Buying a Job With Haverhill Home Staging? Questionable.
Do-it-yourself home renovation projects are still all the rage, years after shows like TLC’s Trading Spaces became popular. No doubt the economy has also influenced people to try to increase the value of their real estate for little or no cost. People are decorating and selling their homes themselves. And they’re having fun doing it.
And there’s always an opportunist waiting in the wings to make a buck on the latest craze. In steps Haverhill Home Staging. Buy our correspondence course. Pass the test. And we’ll guarantee you a job paying $24 to $31. Does it sound too good to be true? It just might be.
On its face, the concept doesn’t sound shady. “Home staging” is a big part of the process of selling or renting a residence, and plenty of people hire professionals to help them with their presentation. Haverhill says it’s “North America’s largest and fastest growing Home Staging Company.” Impressive? Maybe. True? Who really knows. Helpful in peddling its correspondence course? Likely.
Haverhill Home Staging advertises on cable television, particularly during home remodeling shows like Designed to Sell and The Stagers, both on HGTV. The commercials say the company is in need of stagers across the United States to provide services. And oh by the way…. successful completion of their $997 “course” in home staging will guarantee you a job with them.
Here’s how it works: Pay Haverhill nearly $1,000 for a correspondence course (yes, it’s self-study all the way). Take a test. They’ll guarantee you a full-time or part-time job which their website says pays $24 to $31. That’s probably a lot more than many of your friends are making at their jobs. What’s not to love about this?
Here’s one of their commercials for “Haverhill Institute of Staging.” The graphics say “GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT. OR YOUR MONEY BACK.” But notice the clever language as spoken in the commercial: You’ll “qualify” for full or part-time employment. So are “graduates” guaranteed employment? Or are they guaranteed to qualify for employment? I’m skeptical.
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.
The first question you should ask is why Haverhill is spending so much money buying advertising on cable television. This sounds like a fantastic deal for the “student.” If it’s really all it’s cracked up to be, why aren’t people beating down their door begging to buy the course and get a “guaranteed” job? Why must they spend tens of thousands of dollars on these advertisements?
Who is behind Haverhill? The man behind the company is Darren Morgenstern, a man who was pursued by the FTC in 2001 for allegedly perpetrating a domain name scam. (Note to Haverhill lawyers: The FTC called it a scam in the page I linked to. If you don’t like it, complain to them, not to me.) Morgenstern’s company went by the names National Domain Name Registry, Electronic Domain Name Monitoring, or Corporate Domain Name Monitoring, according to the FTC. The FTC says he got at least 27,000 consumers to pay him fees to obtain domain names that he fraudulently represented to them were being sought by competitors. He essentially “warned” them that a non-existent competitor wanted a domain name similar to theirs, so they should pony up money to him and get the domain name for themselves.
Morgenstern settled these charges in 2002, and the companies accused by the FTC paid $375,000 to compensate alleged victims. He also agreed to be barred from making false or mileading statements in the sale of goods or services related to domain names, email, or webhosting services. He’s even barred from using unsolicited marketing faxes. With this type of settlement, Morgenstern didn’t ADMIT to doing anything wrong.
The guy’s also got an interesting past related to a website he started for people who want to cheat on their spouses. Read up on that and judge for yourself.
What’s happening to the “students” who participate in the Haverhill Home Staging course? Who’s getting a sustainable job with Haverhill? Morgenstern apparently says that 20 people have gotten full-or part-time jobs with Haverhill. And he says that another 100 will be getting jobs with Haverhill soon. Does that sound impressive? I’d love to know how many people have “passed” the correspondence course. That’s the only way to evaluate their guarantee.
Students of Haverhill are talking. Some praise the company.
