There's a stager born every minute: Haverhill offers big promises -- and shady associations
Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Ripoffs and Scams, Technology, Career, Fraud, Recession, Investing, Consumer Complaints, Buyer Beware
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. Haverhill, based in Toronto, caught my attention with the frequent commercials (you can watch a couple of them here and here) that it's run since September on such HGTV series as Designed to Sell and The Stagers. The company says it's in the midst of its national roll-out -- and it's looking to hire new stagers. And where better to look for would be decorating-for-salers than HGTV's audience? And what better time to do it than during this bleak recession, as a perfect storm of the tumultuous real-estate market and the waves of layoffs drive scores of desperate people to do desperate things?
Haverhill's TV spots make some pretty bold claims about what it's offering. Take its $997 course, pass a test, and get guaranteed employment with the company in the exciting, fast-growing world of home staging. But a closer look reveals that Haverhill is the foundation of some consumers' broken dreams. And at the top is a man who's got a sordid history with the Federal Trade Commission.
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 (which pays $24 to $31 per hour, according to the company's website). With an offer so good, why would you need to buy ads on HGTV to recruit employees in this economy? It just didn't make any sense, and things that don't make sense often make for interesting blog posts.
I e-mailed Haverhill for information about its training course and employment opportunity and heard back from Darren Morgenstern, who, it turns out, was sued by the Federal Trade Commission in 2001 for operating a "domain name scam," duping consumers into registering variations on domain names they own by contending, falsely, that a third party is about to claim it. Saying the scheme victimized at least 27,000 consumers, the FTC froze Morgenstern's assets pending a trial. Morgenstern explained the case to me in an e-mail: "Me and my company (and other industry players) were sued by the FTC. The matter was settled out of court, there was no admission of guilt and the company continues to operate today." Morgenstern later founded AshleyMadison.com, an online provider of dating services to married people. (In December 2007, The New York Post published an item saying Morgenstern used the site to cheat on his wife.)
Would you buy a home-staging course from this man? Morgenstern declined to tell me the success rate for those who have purchased his course, or how many people had ponied up the $997 to play -- but he did allow that Haverhill has hired 20 full- and part-time stagers, with "about 100 more slated for the coming months." That employment offer is available only to those who pay for the course; Haverhill doesn't hire stagers belonging to other professional associations, like the Accredited Staging Professional program, the leading provider of home-staging training -- unless they pass Haverhill's exam.
Imagine a college that wouldn't offer employment to professors who had earned their credentials at other institutions. Haverhill's unwillingness to hire outside stagers who hadn't spent a thousand dollars on its products suggests that the sale of training is an integral part of the company's business model. (Morgenstern declined to tell me what percentage of the company's revenue comes from the sale of training, as opposed to its staging services.)
Troubling questions about Haverhill also appear on message boards like The Staging Source, where anonymous posters complain that course requirements change constantly, and that instructors are difficult to reach. "You basically get a book which you read," one writes, "and then another little booklet that tells you the basics of finishing their seven exercise books. You have absolutely NO ACCESS to an instructor in real time (phone or email is out of the question and if you call and reach a live person you're instructed to go to their FAQs)."
Is Haverhill Home Staging a great opportunity for employment in a down economy? Maybe, although for a marketing campaign (including frequent spots on HGTV) promising guaranteed employment, 20 full- and part-time jobs just doesn't seem like that many. But what does seem very clear is that instead of offering detailed responses to questions about its business model, Haverhill's public-relations strategy appears to be litigation -- always a red flag.
Here's my advice, and I won't even charge you $997 for it. Stay far, far away from Haverhill Home Staging.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-22-2009 @ 1:01PM
DecoratorStager in Canada said...
Halleluh!
Thank you for letting others know what I've known about the Morgenstern the FTC, AshleyMadison and HaverHill. It doesn't provide full-time work for stagers. There is very little work to be had!
Save your money you will only be scammed!
BTW, Morgenstern has nothing better to do with his time than to search out blog posts and articles like this to defend the training. I'm confident he will respond here.
The business model of the business is the training and very very few get job offers with work to follow.
I have 'graduates' of HaverHill contact me regularily looking for work.
Check in to some of the other illustrious business partners of Morgenstern and you'll find more questionable characters.
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5-24-2009 @ 9:04PM
Penny said...
Thank you so much for posting this article! I have seen the t.v. ad a few times and actually wrote down the information so that I could look into possibly taking the course at some point. Personally, I don't have a thousand dollars to toss out the window and ,judging by your post and other things I have read, that is exactly what I may have done.
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6-09-2009 @ 4:29PM
goodness me said...
wow so what PROOF do you have that the company doesn't hire??
