Halifax homeowner slams Better Business Bureau complaint 'loophole'

Many people rely on the Better Business Bureau of Atlantic Canada to help them decide where to buy products or services but after his experience, Chris Troop of Halifax is questioning the reliability of the organization's reports.

"There's definitely a loophole," Troop told CBC News after learning he couldn't file complaints against two related companies, both of which were involved in a construction project, he says, went very wrong.

Troop thought he was hiring a company called Renovation Innovations, one of two businesses owned by Dave Hampson, to build his new home.

"He has Renovation Innovations on all his trucks. His guys wear it on their shirts and jackets so that was the company we thought we were going to deal with but when we went to sign the contract, it was with Tam Hampson 20/20 Design Inc.," Troop said.

Lien and stop-work order

The project didn't go as planned.

Even though he was told the home would be finished in six months, Troop says a year later, he still only had a shell of a house.Then he and Hampson's second company, Renovation Innovations, were slapped with a $48,000 lien by a subcontractor. Troop said he already had paid that money to Hampson.  

A short time later, Troop learned the house had failed numerous inspections and the municipality had placed a stop-work order on it.

In an interview with CBC, Hampson acknowledged there were "minor' problems and he returned to fix some of those problems.

Tried to file complaints

Troop did what many others would do. He tried to file a complaint against both companies owned and operated by Hampson, providing the BBB with a copy of the contract in the name of Tam Hampson 20/20 Design and the lien and receipts for material in the name of Renovation Innovations.

However, the BBB would only allow him to file a complaint against one company, saying the two businesses are separately registered companies.

"The short answer is BBB policy. We would actually be in contravention of our own policies if we didn't treat them as two separate businesses," said Peter Moorhouse, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of Atlantic Canada.

"The longer answer is hypothetically there could be a situation — and I'm not saying this would ever happen — but a BBB could unfairly target a business person and lodge multiple complaints making it look like the business was even worse than it is in the case where there are two companies.

"And so because they are two separately registered companies, to abide by [our] own policy, we have to treat those as two separate businesses."

'Thought they'd be a more reliable'

Troop said he was surprised by that.

"I thought they'd be a more reliable source for consumer information, more of a reliable source for consumer protection but that doesn't seem to be the case here," he said.

While Troop calls it a loophole, Moorhouse doesn't see it that way.

"We were able to do in this case, is offer a separate outlet so while we aren't able to take the same complaint against a second company — which would sort of be the equivalent of legal double jeopardy, being tried twice for the same crime — what we are able to offer and did offer in this case, is the ability to offer a customer review on the second company which essentially contains the same details," Moorhouse said.

"So whichever business review a customer would visit on our site, they would see the information, just in a different way."

Tam Hampson 20/20 Design has an "F" rating with the BBB, in part because it did not respond to two complaints, one of them was Troop's.

Renovation Innovation has a "C" rating, in part because of its failure to respond to one complaint.

Liens part of doing business

Still, Moorhouse acknowledges a potential problem.

"There are some questions around whether it's really appropriate or proper when somebody chooses to register multiple companies that do the same work," Moorhouse said.

"In my mind, there's some question around why that would be necessary. But in our policies, I can honestly say in my time with the BBB, there hasn't been a case where there's been an issue as it is in this case."

Hampson told CBC: "Liens are a part of the construction business and Troop's lien was paid with money from the homeowner's holdback."

He said he lost money on the build and Troop did not pay for anything he did not receive.

He said he has "a lot of happy customers."