Wood and pellet stove companies improve ratings with the Better Business Bureau; but does it matter?

In the age of Yelp, Facebook, and Angie’s List, millions of consumers still look to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for ratings. While the BBB may have lost some of its luster, we have always urged consumers to consult it when buying a new stove.

When the Alliance for Green Heat reviewed BBB ratings for wood and pellet stove companies in 2013, most companies got A ratings, but some got Bs, one got a C and one got an F rating. As of January 2017, the same companies all have A+ ratings, except Hearth & Home Technologies, which has a B-.

Does this mean that stove companies have all become more trustworthy and reliable or that the BBB has become easier to manipulate? We think the answer lies more in the inability of the BBB to carefully assess every company. The recent ratings show the limitations of the old business rating model which the BBB was based on. However, the BBB still provides some useful information about stove companies.

First of all, look at which companies are actually accredited by BBB. Only Blaze King, Kuma, and Woodstock Soapstone are accredited, which means that they have provided written assurances that they meet BBB criteria. That doesn’t necessarily mean a lot, but the Alliance for Green Heat has independently confirmed that these three companies are among the few that consumers can trust to provide accurate data on their websites.

Second, past BBB history is still important. US Stove, for example, got an “F” in 2013, because they had “a history of violating BBB name and logo policy and falsely stated BBB Accreditation (or membership).” (See our 2013 review of BBB stove company ratings). The Alliance for Green Heat has also highlighted numerous cases of misleading or false advertising by US Stove, some of which still continues.

It’s important to understand the limitations of the BBB – and to rely on multiple sources. Unfortunately, Consumer Reports has done only a very limited review of pellet stoves and nothing on wood stoves. The Alliance for Green Heat rates some other review sites here.

We searched the BBB site for all major stove companies and found many of them there. We could find only one European stove company (Jotul) and several Canadian ones. For companies that own several brands, such as Hearth & Home Technologies, we found some of their brands, such as Harman and Vermont Castings, but could not find others, such as Quadra-fire.

Here is a chart showing BBB ratings as of January 2017:

Series 1 marks the number of resolved complaints. Series 2 marks the number of complaints that received no response. Keep in mind that this only tracks the complaints received by the BBB, and there are always many customer complaints not lodged through them. This may indicate that consumers can get better responsiveness from a stove manufacturer if they do file the complaint with the BBB.

The points are added up and a letter grade (A as the highest, F as the lowest) is assigned accordingly. In order to receive a good score, the volume of consumer complaints that are not responded to must remain low. The BBB takes into consideration whether the business makes a speedy and honest effort to fix the problem and resolve the complaint. The response of the business can mean the difference between an A and a B score. For example, as seen in the graph, HHT received 27 consumer complaints. Despite this relatively low number, HHT still got a B- because it apparently was not sufficiently responsive to some of the complaints. Click here to read a full overview of the BBB grading method.

While wood stove companies fare relatively well on BBB, some other products in the hearth industry do not. For example, Heat Surge, the Amish "miracle heater" that is heavily advertised and is also a exhibitor at HPBA trade shows currently has a B rating and hundreds of complaints filed against it. The Alliance for Green Heat has previously written about the company here.

Better Business Bureau Rates Wood Stove Companies

Few consumers probably check the Better Business Bureau before buying a wood or pellet stove or boiler.  But they should. Most wood stove experts will probably not be surprised by the rankings on the chart below. The good news for the wood stove industry is that the majority manufacturers we found on BBB received an A+ or A-. 

It’s important to understand the limitations of the BBB – and to rely on multiple sources. Unfortunately, Consumer Reports has done only a very limited review of pellet stoves and nothing on wood stoves. There is this good review of pellet stove reliability. Hearth.com is also a great resource and the Alliance for Green Heat reviews some other sites here.

The volume of complaints alone does not heavily impact a company’s grade.  Otherwise, the largest manufacturers would have the worst grades and the companies that only sold a few thousand stoves a year would have the best.  The BBB tracks consumer complaints and monitors if they have been resolved.  In their grading method, different point values are assigned to 16 weighted criteria. They include complaint volume, unanswered complaints, unresolved complaints, serious complaints, failure to address a complaint pattern and advertising review. Failure to respond to consumer complaints and to resolve them are weighted heavily.

We searched the BBB site for all major stove companies and found many of them there. We could find only one European stove company (Jotul) and several Canadian ones. For companies that own several brands such as Hearth & Home Technologies, we found one of their brands, Harman, separately listed but could not find another, Quadra-fire, for example.

* Prior to July 2013, when this blog was published, US Stove has "a history of violating BBB name and logo policy and has falsely stated BBB accreditation," according to the BBB. As of August, 2013, US Stove, "responded the BBB by removing all reference of BBB's name/logo from their website."  The BBB website still says, "There is an alert for this company."  

Series 1 marks the number of resolved complaints. Series 2 marks the number of complaints that received no response. It is promising to see that many stove manufacturers receive very few consumer complaints. Also, the complaints they do receive appear to be responded to and resolved professionally and effectively.

The points are added up and a letter grade (A as the highest, F as the lowest) is assigned accordingly. In order to receive a good score, the volume of consumer complaints that are not responded to must remain low. The BBB takes into consideration whether the business makes a speedy and honest effort to fix the problem and resolve the complaint. The response of the business can mean the difference between an A and a B score. For example, as seen in the graph, Central Boiler received 33 consumer complaints. Despite this large number, the manufacturers response and resolution of these complaints still earned it an A-. Click here to read a full overview of the BBB grading method.

Only a small fraction of consumer complaints are handled by the BBB. Usually consumers first go directly the manufacturer and only if that proves unsuccessful do consumers approach the BBB.  Instead of BBB, or in addition to it, consumers can go to their the State Attorney General’s Office. A full index listed by state is provided here. At the federal level, the Office of United States Attorneys maintains a consumer complaint file to track allegations of consumer fraud.

The BBB has been criticized for their apparent subjectivity and preferential grading of BBB accredited businesses.  It is the consistency and the transparency of the test that determines its ethical merit and credibility. The Los Angeles BBB was the branch responsible for the preferential grading of businesses, and has since been disassociated from the national council.

While wood stove companies fare relatively well on BBB, some other products in the hearth industry do not. Heat Surge, the Amish "miracle heater" that is heavily advertised and is also a exhibitor at HPBA trade shows gets a c minus rating and has hundreds of complaints filed against it. The Alliance for Green Heat has previously written about it here.


Update: (7/15/13) US Stove's BBB rating has changed from Not Rated to a B rating. The company is still not BBB accredited.

Update: (8/20/13) US Stove responded to BBB by removing all reference of BBB's name/logo from their website. BBB has closed this advertising challenge as resolved.

Further reading:

Wood and pellet stove companies improve ratings with the Better Business Bureau; but does it matter? (Jan. 2017)