Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
What is Check a Biz?
Check a Biz is the easiest way to identify and talk about the great (and not so great) businesses in your area. You already know that asking friends is the best way to find good restaurants, auto mechanics, accountants, dentists, electricians and anything else in your area. Check a Biz simply brings people from your area together and encourages them to share their experiences and opinions on the businesses they use.
See our About Us page for more information. back to top
Is it free?
Yep. It's free.
Check a Biz is a member service. It takes as little as 34 seconds to register (after extensive training and grueling Olympic-style time trials). For the layperson, expect it to take about one minute to register. Don't worry, it is worth it.
Once you are a member, you have complete access to the Check a Biz system and will be able to see thousands of business reviews from hundreds of Check a Biz members. back to top
Why use Check a Biz?
Not only is Check a Biz a great source of information on the businesses in your area, it is also a community where people can meet and share ther interests and insights. For instance, the Member Forum is a place where Check a Biz members can share advice, get questions answered and learn from the collective intellegence of the Check a Biz community.
Check a Biz also enables you to create a place where you can collect and save your experiences with businesses. Think of it as your own personal yellow pages for the the places you go and things you are interested in. back to top
What types of businesses are on Check a Biz?
Take a look at our Categories page for a list of commonly reviewed businesses.
Remember, we want reviews on whatever type of business our members want to review. Just because you want to review a type of business that isn't listed doesn't mean you can't share your opinion on it. Review it! We'll make sure people see it. back to top
Who uses Check a Biz?
We'd like to think there isn't a person out there who wouldn't benefit from using Check a Biz, but Check a Biz's main users are those who most of us would consider "discerning consumers." Check a Biz members tend to know a lot about the area they live, know about all the cool spots in town and can tell you which businesses to use. Check a Biz members love to share this knowledge with the community.
Check a Biz members appreciate good service as much as they detest poor service and tend to rate every business they use. back to top
How does Check a Biz get reviews?
100% of the reviews on Check a Biz come from members. Only Check a Biz members can review businesses. Businesses have no say in whether they are rated or what their rating is. There is no advertising on Check a Biz. We work hard to keep Check a Biz consumer-centric and pure.
That means that what you read in a review is "Nothing but the Truth." Every review you read was written by a member just like you; a person who heard about Check a Biz, signed up, and submitted their review in order to share their experience and contribute to the Check a Biz community. back to top
I registered an account. Why can't I log in?
After registering to Check a Biz, you should see your name in the upper righthand portion of the screen. If you don't see your name, try one of the following things.
1. Click "Login" in the upper righthand portion of the Home page and enter in your username and password. If you have forgotten your password, go to the Login page, enter in your username and click "Password Reminder." Check a Biz will send you your password to the email address you provided when you registered.
2. Re-register. Click "Sign Up!" at the top of the Homepage and accurately fill out all required fields (denoted with *). Then, click the "Create an Account" button.
One of these two things should get you up and running on Check a Biz. If you are still having problems, email us at info@checkabiz.com. back to top
How do I invite my friends?
Use our Invite a Friend feature to invite the people you know to come use Check a Biz! It's on the main navigation bar. back to top
How do I add a picture (aka Avatar) to my account?
Check out the Avatar Tutorial to see how to add a picture to your Check a Biz profile. feature to invite the people you know to come use Check a Biz! It's on the main navigation bar. back to top
Checking Business Ratings
How do I check a business's rating?
There are two general ways to Check a Business
1. Type in the specific business name or business category you are looking for via the text box. The system will provide you a list of results to choose from as you type. Click "Go" when you have the business you want to check.
or
2. Click "Browse by Category." Answer the questions to find the type of business you are looking for. Drill down to find businesses in the category you are interested in.
Once you identify the business you want to learn about you can: see it's overall rating, it's PSQ scores, choose which location to read about (if there is more than one), read every review written about that business and link to the member who wrote a particular review, see other reviews they've written, etc.
Click here for to see a step-by-step tour on how to check a buisness's rating and reviews. back to top
What does the Overall Score and PSQ score mean?
P - relates to the Price of the product/service purchased from a business. This factor encompasses issues such as the amount paid for the product or service, prior buying history and a comparison of prices for similar products/services. When applicable, price also encapsulates other price-related experiences, such as accepted payment types and the time spent waiting in line.
S - relates to the Service of a business. This score indicates how a business and its employees treat their customers. This factor generally encompasses issues such as helpfulness, promptness, responsiveness, communication, depth of knowledge about the product or service and professionalism.
Q - relates to the Quality of the product or service that was purchased. This factor encompasses issues such as how accurately the product or service met with specified requirements and whether the product or service was defective in any way.
Overall Score - is simply the average of a business's PSQ scores and reflects the overall value of that business, according to Check a Biz members. Businesses that have a high Overall Score are businesses that have competitive prices, treat their customers well and sell quality products and/or services. back to top
How do I browse businesses by category?
