BBB Alert For Accredited Businesses:
Be Cautious When Considering Home Shows
The Better Business Bureau Serving Central Oklahoma is advising its Accredited Businesses to exercise caution when dealing with Quality Home Shows from Torrance, CA. The firm is promoting a Home Improvement Show scheduled to be held at the Oklahoma Fair Grounds on June 15 – 17, but questions have come up regarding the company and its niche in the Oklahoma marketplace.
“Acting on inquiries from local businesses, we’ve tried to learn more about the promoter, but we’re coming up empty,” says OKC-BBB President Bob Manista. “The BBB in California that has jurisdiction over the location of the company has no report on the business, and our inquiries placed directly to the business have seen no reply at this time.” The BBB isn’t asking hard questions, either. Along with a simple business questionnaire asking for information like the company’s owner and address, the Bureau asked the company what other shows it may have hosted in the area.
“The fairgrounds confirmed that the show promoter has reserved space,” Manista explained, “but that doesn’t guarantee a successful show. We’re not saying that the show won’t happen -- and we’re absolutely not saying that companies shouldn’t participate -- but we’re concerned about any business that doesn’t share basic information about its practices when asked. Until we know more about the business – and that information could come at any time – we’d simply caution potential exhibitors against paying out booth fees and signing contracts. Business owners and managers are certainly free to investigate the company for themselves, but others who have tried that came to us because they hit a dead end trying to learn more about the company.” The OKC-BBB has asked that the Californian Bureau office responsible for a report develops information about the company.
Adding to the BBB’s concerns is the fact that searches for the companies listed as the show’s references failed to confirm the existence of those businesses. “For instance,” Manista explains, “the handout for exhibitors shows a Jack and Brenda Cooley Landscape as a testimonial. A simple Google search shows there’s a Jack Cooley who appears to do landscape photography, but we haven’t been able to locate an actual landscaper by that name who has worked with the promoter. The advertising doesn’t show where Cooley Landscaping is located, which would help us identify it. I’d happily apologize to Mr. Cooley if he’s out there installing sprinklers or planting shrubs, but I can’t find him to talk to him…or confirm his association with the promoter.” Typing “Jack and Brenda Cooley” into a search engine, as the endorsement reads, yields only one reference to a landscape company – and that entry refers back to the Home Show promotional page.
The BBB will follow up with a message to its members if and when the company responds to the requests for more data.