The Fraud Files Blog - interested in learning home staging - read this first!

I had a feeling things weren't right with Haverhill-- for all the advertising, I've never even heard of an actual Haverhill stager in my area. 

When I got a call from a recently 'graduated' Haverhill student, looking for work, I felt sorry for her. Obviously their 'guarantee' of paid work doesn't hold water, and I'm glad they're finally getting found out. Thanks for the article, Melissa.

Great post and worth passing on again and again!  I never considered Haverhill and have heard recently there is possible bankruptcy issue?  Maybe your colleague would know about this.

They are not well thought of in many staging circles in Canada.

Wow!  I didn't realize how bad it was.  I feel sorry for all those people.  Naturally, you won't be able to make everyone happy all the time but this so-called Haverhill staging school is beyond that, it is quite obviously a SCAM.  How can they have such a huge response with hardly any real graduates or real working employees?  There is something very, very wrong with that. 

Wow, I never knew.  My neighbor asked me why I didnt go with them, something just didnt feel right.  I do feel bad for all of individuals that has essentially lost there money.  Not something you  want to do during these tough time. Thank goodness for the 6th sense.

Thanks Melissa for sharing this with all of us.  It seems that many felt this was a scam and it is too bad for those personally and financially involved.  SO, the old adage "if it seems to good to be true, then...." still holds true. 

What got my attention is that this man had the former scam regarding domain registrations.  I just got two contacts recently regarding my domain name and I believe that it was a scam too.  We can't be too-o careful these days. 

You know, I've always been a bit curious about how Haverhill worked. I also had a strange feeling that something wasn't quite right about it. Guess that would be why I did my training elsewhere! Thanks for posting this. I'll be sure to pass it on to my colleagues.

Thanks for posting this.   The more information we put out about the company the better.

I loved this post so much that I rebloged it.

I can't help but wonder since there are SO many "training" institutes out there (I think most of AR knows how I feel about this) but the fact that Haverhill has only "hired" 20 +/- "eligible" graduates to date needs to be shared.  Pure & simple, the ads are VERY misleading.

In Kimberly's defense, she's right - the course in only about half of some of the "institutes" that have popped up here in SoCal (they run about $2,600) However, they are not "guaranteeing" any employment once you're done.

That's too bad if all this is true.  The background history of the CEO sure doesn't help.

In terms of fee's only, what's sad is, majority of training out there costs $2300 +, so to be leery of $1,000 is sort of a joke.  But, here I go again, until this industry is regulated,all the training courses out there (no matter how big, small or well known you are) is simply a training course based on the trainers expertise and knowledge, not to mention what they decide are the initials they will use to award you when you complete THEIR course.  You have to be leery of every single trainer out there.   You just don't know what your getting for your $1,000 or $3,000, plus airfare in most cases.  That's a huge investment for anyone.  Especially when your money isn't going to an accredited institution, but rather someone's personal bank account.  I can see how most people would fall for the statement of guaranteed employment with HaverHill, simply because it helps to justify to themselves forking over the $1,000.

My business partner and I have chosen not to carry any of the credentials behind our name of the courses we have completed, simply because they really don't mean anything, except who you took your course from.  I know, I know,  credentials show you know all the rules, correct techniques and blah blah blah, but in the end, it comes down to your integrity and your work that the client sees.  In 3 years of a successful business, we have never been asked once by a client where our training came from or what our credentials were.  Matter of fact, the only time we have been asked is by an ASP Stager, who asked if we were ASP's, when we said no, we got the turn of the head and out the door they went.  I don't agree at all with that type of sorority mentality.  I think that telling your students not to work with anyone else that doesn't have the "same" title is silly, not to mention the attitude that follows that is just as ridiculous.  Those claims only help to ensure repeat training and secure the "trainers" source of income, period.  There are many of us out there that are excellent at what we do, and we all got it from different places. 