Others, not so much. One student had this to say on a message board: “Soon I became one of those people who were deceived with the false promises and paid Haverhill $1047 for the vague opportunity to be employed. I enrolled in this “course” in April and worked hard on all those 6 impossible to complete assignments and submitted them on time. I asked to meet Kimberly Uksik, instructor I was assigned to, and handed in all the projects directly. She didn’t even mention about any changes to curriculum or possible delays. It was DIY part. No assistance whatsoever though I was reassured that Haverhill will provide real customers for assignments. Instead I received 15 Haverhill door hangers to distribute and got one respond 2 weeks later. The happy customers e-mailed to instructor, Thank you letter full of sincerely nice words on my behalf. Waiting. Nothing in return, no training, The manual was a simple compilation of common knowledge statements which can be found for free on any HGTV related site.“
This student reported difficulty in even getting through the class. How can you get the “guaranteed” job if you can’t even get through the course?
Another student on the same message board had this to say: “During the discussion portion someone asked Kimberly “How many stagers have your hired to date”, the answer was “4″, only 4, there were 114 people in this tele class. I had to pick up my jaw off the desk, only 4 to date, how long has this school been operating for. That’s when a light bulb went on, for me and I think a few others in the tele class, is this a scam, do they make every precaution to not evaluate anyone at 80% or above.”
If you can’t complete the course with a grade of 80% or better, you’re not “eligible” for the “guaranteed” employment.
Another complainer: “I am here to hopefully prevent anyone else from losing their money and time by signing up for this course. I registered for the course June/08, I have been in the home renovations and design business for over 10 yrs. My husband and I own a painting and renovations business. I have many connections in this field. I completed all the assignments on time for real clients who loved my work and have since referred me for more re-designing work. I have been through college and received my R.N.A with a grade point average of 4.9 on the Dean’s List. Never have I received a grade under 80%. I totally wasn’t worried. My grade was 51% out of 70% on the assignments and I received little indication as to the grading system or why I received that grade. The test, I studied 4 hours prior to writing and it is open book. I was timed out the first time, ran out of time at question 50 the second time and was later informed they added 5 more questions, so I wrote again and completed the test with flying colors so I thought only to receive a grade of 22% out of 30% and got a comment of “well done”. My final grade was 73% leaving me just shy of being eligible for employment.”
A Haverhill instructor responded to one complainer with a lengthy post, which included criticisms of the student’s work and this: “Naturally, our course is going to be challenging. We make it very clear that there is minimum eligibility requirements to being hired. And why shouldn’t there be high standards? Nobody ever built a company on the efforts or integrity of people that want to fake their way into a job.”
Haverhill apparently takes the of complainers seriously. Not in remedying the problems. But in threatening those who make the complaints publicly. One of the complainers wrote: “Thank you Barb. I’ve just received a warning from Haverhill for speaking that truth which can be harmful to their reputation. The fact that I was easily identified speaks for itself. Now they will see me behind every posting. What else can I say? Does anyone want to share their experience? Haverhill threatens me with legal actions this is really nice. Below is the original text.”
Correpsonce from Kimberly Uksick at Haverhill allegedly stated: “Please consider this as further notice that we reserve all rights and recourses against you for all remarks posted by you on various message boards and may seek damages against you.”
There is more interesting discussion of the company found here. And another string of complaints is found on this page.
Where does that leave the consumer? It’s just good business to be skeptical about offerings like these and guarantees which may appear to be too good to be true.
My book Expert Fraud Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide offers a checklist for anyone considering an investment. And I think $1,000 for a self-study course in home staging is quite an investment for many people, so they owe it to themselves to ask some of the questions suggested in the book:
- What do objective third parties have to say about the company and its business? Are those things in line with what you are being told? Or are third parties suspiciously quiet about the company and its offerings?
- Is the company guaranteeing rates of return on investments with them?
- Can their promises be verified in any way?
- Are certain parts of the business unusually secret? Is there a general reluctance to disclose key facts?
- What is the background and experience of the principals? Do they have industry expertise?
- Have any of the principals been involved in scandals or bankruptcies? Do they have criminal records? Have they been accused of running any scams?
