A robust economy and a growing number of Alberta-based companies using the Internet for business – and for shady marketing practices – made for a busy year at the province’s two Better Business Bureaus.

From home builders to moving and storage to the perennial Nigerian letter scam, more than half a million phone inquiries and complaints poured into the BBBs of southern and northern Alberta in 2002, say officials.

“We’re finding that more and more, we’re talking to complainants from all over the world,” reports Chris Lawrence, president and CEO of the BBB of Central and Northern Alberta, which covers the region north of Red Deer.

The Edmonton-based BBB receives upwards of 1,200 inquiries a day, which eventually translates to about 3,200 written complaints each year against BBB members and non-members.

And while moving companies, contractors and the auto industry made the Top 10 list once again this year in attracting the most number of consumer complaints, it has been the new kids on the block – the Internet-based companies offering online services, web-based programs or virtual shopping malls – which are lending a truly international flavour to the files of the BBB.

“It has been a fairly major change,” says Lawrence. “What used to happen in the good old days is that you’d get an Edmontonian registering a written complaint about an Edmonton company. That’s just not the way things work any more.”

Both the Better Business Bureaus of southern and north-central Alberta are non-profit associations of business and professional firms that promote an ethical marketplace and act as a link between consumers and business.

In Calgary, BBB president Ellen Wright says phone inquiries have more than doubled over last year’s total to about 100,000, most from consumers doing pre-purchase research or seeking general background information on a local company.

While the increasing number of calls can be attributed to the recent elimination of a fee for certain types of information, Wright also believes the buoyant economy has put a strain on the infrastructure in many sectors.

“The growing marketplace is a factor, for sure,” she says. “And it has been an incredibly busy couple of years for the home builders. They have difficulties in finding qualified subtrades from time to time, and that does show.”

Wright stresses that it’s usually only a few businesses that generate the most problem. The BBB of Southern Alberta receives and attempts to resolve between 2,000-3,000 written complaints each year.

Investment scams and theft identity – targeting both consumers and businesses – have become more of a concern in both cities. Wright points to the recent case of the Tri-West Investment Club, in which a former Alberta real estate salesman, Alyn Richard Waage, is accused of using a U.S.-based website to lure unwary investors into a bank debenture trading program promising high interest rates on fake bank instruments. The scheme, which was shut down by regulators in 2001, is alleged to have pulled in about $60 million from 13,000 investors around the world. “Honestly, I think we’re at the tip of the iceberg in what’s going on out there in terms of investment scams,” says Wright. “And the nature of them really drives the individual or ‘investor’ underground, and they typically don’t want to draw any attention to themselves.”

Then there’s the timeworn Nigerian letter scam, in which targeted victims receive a letter or e-mail promising a reward in the millions of dollars in exchange for helping transfer large amounts of money out of Nigeria through a Canadian bank account. The victim transfers their banking information to the thieves, who then ask for a “transaction” fee to process the transfer. Edmonton city police reported a resurgence of the scam this past summer.

Lawrence says that one of the biggest magnets for complaints in the past year in Edmonton has been a company called New Ventures, which offers potential jobs in the oilpatch for a fee. She says the web-based pitch asks for money up front, but there is no documentation showing that any of the resumes were received, nor evidence of anybody getting a job.

“We’ve had literally hundreds and hundreds of complaints about that company,” says Lawrence. “That’s an example of something that takes a lot of time and energy investigating, and when you have a web-based program, it’s hard to find where their physical location actually is.”

Phoney invoices, such as billing a company for a listing in a non-existent business directory, and identity theft, where somebody steals and uses individual or corporate banking information to set up false debit and credit charges, are also scams which leech off Alberta businesses every year.

“From an absolute fraudulent perspective, identity theft is probably one of the biggest concerns that we saw rear its ugly head this year,” says Lawrence, adding an element of organized crime is usually involved. “It appears that organized crime has a lot more resources than law-enforcement agencies or the BBBs of the world. They always seem to be three steps ahead of us on those ones.

“That’s put a bit more pressure on groups like the BBB – we’re not law-enforcement agencies, so we can advise people and try to prevent it from happening again, but realistically, the law-enforcement agencies just don’t have the wherewithal to chase down the bad guys and press criminal charges. They’re overwhelmed and faced with the globalization of crime as well as dealing with cross-border issues.”

Both BBBs urge Alberta businesses and consumers to take full advantage of their free services in checking out companies and services. Needless to say, BBB-member companies are usually the most anxious to have any concerns resolved satisfactorily. For the most part, says Wright, complaints can be resolved easily without having to move to mediation or arbitration.

“One of the biggest things we find, is that people want to be heard,” she says. “And in a lot of cases, they just want an apology . . . A company that sees a complaint as an opportunity, rather than something to be avoided, is generally the type of company you want to do business with.”


TOP 10 COMPLAINTS: Edmonton
* Auto/truck dealers (new & used)
* Moving & storage companies
* Furniture (retail)
* Home builders
* Computer sales & service
* Auto/truck repair
* Contractors (plumbing)
* Software sales & development
* TV/Video/Audio sales/service/rentals
* Fitness Centres

– BBB, Central & Northern Alberta 2002

TOP 10 COMPLAINTS: Calgary
* Business directories, telemarketed
* Automotive (new & used sales)
* Moving & storage companies
* Furniture dealers, designers & refinishers
* Auto service
* Used cars
* Cellphone airtime service providers
* Contractors (general)
* Telephone companies
* Security control equipment & systems.

– BBB of Southern Alberta, 12/01/01 – 11/30/02