I made about Columbia House DVD club. They give you two years to honour your 'contract', which means you have to buy a certain amount of DVD's in that two year period. But before my two year period was over, Columbia House ran out of Georgetown ,Ontario was sending me a bill for $75 for not buying enough DVD's despite the fact that I had over a year to honour the contract.

I refused to pay Columbia House until they fixed the amount on my invoice, which they also refused to do. I had noticed that Columbia House was inflating the price of the DVD's I had ordered at sale price as well as inflating the shipping charges on my invoice. Despite the fact I had kept the original sales flyer to prove it, they still refused to adjust the invoice.

I brought this to the attention of the Better Business Bureau whose office is in Kitchener, Ontario only to have the complaints officer side with Columbia House despite the hundreds of similar complaints. The BBB states on it's website that if there are too many complaints about a same company, they will forward to the police if it appears to be fraudulent. Not only did they refuse to adjust the invoices, but while I made the complaint the guy responding for Columbia House fabricated extra costs in his letter he sent to the BBB.

I brought this to the BBB complaint's officer attention as well but it didn't fizz the BBB. I forwarded this fraudulent practice to the Ontario Provincial Police's PhoneBusters program, but they appeared to ignore it. So after this futile attempt to bring attention to fraud, it appears that the BBB is complicit with Columbia House by encouraging the practice of invoice doctoring.

Last week, I attempted to make a complaint against St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation (a charity) with the BBB office in Hamilton. While minding my own business trying to fill out the form on their office computer, I was verbally assaulted and slandered by Marlene Sear, a BBB Member Services Coordinator. She wrongfully accused me of 'playing around on the computer' as she would a child because she had seen me do a Google search. That Google search was to find out the address and persons I spoke to at St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundation and the hospital itself because, unlike the United States BBB's, Canada's BBB has absolutely no record of any St. Joseph's Healthcare Foundations in Ontario let alone Hamilton.

Ms. Sear continued to harass and slander me despite knowing that she was absolutely wrong and hasn't apologized for it despite a complaint sent to Mr. Davidé Ward-Mathis III, the President and CEO of the Hamilton Better Business Bureau, whom, by the way did apologize and was kind in his letter to me. But Ms. Sear not taking responsibility and giving me a written apology is a perfect example of an individual (and a female for that matter) who can't take responsibility for their actions and instead blames another for their own wrong behaviour.

To make matters worse, it appeared that slander appears to be de rigour at this office. Prior to her slandering and harassing me in front of her fellow co-workers, she was busy calling another complainant a 'nut bar' to the business owner (a contractor). Apparently, the complainant was threatening to sue the contractor but had decided she would use the services of the BBB instead of going to the courts.

I just got an email today from the BBB indicating that I could not make a complaint against St. Joseph's

Marlene
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada