Updated: BBB expels Branson company

Last edited 11:23 a.m., Sept. 6, 2018

Editor’s Note: A statement issued by Save on Branson has been added below.

The Better Business Bureau expelled a Branson company that provides show tickets and arranges dining and lodging for visitors to the city.

Save on Branson’s expulsion — which means the company’s BBB accreditation has been revoked — followed complaints alleging misleading sales presentations and poor customer service, according to a news release.

The complaints center around a required 90-minute seminar that customers were asked to attend. If they didn’t, according to the BBB, the prices of their tickets were increased without notification.

Save on Branson company officials, according to the BBB, have failed to address the reason behind the consumer complaints after being contacted by the private consumer nonprofit several times between Oct. 4, 2017, and Aug. 22 of this year, according to the release.

Save on Branson’s BBB profile, where it has a C+ rating, now carries a warning from the bureau “advising consumers to use caution when considering doing business with Save on Branson.”

The BBB’s rating system, according to its website, is based on seven elements: complaint history, type of business, time in business, transparent business practices, failure to honor BBB commitments, licensing and government actions know by BBB officials, and advertising issues known to the BBB. Type of business, which carries a possible deduction of up to 41 points, “is lowered if, in BBB's opinion, the business is a type of business that raises marketplace concerns or is believed to operate in violation of the law,” according to the website.

The profile lists 20 complaints that were closed in the last three years, six of which closed in the last year. The profile has a customer rating of four out of five stars via 24 reviews.

In a statement issued Sept. 5 after Springfield Business Journal’s Daily Update was published, Save on Branson General Manager Drew Callison said the BBB’s allegations are “false, misleading and offensive.” He noted that of the more than 250,000 annual visitors the company provides vacation services for, only seven complaints have been posted to the BBB profile since the beginning of 2017. He said Save on Branson, which has been in business for more than 10 years, has responded to every BBB request.

“Although the BBB is not a government agency, our business reputation is very important to us and we voluntarily applied for accreditation. We have been accredited for well over two years and are very proud of the exceptional service we provide to our customers,” Callison said in the statement. “We regret that the BBB has decided to drastically change our rating to a C+, which is the exact rating required to revoke our accreditation.  

“Regardless of the BBB's decision, we will continue to provide outstanding service and value to all of our visitors, as we always have.”