Have you called? gone to the office in Toronto? asked for people who work for the company as stagers talk to you?
Have you done ANY follow up to the realty executives that I FOUND who are working with Haverhill ? Try the head office of the Sutton Group.. if there was no work then where better to get that work.. then by working hand in hand with over 10,000 Realty agents?
I like to do real research, real time... and do not rely on the internet exclusively... you all should try that too.
As far as I found this is a NEW and legitimite business. ALL businesses need a start.. Ford was a crap business at first til he invented the production line.
Who cares who started this company? I doubt
Look at the skeletons of Donald Trump, Bill gates, or Ronald fn' Mc Donald.... anyone ever wonder what sort of beginnings these people had? I doubt "The Donald" has a perfect and unmoving love with ALL his businesses.... Look it up.. oh that's right.. it's the internet.. these are powerful people they can buy and change what they want...
We all proved that history can be altered (ie Forrest Gump) a tweek here and there and we all get what we want.
Try more then internet... READ A BOOK
6-17-2009 @ 1:43PM
Del said...
I was immediately drawn to this company after seeing their commercials on HGTV cable network. I requested information about the course from their web site, and received a phone call from one of their Life Coaches, Megan, followed a few days later with a small pamphlet by mail. It did sound too good to be true, so I did some research.
I read the FTC filings about the internet domain name scam on the FTC web site. This is public information. I later found several of the blogs mentioned by Zac in which there are numerous claims of people who had taken the course, and failed to make the required grade for the employment guarantee by only one or two points. I don't believe everything I read, but Darren's history is easily verified in public documents. They led me to the origins of AshleyMadison.com, the world's largest internet dating site of it's kind.
Later that week, Megan called me back. I told her I had some concerns, and began to tell her about the negative blogs I found. She became very defensive, and immediately started addressing the litigation against the 'anonymous blogger', which I had not even mentioned.
I then explained that I also had reservations about their employment guarantee, and asked her how many people had actually been hired. She told me that they have now hired 40 people, as of Jun 12, 2009. The company has been in business since 2004! There have been literally thousands of people who have taken the course, according to one of the stagers who has actually been hired by the company. It seems like a very low percentage of people to me, and was another red flag. Megan insisted that the company issues a full refund to those who don't score high enough to qualify for the employment offer.
I then told her I was concerned about the founder of the company, Darren Morgenstern. She became very agitated with me, and tried to defend him, stating that he was no longer associated with AshleyMadison.com, and that the web site was 'very different' now than when he started it. In fact, AshleyMadison.com was acquired by Avid Dating Life, Inc. in August 2007, but Darren remained with AshleyMadison as the company Spokesperson, according to Online Personals Watch. She dismissed me from the conversation, and wished me luck!
Darren has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows (Dr. Phil, CNN, 20/20 to name a few), admitting he founded the business, and the site's goal of matching married people together in order to have an affair. The web site's slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair". I found a media archive with links to several of the TV and radio appearances right on the AshleyMadison.com site: http://www.ashleymadison.com/app/public/media/indexarchive.p
While this may be legal, in my eyes, it's highly unethical and immoral. I decided right away that I do not want to work for anyone with this set of values. Even if I just got the 'accreditation' and started my own business, I fear the piece of paper will be worthless, as this company's reputation is already tarnished by the sordid past of it's owner. I can't help but wonder why he hasn't sued the New York Post for claiming he used his own site to cheat on his wife!
There is no nationally recognized 'accreditation' for the home staging industry. However, one individual who really started the industry some 37 years ago does carry a great deal of clout in the real estate business. Google Barb Schwarz, and learn about her success in the industry. "I’ve taught more than one million realtors and decorators about staging via my seminars", says Schwarz. So far, I haven't found any derogatory statements or blogs about her accreditation program. Instead, many sites are singing her praises. Consumer Reports has three articles published about her here: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/search.htm?header_health_search.x=0&header_health_search.y=0&query=Barb+Schwarz
She has also been featured on several major TV networks, and appears to be the 'real deal'. Do your own research, and don't be duped by exaggerated advertisements or claims. Nearly anyone can purchase advertising space on a network!
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6-26-2009 @ 3:19PM
DF said...
If you're looking for the best home study course, look at national best selling author Barbara Jennings who is the directory of the Academy of Staging and Redesign. She has written more books for the home staging industry than any other trainer and has an excellent reputation. You'll find her site at Decorate-Redecorate.Com
7-20-2009 @ 3:08PM
DF said...
Disgruntled HH students can qualify for 50% OFF of the Diamond courses offered by nationally recognized staging author, Barbara jennings, as her way of helping people who feel they have been scammed.
Go to http://www.decorate-redecorate.com/haverhill-staging-students.html
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