Is the Business Rate ‘Best Of’ Award Legit or a Scam?

AvatarByEric Dawson Business

The Business Rate “Best Of” award is legit in the narrow sense that a real Phoenix company, The Data Group, LLC, sends it, and it is not an award in the sense most people mean. Nobody nominates you and no judges meet. Software ranks your Google reviews against nearby competitors, and the top score in each category and area gets a letter. Viewing the ranking is free. The plaque, crystal, and digital badge sold on the claim page cost $99 to $699 as of September 2026. Every customer review on the company’s Better Business Bureau profile is one star, and several of those reviewers call the mailer a scam, a label the company rejects in its written responses.

Is Business Rate a Legit Company

Business Rate is a legitimate, registered company. BusinessRate (one word on the website, two words on the envelope) is a trading name of The Data Group, LLC, according to the Terms of Use posted on businessrate.com. Its mailing address is 2375 E Camelback Rd, Suite 600, Phoenix, AZ 85016, which matches the return address printed on the mailer. The Better Business Bureau profile for BusinessRate lists a start date of February 25, 2013, a manager named David Batrick, a phone number of (888) 677-2001, and a B+ rating. It is not BBB accredited. Three complaints were closed in the last three years, and five customer reviews are posted, all of them one star.

The company describes itself, on the mailer and in its website footer, as a provider of “intelligent ranking solutions and comprehensive review management services.” In practice the site does one thing a visitor can see: it pulls public Google review data, converts it to a score, ranks businesses within a category and area, and lets anyone search those rankings without an account. Its FAQ says basic access to scores and rankings “is completely free.”

So the answer to “is Business Rate legit” as a company question is yes. It exists, it has a fixed address, it answers BBB complaints, and it ships what people pay for. Whether the award itself means anything is a separate question, covered below.

How the Business Rate Awards Mailer Works

The letter is a single printed page. One copy posted online by Sunshine Home Improvements, a Kansas City window contractor, shows the layout in full. A gold laurel graphic at the top right reads BEST OF 2026 AWARD WINNER above the BusinessRate logo. Under it, a headline names the business as “Best Window Supplier in Kansas City for 2026.” The left column carries photos of smiling owners holding plaques under the heading RECENT WINNERS, and a block of logos (Hilton, Keller Williams, Anytime Fitness, Shake Shack, Big O Tires, Dutch Bros, Raising Cane’s, Chevron, and Baskin Robbins) under TRUSTED BY LEADING BRANDS. Nothing on the page explains what “trusted by” means or whether any of those companies ordered a plaque.

Its body text reads, in part: “We are pleased to inform you that Sunshine Home Improvements LLC has been officially recognized as the BEST of 2025 Kansas City Award Winner in the Window Supplier category – an honor based on verified data from Google Reviews, as analyzed and certified by BusinessRate.” It closes by calling the recognition an achievement “earned not by application or nomination, but by the authentic feedback of your own customers,” signed by a Kyle Pittman for “BEST of 2025 Kansas City Awards.” A footer reads “Powered by Google Reviews” and directs the reader to scan a QR code or go to www.businessrate.com/awards and enter a six-character access code.

Two details deserve a second look. On that copy, the headline says 2026 while the letter body and signature block say 2025, and the checkout page still labels its top bundle “BEST of 2025” in September 2026. And “Powered by Google Reviews” describes where the data came from; neither the mailer nor the website says Google runs, judges, or endorses the award, and Google’s name does not appear on the checkout page.

Entering the code on the awards page opens a claim flow. The businessrate.com/awards page asks “Did You Receive a Claim Code from BusinessRate?” with a single box and a SUBMIT button. From there the visitor lands on an “Award Choices” page for their city, which is the store.

How Much the Business Rate Plaque and Badge Cost

Business Rate’s awards range from $99 for a digital PNG badge to $699 for the full plaque, crystal, and digital bundle, based on the Award Choices page as of September 2026. Shipping is free on physical items, and the page says each award is custom-produced and shipped by UPS or USPS ground within 15 to 20 business days of purchase. Digital images are delivered instantly.

