International Law

Is Home Staging a Guaranteed Lucrative Field of Opportunity?

Image via Wikipedia

Zac Bissonette wonders about Haverhill Home Staging and its guaranteed placement for people who complete their training course.

"Haverhill Home Staging says it's "North America's largest and fastest growing Home Staging Company." The point is debatable, but Haverhill is certainly North America's most prominent cable advertiser in home-staging: the art and science of sprucing homes to prepare them for sale."

Zac wondered: "Here's what bothered me about Haverhill's offer, from the first time I heard the pitch: It just sounded too good to be true. You fork over a thousand bucks for a correspondence course and, if you pass the exam, you get a full- or part-time job."

Tracy Coenen, a noted fraud expert, also wondered about the guarantee Haverhill was providing.

"In this day and age of scams, schemes, and frauds, it's important to ask yourself about this "guarantee." How many guarantees have we seen recently that really offer little substance? I'm not saying this is true of Haverhill, but the savvy consumer ought to wonder."

Well, do you get a full time job, guaranteed? Digging through the website, I found this little disclaimer.

"Our Employment Guarantee is only temporary and will conclude once we complete the North American roll-out of our retail staging service,Haverhill Home Staging."

The North American roll-out, and just when would that be completed?  Given that they have announced signing up a potential 10,000 agents?

You have to wonder whether this guranatee is so misleading as to trigger the Ontario Consumer Protection Act, which states:

"Sales incentives may not be false, misleading or deceptive.

A salesperson can offer you an incentive to help find other buyers, but the description of the incentive cannot be false, misleading or deceptive.

Consumer agreements must disclose all details.

If a company isn't delivering on its contract with you, or if you encounter an aspect of the deal the company was required to disclose by law but didn't, you have the right to cancel within one year."

What do you think, is the guarantee misleading or not?

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on June 05, 2009 (boomark / email).