November 2, 2005

       CHEVY CHASE, Md. - (November 2, 2005) - ValueStar®, a publisher of print and online directories with confirmed consumer ratings of local service businesses, has made an aggressive return under new ownership which launched the new service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The new owner, Service Ratings LLC, kept the trusted ValueStar name and improved the service with more valuable content, greater ease-of-use and a more scalable business model.

      ValueStar offers the only directory of local service businesses with confirmed consumer feedback. ValueStar rates local businesses based on ongoing input from consumers who have had transactions with its listed businesses. This gives consumers confidence that the ratings and rankings are real, and not pumped up by advertising dollars.

       Businesses and consumers welcomed the brand's return. In the Bay Area, ValueStar already leads in consumer awareness for local service directories.

       The company has enlisted more than 50 Bay Area service businesses in categories ranging from home-related services such as roofing and painting, to auto-related businesses and health professionals.

      "ValueStar was responsible for at least 10 percent of our business in the past," said Greg Severs, owner of S&S Painting in Castro Valley, Calif. "I expect that the new and improved ValueStar business model will help us generate even more great prospects in the future."

       ValueStar operates at the intersection of three high-growth business trends: local search, yellow pages and online comparison shopping. The company fills a distinct and measurable need among consumers to identify credible, trustworthy, quality service businesses in their local areas.
American households spend nearly $700 billion annually on local business services, according to Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Home improvements and auto sales/repairs top the list of local service businesses generating the most consumer complaints; home repair contractors are the most likely to go out of business, as reported by Consumer Federation of America.

      "More than 75 percent of consumers say their two biggest concerns when choosing a local service business center on fear of the unknown, specifically not knowing the company's reputation for quality service or whether the company is charging a fair price," said Lou Morsberger, CEO and co-founder of ValueStar. "ValueStar takes the fear out of the transaction and empowers the shopper with confirmed consumer ratings from others in the same community."

       The ValueStar rating system significantly shortens the new customer sales cycle by harnessing the power of positive endorsements, offering a money-back satisfaction guarantee and providing a strong loyalty program in an easy-to-see, easy-to-search online and printed consumer directory.

       The original ValueStar was founded in 1992 and had grown to more than 7000 local service businesses under contract in seven markets. In the Bay Area alone, more than 40,000 consumers participated in the service, generating $2 million in revenue.

       Service Ratings purchased ValueStar's assets in December 2001 after the company ceased operations due to the financial downturn in the second half of 2001. Service Ratings secured $1.1 million in Series A funding in March 2005.

About ValueStar
ValueStar is a leading publisher of online and printed local service directories providing confirmed consumer ratings of service businesses and professionals. ValueStar evaluates local service companies on a range of factors and uses a proprietary system to gather feedback from actual consumers. The company is owned by Service Ratings, LLC and headquartered in the Washington, DC, area, with operations in Oakland, Calif., which service consumers and businesses throughout the Bay Area.

For more information, go to www.ValueStar.com.