Product What you get Price
Award Plaque 8 by 10 inch piano-finished black wood plaque with a full-color sublimated print $299
Digital Image PNG badge for website and social media $99
Plaque + Digital Image Bundle Both of the above (listed as saving $49) $349
Crystal Award 11 inch hand-polished optical crystal with a full-color UV print $529
Crystal + Digital Image Bundle Crystal award plus the PNG (listed as saving $49) $579
BEST of 2025 Award Bundle Plaque, crystal award, and digital images (listed as saving $229) $699

Prices have risen. One BBB complaint filed in January 2025 concerned a plaque ordered in December 2024 for $199. A reviewer named Lori S wrote on the BBB profile in January 2026 that her daughter’s preschool was offered a plaque for $200, and that the price later moved to $249, which the company attributed in its reply to “production and material costs.” By September 2026 the same plaque is $299. Another reviewer, Gentle D, posting that month, referred to “overpriced plaques.” Paying for anything is optional; in its BBB responses the company says the recognition notices “do not require payment” and that “purchasing a plaque is entirely voluntary.”

Worked example: a plumbing company that buys the Plaque + Digital Image Bundle pays $349 and waits up to four weeks for the wood plaque. The PNG arrives immediately. If that company loses the top spot at the next monthly refresh, which the FAQ says can happen when a competitor gains reviews, the plaque still says 2025 or 2026 and the badge stays on the website, because nothing in the purchase ties it to holding the rank. The award is a snapshot, priced like a trophy.

How Business Rate Picks Its Best of Winners

No panel meets and no application exists. The company’s FAQ and How It Works pages describe a Benchmark Score from 0 to 300 built from three parts: a Momentum Score covering the past 90 days (33 percent of the total, range 0 to 100), an Endurance Score covering the full review history (60 percent, range 0 to 180), and a Review Quality Score (7 percent, range 0 to 20). Per the FAQ, 240 to 300 is excellent, 180 to 239 good, 120 to 179 fair, and below 120 “needs improvement.” Scores update once a month, rankings are limited to one category in one geographic area, and businesses without enough Google reviews are left out.

Data comes only from Google. The FAQ states that “all review data comes directly from Google Maps and Google Business Profile,” that the company does not need access to your Google account, and that reviews on other platforms are ignored. Every input to the award is therefore something the public can already see on your Google listing.

Why Every Competitor Can Get a Number One Letter

Three of the five BBB reviewers describe the same experience. Regina A, who runs an auto repair shop, wrote in January 2026 that she looked up the other competitors listed on her ranking page “independently without a QR Code and they are all #1 as well.” A reviewer posting as One Day A wrote in December 2025 that their business showed as number one, but searching the area for the number two business “then showed them as #1.” Ryan D wrote in February 2026 that the company sends “the same mailer to everyone that is in the same business.”

BusinessRate’s replies give a mechanical explanation. Rankings are specific to a category and a geographic level (it cites zip code against city), and a business “with multiple listings under different categories” can top one list and not another. The company also says it does not lock rankings for any period, so the top spot “can and do change monthly.” Both accounts can be true at once. Each letter may reflect a real first place inside a narrow slice, and the slices may be narrow enough that most businesses on a street receive one.

One more report shows the limits of automation. Gentle D wrote on September 10, 2026 that a dental practice received an award “for a practice that burnt down over 8 years ago and never rebuilt it.” The Google listing evidently still carried reviews, so the formula ranked it. Nothing in the published method involves checking whether a winner is still open.

Is the Business Rate Award Legit or a Best of 2025 Scam

Business Rate is not a scam by the Better Business Bureau’s definition, since the company openly names who runs it, how you were picked, and that nobody nominated you, but the mailer still follows a vanity-award pattern: an unsolicited notice that leads straight to a store. Whether the Business Rate Best Of 2025 award is a scam depends on who is using the word, so the honest approach is to separate three sets of claims: what reviewers say, what the company says in reply, and what the BBB’s own guidance on award offers says.

