Homestars review Policies Suck

by Mark Russet in Calgary over 1 year ago

I am in Calgary and I really not impressed with your website as you are limiting what reviews actually show up which to me makes your site worthless. A company in Calgary called Ohana Painting Company at http://www.ohanapaintingcompany.ca claims on it’s website to be BBB Accredited and that they were voted Homestars painting company of the year. Initially I clicked on the BBB Accreditation logo to check them out and it didn’t go anywhere so I went directly to the BBB website where I couldn’t even find a non-member listing for them, yet alone an accreditation. I contact the local BBB who confirmed they are NOT accredited and are violating Provincial laws and are following action along with a Vancouver company using the same logo’s and Ohana name that also are claiming to be BBB Accredited when they are not.

So I come Homestar and I can’t find a listing for this company here is Calgary that claims it won best painter in 2011 so I add their business and leave my findings, which ANYONE can verify, but because money has not exchanged hands with them (I was not a customer) my review to warn others that this is a shady company isn’t posted.

That seems like a stupid policy. Essentially Homstars is saying that someone has to get ripped of by this company before they will be allowed to warn others?

Let’s review this company again.

BBB Database – NO ACCREDITATION
Canada NUANS Database – Nothing registered, not even a tradename
City of Calgary – No business license
WCB Clearance database – No account found
Homestars Best Painter for 2011 – No listing found

I received correspondance from Colleen at Homestars who in an email wrote "I just saw your review pending for this company but when I replied to your inbound email I did not realize you have not hired the company to do work for you. In this case I cannot post your review as it does not meet our guidelines. "

No Colleen I did not hire this company because they have made decieptful claims and made misrepresentations on their website.

Hopefully Homestars will change it’s policies to protect the consumer and these fly by night contractors.

by colleen in the annex over 1 year ago

Hi Mark, I can certainly understand your frustrations and I assure you that you are not alone; we have had this feedback before. Our current Review Guidelines do stipulate that money must have changed hands in order for a review to be approved on a listing. The reason for this guideline is to prevent unverifiable content on the site. I realize that in this circumstance your claims can be verified, however it is important for us to keep our guidelines clear so that all reviewers are held to the same standard. We do provide this forum for all comments to be published. You have done your homework on this company, which is what we hope all homeowners do before they hire a company to work in their home. By adding your comments to this forum you hopefully connect the dots for someone else who may be researching this company.

by Mary Duffy in Toronto over 1 year ago

I agree with Mark re: the credibility of your ratings. I sent a negative review of Green Apple Landscaping based on the amount of noise that the company insists on making at 7 am. I am not their customer but surely my opinion of their disruptive, inconsiderate behaviour has merit. Along with the noise, the view out of my living room window for two weeks is a Johnny on the spot and construction equipment.

by jaclyn in Brampton over 1 year ago

Mark you make a very valid point. I have had the misfortune of dealing with companies who are not on the homestars website and did start blogs to let others know what they are getting into… And yes it does seem unfair not to be able to warn others but I do think it is good that only paying customers are able to post listings as this site is for actual customer reviews. It is homestars responsibility in my opinion, to delete the company’s listing as they clearly are fraudulent. Maybe homestars needs to implement a new policy that companies who lie about their credentials should be automatically removed.
Mary i am sorry but I cannot agree with what you have said, I was under the impression that the noise bylaws state that they can start work at 7am. And to complain about having their equipment parked outside of your home? Come on, you can’t be serious. How would they get any work done if they had to park far away from their job site, be considerate and know the laws.

by Alpha-tech home inspection services over 1 year ago

I have to agree with jaclyn. They do all the hard work for the comunity. They could be you. Be real. I am sure we can afford to be uncomfortable and remember life goes on. Merry Christmas everybody and happy hollidays

by Mario Toronto 10 months ago

Sounds like you are a competitor of this company. City of Calgary – No business license??? It is not within public domain.