Trust your instincts. Don’t fork over money without a thorough investigation of what you’re putting money into. Be very cautious and conservative with your money. And be very careful about falling for guarantees which are questionable.
In this case, it looks like a consumer is “buying a job” with Haverhill because the $997 course is a requirement before getting the job. If you even get a job with them.
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Comments (63)
Maple…if you are looking for some good resources for basic ins and outs of Home Staging, go to Amazon and search Barbara Jennings, she has some awesome books that will give you tons more valuable information that we received in our $1000 Haverhill course. Wish I would have found her sooner. Good luck!
I completed the Haverhill course last October 2009. I finally received my certificate in January 2010. Today, April 26, 2010, I looked at the certificate and reread it. They got the date wrong. According to the certificate I was accredited on Dec. 2, 2010. Pretty cool trick!!! I didn’t pass with a 80 or above so I didn’t qualify for employment. But considering the problems I encountered while I completed the course, I didn’t want to be employed by Haverhill anyway. I lost points because I used the same house for 3 lessons instead of 3 different houses. I lost points because I wasn’t able to completely empty the rooms and take pictures. I explained that I have fibermyalgia but the Haverhill people didn’t care. Their system of asking questions sucks!!!! You never got to talk to a human being. You typed your question online and in a day or two you get an answer. You didn’t get the benefit of seeing what other students asked that might have helped you. I would never recommend Haverhill to an one else.
Dont’ do it! Haverhill is such a scam. I’ve tried talking to them. They are just rude and will not even begin to work with you. Arlene, Colleen, Kim, Rick, just forget it!
I took this class to learn a trade and because employment was promised. When I spoke on the phone with someone about that class they told me that all the graduates of this particular class would be offered at least part time employment at $24.00 per hour. I paid for the class, that is when the communication stopped. After they got my money I had to trick them into answering the phone, leave countless messages, send emails and regular post. They would never call me back and rarely answer my emails and when they did it was always a form letter. When the material arrived I read the package and found out I had been lied to. They only way you are employed is if you pass with a 70 or better. I tried to get someone on the phone to find out about the grading system. It was then that I found I had been conned. They would not refund my money even though I had a 14 day window where they promised they would have and I was just barely within that window. I decided to try my best. I worked very hard. I studied and put everything I had into this course. My friends let me use their homes, I called in Real Estate Professionals to judge my work and they told me that I had been scammed. My work was very good but they already had heard of Haverhill. They told me there was no way I could pass this test, no one could. The only way was to memorize the book. I turned in my pictures and course work allowing myself ten days to get it to Canada. I would like to say that during this time I was very ill and still managed to complete this. My materials sat in a post office in Canada for more than 30 days! Because Haverhill said they had no one to go and get the packages that came in while they were closed and the shipping and receiving clerk was too busy to go. I did get this information after calling and crying on the phone. Finally Colleen told me this. She sent someone that week to get them. I then sat for the teleconference. I re-read the material and studied for 4 days straight and took the test for the first time. All the reviews I had read on the internet were true. No one can pass this test. You must memorize the book in order to pass. To many of the questions are direct quotes from the book. More than half are sentences from the book that must be fill in the blank questions and must be in the right order. Such as, “The 7 dimensions of design are ____ and _____ and _____, color, light and testure.” Also on my design work, we were told we could use our own homes and since I had just bought a new home and moved I had the perfect house. So I did use my home for some of the work. Points were taken from my grade for that and Kimberly told me I could not use my home. I told her I had it in writing, in the book and verified from Colleen that I could. She said, “I don’t care.” and I received a 50 on all that hard work, when local professionals had raved about it. I actually ended up doing a show for one of the local Real Estate sales people here who said, “As soon as you get your certificate please call me.”