What Reviewers on the BBB Profile Say

Three of the five reviews use the word scam. Ryan D’s review opens “Its a scam.” One Day A’s begins “Scam..” and concludes that the site “shows you what you want to see.” Lori S wrote that a request for $200 to receive a plaque “raised a scam alert for both of us,” which is why she contacted the BBB. Regina A did the arithmetic differently, writing that “if you rate and award every 90 days that’s 4 possible plaque orders” per area, an inference on her part rather than a company statement. Ryan D and Gentle D both call the products “overpriced plaques.”

What the Company Says in Reply

BusinessRate answered three of the five reviews within days, and the replies are consistent. It calls itself a “legitimate business recognition platform” that analyzes publicly available review data. Recognition notices, it says, “are not voting-based, do not require payment, and do not obligate any business.” Rankings are “generated automatically,” identical for every viewer, and never locked, and the plaque has “no impact on rankings.” On the two delivery complaints, the company produced order numbers, tracking, and in one case an offer of a full refund, and the BBB marks both as resolved.

How It Compares with the BBB’s Vanity Award Checklist

The BBB’s business tip on vanity awards describes “phony awards” that exist “in virtually every industry” and that typically involve being told you won and then being asked to pay, often “a couple hundred dollars.” Its checklist: find out who gives the award, where they are, how long they have existed, how you were selected, and who nominated you. Most legitimate awards, the BBB adds, “do not come with costs to the recipient.”

Business Rate answers every question on that list, which is unusual for a mailer of this kind. Who gives it: The Data Group, LLC, in Phoenix, since 2013. How you were selected: a published formula run on Google reviews. Who nominated you: nobody, and the letter says so. Where it matches the vanity pattern is the shape of the offer. The notice is unsolicited, it arrives with a claim code, and the only next step on the page is a store. And the BBB’s advice to treat any fee as a warning sign still applies to the plaque even though the fee is optional.

For contrast, the vanity scheme CBS News Boston reported in August 2023 involved an emailed “Best Shed Maker of Cambridge” award from a site called HonorLocal.com, a $150 plaque, a $1,500 “media package,” and a BBB spokesperson noting 1,300 award-related reports to its Scam Tracker since 2015. The report quotes the BBB’s test question: who is giving the award, and who is voting. Business Rate names itself and says nobody votes. That transparency is the strongest point in its favor, and the fact that the recognition doubles as a storefront is the strongest point against.

Should You Respond to the Business Rate Award Mailer

Looking costs nothing. Entering the access code shows your score and the local ranking, and the FAQ says no account is needed. Beyond that, treat the decision as a marketing purchase rather than a fraud question, and work through the following steps before spending anything.

  1. Check the rank without the code. Use the Rankings search on businessrate.com for your category and city. Then search the category your nearest competitor uses, and try the zip code level. If several businesses show as number one, you know how narrow your slice is.
  2. Look at what Google already shows. Your customers can see your star rating and review count on Google Maps without a badge. Ask whether a plaque adds anything a prospect would notice.
  3. Price it against alternatives. $299 for a plaque or $99 for a PNG is money that could fund review-request cards, a photographer for your Google listing, or a local sponsorship with a name people recognize.
  4. Read the terms before ordering. The Terms of Use put disputes into binding arbitration in Maricopa County, Arizona, waive class actions, and cap the company’s liability at the greater of what you paid in the prior 12 months or $100. No refund policy appears on the checkout page.
  5. Never send bank details or a check. The company’s checkout is a card payment online. Any message asking you to mail payment, share banking information, or pay to keep a ranking is not part of the process described on its site and belongs in a BBB Scam Tracker report.

