FAQ

1. What is the value of this website to a consumer?  This website gives the consumer the information about a business all in one place. You see affiliations, BBB reports, and consumer reviews and save time in researching a business. A consumer who has a free consumer account will be able to rate and review any business as well as hire contractors using the Contractor Quick Quote Feature. In addition if a consumer is dealing with a contractor they will know that the contractor must be a BBB member or has indicated they will join BBB at the first opportunity. BBB has a dispute mechanism in place and we want consumers protected.  In addition BBB does all the checks to make sure the contractor is fully licensed.

2. What is the value of this website to a business? A business can advertise and manage their business at the same time.  The business can receive on-going feedback anonymously from anyone from a computer about their business. They can choose to publish the feedback as a testimonial.  In addition, consumers who have consumer accounts can ask for quotes, have access to specials, and more importantly communicate with the business through their own account.

3.  I signed up.  Invoice me was selected.  What happens next?  We will phone you and ensure that you have the credentials to be on this Site. If you are currently a member of Better Business Bureau, this part of the process is skipped.

4.  How do I get my customers to give me feedback?  All you have to do is ask.  They will be able to give you anonymous feedback by using your ten digit phone number as the user name.  The password is "feedback"

5. Are businesses checked out first?  Every business is checked out with Better Business Bureau to see if that business name has been an issue on their database.  In addition every business owner or designate is interviewed to ensure that they meet our standards unless they are members of Better Business Bureau.

6. What happens when a consumer gets ripped off?  We move the business  to the "Caution Advised" area.  We invite the consumer to take their issue to the Better Business Bureau in their trade area.   

7.  A bad business owner starts a new business.  Is the old history erased?  Consumers will be able to search for a business in the keywords area using the business name, business contact and business phone number.  All you have to do is check out the name of the business owner in our database to see if they were previously on our database.

8. Will you add a business to the database without the business permission?  Businesses that are in the media with consumer allegations of fraud will be added to our database and placed in the " Caution Advised" category.  Other businesses may be visible to consumers for a short period during the evaluation period for the business.

9. How does a business use the listing as a website for their business?  We buy a domain for the business and point it to their listing during the initial interview process. When a consumer uses your business domain name, it automatically takes them to the listing on the Safe and Trusted Website. As an example go to the website www.testusout.com.  You will see that it takes you to the listing on the Site directly.

10. Is Safe and Trusted Canada accredited with Better Business Bureau? Yes. Our Head Office in Saskatoon. Safe and Trusted Canada is licensed,  and legally registered. We are accredited with Better Business Bureau. Although we have independent sales staff in some parts of Canada, they are simply referral agents to the Saskatoon office and do not make policy decisions on behalf of our company.

11. Do you handle complaints?  No.  We handle any complaints about our company, but do not handle complaints against any business listed on our Site. One of the purposes of this site is to prevent complaints happening in the first place.

12. How does your site prevent complaints? Businesses that are proactive and use their Feedback Key Code with their customers will soon get feedback indicating they have problem areas. Remember the consumer gets to give the feedback to the business anonymously to the business.  They will not be afraid to indicate that they had issues or problems.  They that it will be the business owner that gets the feedback.  We have learned that often a sales staff, a manager, or an independent rep prevents communication between the actual owner of the business and the consumer.  After all the sales staff wants to make the sale sometimes and it is the business owner that is stuck with the negative record on the BBB database. If the owner sees an issue, they can quickly adjust and prevent future issues of a negative nature.

13. Do I have to participate in Contractor Quick Quote?  No. You have the ability to turn this off.  Contractor Quick Quote gives you free leads as a contractor. You may not be able to take on any more business and as such, there is no sense in getting more leads.

14. Why would I want YouTube videos on my listing?  Quite often manufactures of products give a description of their products in a video. If you are the contractor that sells and installs those windows and doors, you may want to consider how this information would be important to your potential customers who view your listing.

15. I can not see my listing on the website. It is probably because you are still evaluating whether or not this is something you want for your business. Once payment has been confirmed, your listing will be "live."

16. Why is this Site important to me as a business?  We think that there are enough Sites out there that encourage consumers to leave negative reviews and little else.  What we wanted was to give the business the ability to show that the majority of their customers are happy with their performance and that 1 or 2 out of a thousand don't represent the consumer profile for the business.

17. How do I get my picture and business profile on the Home Page?  A business has the ability to place a picture of the business owner into their business profile. Once this is completed, they will contact us at office@safeandtrusted.com , and they can ask to be on the Home Page.  Their picture and profile will circulate randomly on any of the trade areas they have selected.  This includes Canada wide or Province Wide trade areas.

18.. What is the extra cost to be on the Home Page? You will be able to have this at no extra cost.  Just email us.

19.  Do you provide other services?  Yes. Phone us if you are looking at Point of Sale terminals or email services.