The second time I took the test was very difficult and there were many more fill in the blanks but I had memorized more of the book. My grade was better, and I passed with more than a 70. I should have been offered part time employment at $24,00 per hour and I have to this day never heard from anyone at Haverhill. I have called several times, emailed and no one has called me back. My final grade is not posted on my Haverhill website and no one seems to have any information. I would also like to say that I was laid off my job in July. The money for this course was my final paycheck from my job. Haverhill knew that and made me a promise that I was doing the right thing with my last little bit of money. TO day I have not been contacted by anyone, and I have not been hired.
Whatever else you do, DON”T DO THIS> HAVERHILL IS A SCAM!!!!!
I was never able to finish the course since the “trades” lesson was flawed from the get go. I would ask companies for help and they would go on the net and see all this negative information (that was not there when I signed on with Haverhill).
The lessons I did complete were all scored at the required 70%.
I would like my lessons back now!
Is that possible? What did they do with all the names, addresses and phone numbers I sent them with my lessons?
I understand that a home stager does not require acredidation or a certificate but since our world is so competitive I think it’s a positive to have one (this is not my bread & butter job, I work full time but love home design).
Regards,
Carole
Ottawa, Ontario
This is a joke. I bought it, and there is no way of getting the required assignments done in time….unless you were unemployed. Like it is mentioned above, they can grade you however they want…it’s a scam.
How do I get my money back?
I took the Haverhill Home Staging Course over a year ago and after receiving my home study course knew it was a scam. I completed all courses and handed them in. Haverhill sent me a 7th lesson explaining the binder I received was not up to date. I completed the 7th assignment and handed the work in IN PERSON. I handed it to an employee and I am positive it went straight in the trash, as they could not find it and I had to wait for another lesson book.
Contacting anyone who worked at Haverhill was like squeezing water from a rock. It wasn’t happening. I think it’s sick that these people work for a scammer and actually have the *@!$ to call themselves instructors. Get a real job and stop giving people false hopes.
Think about it… they are selling the course and offering employment opportunities as a stager, right? So why, when you go on their website or try to contact them to actually EMPLOY THEIR SERVICES FOR STAGING A HOME is there no information, contact info, price list, no one calls back and there is no way to book a consultation?? They do not really stage homes – they are in the business of selling misguided people their binder full of crap. Save your money – go to an accredited school or apprentice with a solid staging company that’s actually in the biz!
Very interesting. I also completed the course in Dec of 09 and havent received my cert. When trying to log in i find all these postings about it being a fraud. And can no longer find the website. If anyone has any information on law suits i would love to help. I want my money back. I haven’t heard of anybody receiving an 80% or higher. How can everyone fail an open book exam? I have never done so poorly. The test itself was a fraud. The questions were ridiculous! Please if there are any suits suing this company please someone e-mail me!
Thank you
It’s for sure a SCAM! I had the same problem that everyone is talking about….I couldn’t pass the test….and when i inquired about the their scoring system and how many questions to the test no answer….they set it up for everyone to fail the test….you can not go back and see what you got wrong or anything….I hate i spent my hard earned money on this program…it was never designed to guarantee people employment….
I took the course cause I saw it wast on HGTV, which lead me to believe that it held some sort of credibility. OBVIOUSLY, they screwed HGTV as well which in turn also means that you can trust any of the bullshit HGTV puts out either.
Thank you. I was seriously considering the Haverhill course, as a single mom, I want to thank all of you who commented for preventing me from spending the only savings I have.
Just to let everyone know, there is no such thing as accredited home staging. Unlike interior design, people who work in home staging generally have an art background, or something along the lines of set/stage deco, prop house work, etc.
Don’t be fooled by the BBB rating on some of these staging “institutions”….that rating is only for any actual jobs done, usually nothing to do with classes and baloney certification.
If you have an artistic eye and would like to try this work, have a one-on-one talk with a real stager. See if they are willing to take you on and show you the ropes, like an apprentice. All it takes is some talent, inventory, and connections.