How to File a Complaint, Leave a Review, or Report a Scam With BBB

BBB offers three separate consumer channels, and choosing the right one matters: file a complaint when you have a dispute with a specific business and want BBB to contact it on your behalf, leave a review when you want to share your experience with a business you dealt with, and report a scam when you were targeted by fraud — whether or not a legitimate business is involved. All three are free to submit through BBB.org, and all three feed into the business profiles and scam tracking that other consumers see.

The three channels at a glance

If your situation overlaps — for example, a scammer impersonating a real company — report the scam, and file a complaint only against the actual business if it genuinely failed you.

Filing a complaint

A complaint is a dispute record. BBB's role is to pass your complaint to the business and give it a chance to respond, which is why the process asks for specifics.

What you need before you start:

• The business's name and location (BBB serves the United States and Canada, so start by selecting the country and searching for the company)
• A clear description of what happened and when
• What you've already done to resolve it directly with the business
• What outcome you're asking for
• Any supporting documents or receipts

How it works:

1. Find the business on BBB.org using the search on the homepage ("Find a business you can trust").
2. Open its profile and start a complaint from there.
3. Describe the dispute factually — dates, amounts, what was promised versus what happened.
4. Submit. BBB reviews the complaint and, if it meets its criteria, forwards it to the business.
5. The business is asked to respond. You'll be notified of its reply and can respond in turn.

Common sticking points:

• Complaints about a dispute you haven't raised with the business first may be sent back to you to resolve directly.
• BBB is not a regulator, court, or enforcement agency. It can press for a response, but it cannot order a refund or impose a penalty.
• Keep your account information current — if BBB can't reach you, the complaint can stall.

Leaving a review

A review is your account of a customer experience, published on the business's profile. It's the right channel when you're not asking BBB to intervene — you just want your experience on record.

How it differs from a complaint:

• A complaint is a request for help with a dispute; a review is feedback.
• Reviews are subject to BBB's review guidelines, so keep it to your own first-hand experience, skip profanity and personal attacks, and avoid naming individual employees in a defamatory way.
• A business can respond to a review, but BBB doesn't mediate it the way it does a complaint.

Practical tips:

• Write it soon after the experience, while details are accurate.
• State what you bought or hired, the timeframe, and what went right or wrong.
• If you already have an open complaint about the same issue, that dispute belongs in the complaint channel — don't duplicate it as a review.

Reporting a scam

Scam reports are different in kind: they don't require a legitimate business, and their main value is pattern detection. Reports feed BBB's scam research and public warnings, which is how the same scheme gets flagged to other consumers before they fall for it.

Report a scam when:

• You were contacted by someone who may be impersonating a real company.
• You encountered a fake website, fake invoice, or too-good-to-be-true offer.
• You lost money or personal information to fraud.
• You spotted an attempt but didn't lose anything — that still helps, because it documents the tactic.

What to include:

• How you were contacted (call, text, email, social media, website)
• The names, phone numbers, email addresses, or URLs used
• What they asked for and what you provided
• Whether any money or data was lost
• Screenshots if you have them

Important: BBB is not an emergency or law enforcement service. If you've lost money or your identity is at risk, also report to the appropriate authorities in your country — for example, your national fraud reporting center — and contact your bank or card issuer promptly. A BBB scam report documents the scheme; it doesn't recover funds.

How your input helps other consumers

Each channel produces something different for the next person:

• Complaints show up in a business's complaint history, so a pattern of unresolved disputes is visible before someone hires that company.
• Reviews give a running picture of customer experience, and businesses that respond well to criticism look different from those that ignore it.
• Scam reports build the shared record that BBB uses to warn the public about active schemes — the same fake invoice or impersonation call reaching your neighbors.

Before you hire or buy, the reverse also applies: search the business on BBB.org, read its complaint and review history, and check whether the offer you're considering matches a scam pattern already reported.

Quick decision guide

• Dispute with a real business, want it resolved → file a complaint.
• Had an experience, want it on record → leave a review.
• Targeted by fraud, real business or not → report a scam, and notify authorities and your bank if you lost money.
• Not sure → if you're asking BBB to act on your behalf, it's a complaint; if you're just describing what happened, it's a review; if fraud is involved, it's a scam report.