Is there a Consumers Report for Registrars?
Good question. No, unfortunately there isn't. Years ago Quality Digest had annual surveys on customer satisfaction with their respective CB's. There is a lot of information about those surveys and theories behind it's demise here at The Cove.
Fortunately or unfortunately, there is no single way to rank registrars. One of the reasons is the fact that the expectations and objectives of the registrar customers ranges dramatically. Some organizations hire registrars and expect thorough, fair, value added assessments, while others deliberately choose the ones known to be the path of least resistance to the certificate on the wall.
I still contend that, in addition to survey customer satisfaction within the registrar client base, one should also survey the actual users of the certificates, which are, for the most part, the registrant's customers. How much confidence they have on their suppliers certificates, because, in the end, confidence on certificates is a much more important indicator of the sustainability of accredited certification, not (CB) customer satisfaction.
I also offer participation in this Forum as a small indicator of the registrar's caliber. There are, relatively speaking, only a few CB representatives posting and (really) contributing to the discussions here. Why is that? After all, this is the PREMIER discussion site for management system professionals in the world. Why are so many CB's lurking in the dark side of The Cove scavenging for sales leads? Why are they so afraid of exchanging ideas here? Are they cowards? Don't they have anything to contribute in a positive manner? One should wonder...