BBB News Conference
9:30 am - Boggus Ford
2521 S. Expressway 83, Harlingen, TX  78550

BBB News Conference
11:30 am - McAllen Chamber of Commerce Board Room
1200 Ash Avenue, McAllen, TX  78501

BBB Expands Service Area to 18 Texas Counties

For Release: January 29, 2007

 [Harlingen & McAllen, TX, January 29, 2007] – The services of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of South Texas are now enhanced and expanded as a result of its acquisition by the BBB of Metropolitan Houston, Inc. The new Better Business Bureau will serve 18 Texas counties including: Austin, Brazoria, Brooks, Cameron, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Kenedy, Matagorda, Montgomery, Starr, Waller, Wharton, Willacy & Zapata Counties.

 Dolores Salinas, who has been President of the South Texas BBB operations for 14 years, said “The new, larger organization offers expanded support and services to the local community. Our area is now receiving enhanced Internet based Reliability

Reports and Internet marketing for members worldwide, along with the continued personalized service our community has come to know and respect.”

The staff of the South Texas BBB will remain in the local Weslaco office, but now has the support of a major-market BBB behind it. “Our goal is to provide exceptional service to customers and members throughout South Texas,” said Dan Parsons, BBB President. “We’re able to offer unique, new benefits to the area, such as our BBBespanol.org Web site which was the first stand-alone BBB Hispanic site in the US.”

Dave Osborn, General Manager of Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. and BBB Board Member said, “We are delighted to bring the extensive experience and expertise of the Houston BBB to help us grow and develop our valley BBB organization.  The acquisition by Houston will enable us to offer the best of both worlds to our valley members - the same “home town” service to our local BBB members coupled with the support of one of the strongest BBBs in the entire country.”

To visit the new local BBB Web site, visit www.BBBSouthTexas.org and www.ReliabilityMall.com for the online membership directory. The BBB now has over 7,000 member companies throughout the Greater Houston and South Texas region.

The BBB system is dedicated to fostering trust between businesses and consumers in both the traditional and online marketplace. The first BBB was founded in 1912 - today, the BBB system is comprised of 129 local Better Business Bureaus (BBBs) across the US and Canada, and serves millions of consumers, nearly 400,000 small and medium business members, and hundreds of national and multi-national corporations based in North America. The BBB system has grown to become the most trusted name for promoting ethical business and advertising practices, providing more than 90 million points of contact to consumers and businesses in 2006. For more information on the BBB system, visit www.bbb.org.

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