Better Business Bureau of Central Oklahoma Announces
2008 Torch Award Winners
August 22, 2008
At a presentation held at the BBB of Central Oklahoma’s offices, the Better Business Bureau today announced the winners of its annual Torch Awards. The awards honor area businesses that excel in ethical conduct and customer service among the organization’s membership. “The concept of the Better Business Bureau giving awards for Accredited Businesses with outstanding customer service records and a consistent display of solid ethics in the marketplace goes back decades,” said BBB President Bob Manista. “Today, our purpose is to congratulate the businesses who have truly gone the extra mile, who consistently jump through hoops to satisfy their customers.”
The winners were selected by a poll of the Bureau’s database, a program designed to select outstanding member companies based on criteria designed by the BBB’s management and ratified by its Board of Directors. Among the criteria considered were the numbers of complaints and inquiries, the size and type of business, the time and general disposition of any disputes filed against the business, and other factors.
Leading the presentation ceremony was NEWS9’s Amanda Taylor, who works closely with the Better Business Bureau in many of her Consumer Watch segments.
The ten winners of the BBB’s 2008 Torch Awards are:
Agrilawn. The company offers lawn care, tree trimming, stump grinding, insect and disease control, and fertilization, but the company goes beyond these basic expectations by having a degreed agronomist and ISA certified arborists on. In an area where an investment in greenery can cost a lot of green, it’s vital for customers to know that they can trust their lawn care company to protect those dollars. Agrilawn has earned that trust.
American Quality Exteriors. American Quality offers vinyl siding, replacement windows, doors, glass enclosures and decks as well as a number of other home improvement products. The company is proud to point out that it regularly places high in industry guides that measure business performance. The OKC-BBB is proud to call the company a strong standout with impeccable customer service in an industry that routinely gathers difficult complaints.
AutoMax. When it comes to buying and selling vehicles, the Better Business Bureau knows that there’s nothing “automatic” about the deals, but AutoMax has a real gift for making its customers feel that buying a car is as easy as picking up a pack of gum. The BBB staff has constantly been impressed with AutoMax’s commitment to going above and beyond a customer’s – and sometimes even the Bureau’s – expectations to satisfy any dispute. This is AutoMax’s third Torch Award – the only recipient who has duplicated its outstanding service record three years in a row.
Bank of Oklahoma. For an institution as complicated and often as misunderstood as the banking industry tends to be, BOK makes its customer service very easy for the average person to understand, has very simple and forgiving policies, and speedy response to the occasional complaints raised by its clients.
Butler Plumbing will happily change the stereotypes you have in mind about plumbers. BBBs nationwide routinely see complaints against plumbers for overcharging, excessive trip fees, and other price-related issues – and that’s outside the usual batch of malpractice complaints. Butler Plumbing has been involved in no disputes called to the attention of the BBB in its 8 years of affiliation with the Bureau.
Drabek and Hill. When one of the BBB’s air conditioning units broke down early this summer, Drabek and Hill had the unit completely replaced in less than three days. That’s not an uncommon experience for the company’s customers, either on the residential or commercial side. By all appearances, the company has shown all of its customers at least that level of speedy service, genuine care, and professionalism.
My Dentist has been a fixture in Oklahoma City since 1983 and has gathered a number of compliments in BBB files for its friendly service, fair practices, and a staff that goes far beyond the call of duty. Need an example? The Bureau heard the story of a tourist whose son needed immediate care late on a Friday. The staff stayed hours late not only to fix the emergency problem, but to make absolutely sure that their patient – who they were certainly unlikely to see ever again – was comfortable enough for a long plane ride home. That kind of dedication sets this office apart from the pack.
Pre-Paid Legal Services is an international organization that provides its members with affiliated lawyers in their home town at set fees and reduced costs for common legal processes like a will, divorce and other activities. Pre-Paid combines two difficult types of business – being both a referral service and a membership organization – as well as dealing with the complicated legal world where successful administration often means juggling dozens of different state laws. Pre-Paid’s mastery of keeping its plates spinning is impressive to the BBB.
Hospitals and medical institutions seem to collect a lot of complaints at Better Business Bureau offices concerning their billing practices. Happily, SSM Health Care of Oklahoma has been completely free from complaints for as long as the BBB’s computers can remember – and that’s a considerable achievement for an institution that’s been in operation since 1926 and a BBB fixture since 1953. Whether it was known as “Bone and Joint Hospital” or any other name, SSM has given consistent, high quality care – and gotten the tab right.
Any business that’s invited into corporate facilities and especially the homes of its customers has to guarantee a degree of trust that most retailers and other companies never approach. That need for trust is magnified when a company’s business is computer repair, where technicians often have direct access to the finances and critical data of their clients, but also something as incredibly sensitive as someone’s family photos. The Three Geeks have earned that level of trust since 2003, offering consumers and business clients outstanding service.
The Better Business Bureau's Board of Directors, Membership and Staff congratulate the winners and wish them continued success in the Oklahoma City marketplace.