slightest appearance of a Goliath hectoring an individual. (Contractors rank 19th.)

Indeed, small businesses are the most likely to follow BusinessBeware.biz's example, says Dave Heller, a lawyer at the Media Law Resource Center in New York. He points to BusinessBeware.biz's closest and most prominent predecessor, the decade-old www.bitterwaitress.com, which began as a forum for restaurant servers to tattle on diners who left cheap tips. "These are situations in which the balance of power is not necessarily tipped in favor of the business," Heller says. Hence public opinion is more likely to view small contractors—who provide manual labor and the up-front costs of providing construction and repair materials—as victims rather than menacing bill collectors.

Nonetheless, wherever people are identified, there exists the possibility of litigation. Linda Wong, an attorney with a specialty in commercial law, says she would discourage all businesses from taking part in such forums. "You have the First Amendment right to publish statements on a public Internet forum," says Wong, a partner in the Princeton (N.J.) firm of Wong, Walker, Bowman & Fleming. "But if you write about private parties rather than public figures, you run the risk of defamation lawsuits."

No Threats, Please

Other observers, however, wouldn't let fear of litigation stop them from making legitimate complaints via Web sites like BusinessBeware.biz. "It's the other side of the coin—there are a million sites where customers complain," says Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers Assn. in New Rochelle, N.Y. "If businesses want to use the Internet to post information, it's fine as long as it's true. Businesses have a right to protect their interests—within the limits of defamation and privacy law, of course."

Ben Popken, co-executive editor of Consumerist.com, a three-year-old consumer-complaint site recently purchased by Consumers Union, believes that the $5 membership fee BusinessBeware.biz charges means lower liability risk. "The site is behind a pay-wall, so it's not so bad, because it isn't accessible via a Google search for an individual customer's name," says Popken. And no matter how much justifiable hostility Web site posters feel, experts say such sites are wise to adhere to strict rules on civil language. "Don't call for someone's dismemberment," says author Steve Dublanica, who gathered hundreds of waiters' complaints about customers for his book, Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip—Confessions of a Cynical Waiter (Ecco Harper Collins, 2008).

Indeed, Ashley and Robert Bodi pride themselves on the fact that BusinessBeware.biz postings have in some cases led to reconciliations between customers and wronged contractors. And he speculates that the very existence of BusinessBeware.biz will help stop payment squabbles before they start: "We hope the customer and contractor can get together and say: 'Hey, neither of us wants to be on this list, so let's get this thing resolved between us now.'"

Rebecca Reisner is an editor at BusinessWeek.com .