If You Already Paid and Nothing Arrived

Two of the three BBB complaints were about delivery. In the August 2025 case the company said custom awards ship within 7 to 14 days under its terms, and the plaque arrived 17 days after the order. The checkout page in September 2026 says 15 to 20 business days, which is up to four calendar weeks. That later figure is the more authoritative one because it is the stated policy at the moment of purchase; the 7 to 14 day statement came in a complaint response a year earlier and may reflect older terms. If your order passes 20 business days, email support@businessrate.com with your order number (the ones quoted in the complaints look like BR followed by six digits), and if nothing comes back within a few days, file a BBB complaint. In the January 2025 complaint the company found a failed order that had still been charged $199 and offered expedited shipping or a full refund, so the record suggests complaints get answered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Google Have Anything to Do with the Business Rate Award?

Only as the data source. The company’s FAQ says all review data comes from Google Maps and Google Business Profile, and the mailer’s “Powered by Google Reviews” line refers to that. No page on businessrate.com claims a partnership with Google, and Google does not run or judge the award.

Can I Use the Business Rate Badge on My Website?

Yes, if you buy the $99 Digital Image, which the checkout page describes as a PNG for websites and social media. Whether it helps depends on whether visitors recognize the name, and most will not. The plaque is a wall item and the badge is the online version of the same snapshot.

Will I Get Another Letter Next Year?

Probably, if you still rank first in some slice. Scores refresh monthly and the company says it does not lock rankings, so the mailing list changes over time. Regina A’s BBB review inferred repeated plaque offers from that cycle, though the company has not published a mailing schedule.

How Do I Stop the Mailers?

The company’s Terms of Use direct all communications to support@businessrate.com, and the BBB profile lists (888) 677-2001. Neither page describes an opt-out process for postal mail. The FAQ says business details come from Google Business Profile, so the address on your Google listing is the one being used.

Is Business Rate the Same as the BBB or a Chamber of Commerce?

No. BusinessRate is a private Arizona company, is not BBB accredited, and has no connection to any chamber. The BBB’s own awards, a spokesperson told CBS News Boston, are nominated by consumers and carry no fee.

Treat the Business Rate letter as a free look at where your Google reviews put you, and treat the store behind it as an optional purchase with a real but small payoff. The company is real, its method is published, and it ships what it sells, which is more than the outright vanity scams the BBB warns about can say. If $299 for a plaque based on your own reviews is worth it to you, order it with a card and expect to wait up to four weeks. For recognition customers will actually weigh, keep collecting Google reviews, since that is the only input the award ever used.

References

  • Frequently Asked Questions, BusinessRate, read September 2026
  • How the Benchmark Score Works, BusinessRate, read September 2026
  • Award Choices (checkout page), BusinessRate, read September 2026
  • Terms of Use, BusinessRate, read September 2026
  • BusinessRate | BBB Business Profile, Better Business Bureau, read September 2026
  • BusinessRate customer reviews, Better Business Bureau, read September 2026
  • BusinessRate complaints, Better Business Bureau, read September 2026
  • BBB Business Tip: How to spot and avoid vanity awards, Better Business Bureau, read September 2026
  • Business Rate Best Of 2026 award mailer (scanned copy), Sunshine Home Improvements, read September 2026
  • Cambridge shed builder thought he was getting an award, but it was a vanity scam, CBS News Boston, read September 2026

Author Profile

Eric Dawson
Eric Dawson
Eric Dawson is the writer and curious mind behind The Money Watch. Based in Columbus, Ohio, he has a habit of digging into everyday questions until he understands what is actually going on, whether the subject is technology, travel, shopping, food, business, consumer products, or one of life's oddly specific problems.

Rather than pretending to be an expert in everything he covers, Eric approaches each topic as a careful researcher and practical problem-solver. He favors original sources, clear explanations, and honest answers about uncertainty. His goal is simple: do the digging readers shouldn't have to do themselves and turn what he finds into useful information without wasting their time.