Author: rjacobs

Mike Holmes

This post may give you information to protect your interests as the consumer. Just click on the links in bold.

Better Business Bureau.   This link provides access to all the Bureaus in Canada. At these links, you will be able to view businesses that may not be on Safe and Trusted Canada. Also, you will be able to detailed reports, complaint history.  In addition to actual submitting a complaint, the consumer can also leave a review about the business if they have had a financial transaction with the business.

Biz Pal – Gives the legal and licensing requirements for all businesses in Canada by city and province.  The importance of this is that you can check the requirements that a contractor must have and then ask for proof of those requirements. Contractors and other business categories can ensure that they are meeting the needs of their province and city for their business category.

The Little Black Book of Scams – This can be found on the Competition Bureau’s website and is available to consumers and businesses in download form as well as viewing the content online.

Competition Bureau Inquiries and Complaints.  This link will give the business or the consumer the ability to file a complaint using the tools at this link.

Snopes – This site has a wealth of information in several different categories.  The link that we have provided takes the viewer directly to the scams section.

Federal Bureau of Investigation– This site has some excellent ideas on how to spot telemarketing fraud, and consumers can reduce risk.

The Site as a matter of policy does not recommend, accredit, suggest, promote, or validate any business over another.  Consumers do that through reviews. Subscription types give business owners different advertising options, but the Site does not suggest that credibility determines subscription level.  Users can use the advanced features of the Credentials Search to determine the degree of reliability for each business.  The business and the consumer determine transactions with each other and Safe and Trusted Canada does not mediate complaints, issues, or concerns.

Some businesses will indicate that it is simply a tax grab.  We see it differently.

A business intends to follow all the rules of being in business is sending you a message that they are doing everything possible to gain your trust.

The business that says it is a tax grab is saying that rules do not matter. What else does not matter to the business owner?  Avoid businesses that are not licensed if that is the requirement.

If a contractor does not have a license, they simply won’t get a permit. Without a permit there likely will be no inspection.  When you sell your house this may become a permanent liability if you have done some types of renovations to your house without a permit.

The Site as a matter of policy does not recommend, accredit, suggest, promote, or validate any business over another.  Consumers do that through reviews.  Subscription types give business owners different advertising options, but the Site does not suggest that credibility determines subscription level.  Users can use the advanced features of the Credentials Search to determine the degree of reliability for each business. 

The business and the consumer determine transactions with each other and Safe and Trusted Canada does not mediate complaints, issues, or concerns. A business that has an F-Rating with Better Business Business Bureau cannot have account status and becomes an Information Only profile.

In Saskatchewan there are laws regarding the registration and use of a business name. The Business Names Registration Act indicates that a business using a name that is not registered is guilty of an offence and continued non-compliance results in even more fines.