The instant this industry becomes regulated, which will probably mean repeating some training, we will be first in line to pony up and get those credentials, and wear them proudly.  Until then, we must all be watchful of what's out there... be ready to call out the one's that are hurtful to our industry, but also be ready to recommend the trainers out there that we have come to really know and trust (which is what AR has really helped with) to stagers just starting out and send them on the right paths.  And Melissa, your one of the ones I would definately recommend....... :o)

The one thread of comments that I see sprinkled through-out here that bugs me the most is the explaining away of sorts of people picking a course they should not have picked because it is cheaper than all the others.  Now there's a good reason to ignore the research and pick one over others.  We are all stagers here are we not?  We do all get a bit crazy from time to time because our clients pick our competitors by going directly to price with-out considering or thoroughly understanding what they get for cheap?  At this point in time how can anyone with a computer and a search engine not know exactly what you are getting with every course that is offered out there...  In very short order I can find the good, the bad and the ugly about every course, all of thier instructors, the owners and what the students are saying about all of them...  So how does this happen?  At worst case folks should be saying, "Well, I should have known better, but I just went for cheap and the guarantee!"  For the record...  If you work hard, really hard.. Maybe as hard as you have ever worked at anything.  If you fill in those educational gaps with good, credible training.  If you get lucky.  And if you have both resources (Money to invest) and a support structure.  You just might make this business work for you.  There are no short cuts and there is no such thing as cheap, yet effective.  It all involves either money or sweat.

Just like Melissa said, we also get a lot of calls about training.  I simply tell them about what the SAR course that Linda instructs offers and I implore them to research, research, research.  It's all there, just look for it. 

Thx Melissa -- I have forwarded this on to some folks who have contacted me that want to start up in staging.  It is important to get the word out.

Boy, it sure got quiet!

Here's my take on this... Buyer Beware!  Unfortunately I have no pity for people who buy into this sort of thing.   

It is up to the consumer to research & investigate avenues before making a purchase.  If you are thinking of starting a new business, take a trip to the library, read a book or two, let your fingers Google & Yahoo around, invest in a "Business Start-up" college course, & get some mentoring BEFORE taking the leap in pulling out your credit card.

My admission:  I was one of those who bought into the advertising dollars spent by Haverhill on HGTV.  I paid for and received the course in very short order.  I did not look into the course employment guarantee, but I did believe there was a large strong of "catches" attached to it.  I read through the course and the manuals, and my honest opinion, it was nothing more than my Grade 10 elements of design principles art class.  I have to admit, there was some interesting information provided in the course - like the uses for WD-40 (which can be found online - but I never would have thought to search for it!). 

I had almost surpassed the deadline to submit my course, when I had a family emergency, so I requested an extension of 6 months to submit the course.  During that crazy 6 months, I had 3 sick children and husband, and we had also decided to move 100 km's away.  I had gone past my 6 months deadline - all courses completed by this time but they were already packed up in one of hundreds of boxes.  I requested to send in the completed course materials again, explaining the situation but the cost to submit them now because my deadline had expired was $100.  I had already spent $1000 on the course, and by this point my business has grown to be so successful, spending the $100 to submit the course and materials for a certificate I will end up losing, wasn't justified.  I had also seen posts similar to these, with regards to marking schemes and so on and figured it probably wasn't worth the postage.

Was my $1000 investment worth it to learn about WD-40?  Who knows, money was not much of an issue to me when I signed up for the course.  I wasn't aware of any of these issues when I purchased the program.  Would I have purchased it having know these things?  No. 

The fact that the CEO of Haverhill has a long and sorted history, I wouldn't have purchased his course had I sought out this information.  I also chose to take the ASP course, not because I expected to become an expert stager, makemillions and get my own TV show.  I wanted to get information by someone who knows the industry and has long history of hands-on experience.  Barb Schwartz is a fabulous woman, even though I took the course from one of her trainers, she has personally provided assistance to me since the day I left the course.  That is valuable to me and worth every dime.  Having somewhere to turn for solid, expert advice is key.  She responds to my questions or concerns personally and almost immediately and for this reason would not hesitate to refer her program.  I choose to use the ASP behind my name, because my experience with Barb personally proves to me she is a true professional and although i'm sure money may be a big source of motivation for her, she displays a true love and passion for the business and that is what she wants ASP to represent.  I personally like that.  However, I do not shy away at  stagers with other designations.

HaverHill on the other hand, did not call once.  I didn't even receive an e-mail when my course was about to expire...thank goodness I checked.  At the end of the day, a course does not make a stager, it just motivates them.  You either have it or you don't - but if you are trying to develop the skills that you do have, the HaverHill course may not be the way to go, simply for the lack of personal assistance.

Just my thoughts....for those seeking training do your research, choose the program that will suit your every need...don't discredit that a business course can possibly be your wisest investment!

I found this very informative. Here are some links to look at:

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