Our "Browse by Category" feature (just below the "Go" button on the Check a Business side) is a little different. And a little better, we think.
When you click "Browse by Category" you will be asked three questions about what type of business you are looking for. Your answers to each of these 3 questions tailors your search for the category of businesses you want to see. You can answer 1, 2 or all 3 of these questions, then hit "Continue". Obviously, the more questions you answer, the more specific the category of businesses you'll see.
For instance, if you want to see all businesses that perform a service, hit "A Service" for question 1, then hit "Continue." If you only want to see businesses that do roofing services, hit "A Service" for question 1, "Home and Garden" for question 2, and "Roofing" for question 3, then "Continue". back to top
Rating Businesses
How do I rate a business?
To rate a business, simply click "Rate a Business" and type in the name of the business you want to rate. The system will provide you a list of results that match what you type if that business has already been rated. If not, type in the entire business name and click "Go."
If the business is already on Check a Biz -
You will be asked to select the location you want to rate. If you do not see the location you want to rate, you can "Add New Location," pick the location you want to rate (on the map) and click "Fill Form." You will then be asked to categorize how you used the business. Categorize it using our three-tier categorization tool as far as it applies to your experience. Click "Continue" and you are into the business survey.
If the business is not found -
Check a Biz will search for the business you entered and give you a list of businesses that might be the one you want to rate (these businesses are also placed on a map). Once you find the business location you want to rate, click "Fill Form." You will then be asked to categorize how you used the business. Categorize it using our three-tier categorization tool as far as it applies to your experience. Click "Continue" and you are into the business survey.
Click here to see a step-by-step tour on how to rate a buisness. back to top
How do my Member Rating and HDF score mean?
H - indicates how Helpful other Check a Biz members think your reviews are. When you submit a review, you automatically have one helpful mark for that review. We assume that you think the review you submitted is helpful. At that point, you have a 100% H rating. If someone who reads your review clicks unhelpful, your helpful score drops to 50%. Each person can comment on the helpfulness of a review only once.
D - indicates how Deep (that is, how far) into surveys you generally answer questions. If you generally answer all of the survey questions, your D level will be closer to 100% than if you don't always answer all the survey questions in a business review.
F - indicates how Fair the surveys you submit are. As you write more reviews about your experiences with businesses, your F will reveal whether you tend to review only particularly negative experiences you've had, whether you only report on particularly good experiences, or if you review both your good and bad business experiences fairly and equally.
Member Rating - is simply an average of your HDF levels and reflects your overall credibility on the Check a Biz system.
Members who have a high Member Rating will influence the overall score of the businesses they rate more than those with lower Member Ratings. This insures that people who are helpful, thorough and fair will always have the most say when it comes to rating businesses. back to top
How should I categorize a business I am rating?
When reviewing a business, you will be asked to cateogrize how you used that business. Simply answer the questions by picking the option that best describes what you bought (e.g. a product, service or both), what general type of business it was (e.g. automotive, professional or entertainment) and what specific type of business it was (e.g. a plumber, massage therapist or florist).
If you are unclear on what choice you should choose, take a look at the Categories page to see the Check a Biz category/sub-category structure.
If you are still unsure about how to categorize the business you are reviewing, categorize it as far as you feel comfortable and Check a Biz will evaluate the business and categorize and sub-categorize the business in the appropriate places. back to top
What businesses can I rate?
The short answer is: Every business you use! Seriously though, we encourage our members to rate every experience they have with businesses. You may not think anything of buying a cup of coffee or getting gas for your car, but when you have hundreds of people rating all of their buying experiences like Check a Biz does, it becomes clear pretty quickly which businesses are doing things right, and which ones are falling behind. Identifying the best businesses in every category is what Check a Biz is all about. back to top
Privacy Stuff
What are the Terms of Service for Check a Biz?
Click here to read our Terms of Service. back to top
How does Check a Biz protect my privacy?
Click here to read our Privacy Policy . back to top
Who can see my profile and reviews?
Pretty much anyone who visits the site is able to browse reviews. Remember, you have the choice of what your username is so if you want it to be your real name (e.g. "Betty B."), go ahead. If you want to be annonymous, go ahead and make up some sort of alias (e.g. "IheartHasselhoff").
You can always change your username at any time by clicking on your name (in the upper righthand portion of the screen) and updating your profile information; your old reveiws will be automatically updated to reflect any such name changes. back to top
How do I change my account information?
Go to your Account Profile page, which is found in the upper right hand side of every page on Check a Biz where your name is displayed. You must be logged in to see your Account Profile page.
On the Account Profile page you can change your account information, including: name, address (used for distance calculations between you and the businesses), email address, username, password, avatar and other advanced profile features. back to top
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