Working with Hawaii's

Better Business Bureau® Start With Trust® In Hawaii

® BBB Annual Report

Start With Trust

For 68 years, Hawaii’s Better Business Bureau® (BBB) has been the premiere organization promoting and protecting trust in our marketplace by developing honest and responsible relationships between businesses and consumers as well as charities and donors. Our Mission To be the leader in advancing This report summarizes the highlights from our Fiscal Year, July 2012 marketplace trust. to June 2013, a year of signiﬁcant changes including the retirement of CEO, Dwight Kealoha. Our Vision An ethical marketplace where We would like to take this opportunity to express our deep buyers and sellers can trust appreciation and mahalo to Dwight for leading us for the past seven each other. years. His leadership allowed Hawaii’s BBB to navigate through the economic downturn by reinventing its infrastructure and programs such as the inclusion of vendors and speakers at the annual Torch Hawaii’s BBB Awards. Address: 1132 Bishop St. #615 Honolulu, HI 96813 We would also like to thank each of our Accredited Businesses for their contribution in helping to create a healthy local business Website: hawaii.bbb.org economy. It is because of their commitment to the BBB’s code of high ethical standards and marketplace trust that allows our services E-mail: [email protected] to foster. Phone: 808-536-6956 We are pleased to announce that we have developed a plan to 1-877-222-6551 position our Accredited Businesses as elite businesses in the Neighbor Islands community. In addition, one of the most exciting changes that we (toll free) have been working on this past year is the redesigning of BBB’s website. The new site design is attractive, well-organized, full of Fax: 808-628-3970 information, but most importantly it provides the user with the feeling of trust, ﬁrst and foremost. The redesigned website is scheduled to be launched in late 2013.

As we close out this ﬁscal year, we give special thanks to the businesses and community leaders who have given their time to volunteer to serve on Hawaii’s BBB Board of Directors and the Hawaii BBB Foundation.

On behalf of the entire Hawaii BBB team, we would like to thank you for your continued support and we wish you the best of success in this coming year!

Start With the BBB

Gregory D. Dunn Tom Dixon Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Chair Hawaii’s BBB BBB Board of Directors The Strength of By The Numbers... Hawaii’s BBB®

FACTS ABOUT HAWAII’S BBB The muscle behind Hawaii's BBB strength is the depth of information provided to 760,482 BBB Business Reviews Issued consumers through our BBB Business Reviews. Last year we supplied 760,482 BBB Business 197,673 Accredited Business List Requested Reviews, which is a 26% increase from the 2,658 Accredited Businesses in Hawaii previous fiscal year and 449% increase over 2,558 Consumer Complaints Processed the last five years. An increased number of consumers are also interested in our BBB 28 Accreditation Applications Declined Accredited Business list. A total of 197,673 lists 12 Accreditations Revoked were requested during fiscal 2013. A 22% increase compared to last fiscal year and 491% increase over the last 5 years. MOST COMMON COMPLAINTS BBB Business Reviews include records of 90 consumer complaints, advertising issues and other pertinent marketplace alerts that are specific to the business. Hawaii’s BBB assisted 75 Airlines easing

with 2,558 complaints with a reported value of L $2,592,546.17. The number of complaints 60 received is part of a declining trend that we w Cars e etail have seen both locally and nationally over the ompanies R enting & C el Clubs R last 5 years. This may be a result of increased v ants a

45 o r r t o Dealers - Used Cars T t consumer expectations for instant u u elers - A tau A gratiﬁcation, which in some cases can be s els operty Management Electric e ew t Banks r o Dealers - N 30 R J P

achieved by posting negative comments about t Ho u

businesses online rather than spending time to A work out the issues with the business. The trend seems to be counteractive to building 15 trust between consumers and businesses in the marketplace. This past year Hawaii’s BBB 0 implemented some changes in the dispute 90 74 68 41 34 32 30 29 27 27 26 resolution process in hopes that it would encourage consumers to work with the business to resolve any issues. The result was TOP 10 MOST COMMON INQUIRIES positive. We saw an increase in our complaint resolution rate, up to 77.1% this past fiscal year. 11,583 24,455 12,085 Construction & As a system, the BBB introduced several Remodelling General Pest Control specific annual operational target metrics. For Contractors Hawaii's BBB, it included 25 Advertising 12,681 Reviews and 17 Investigations per year. The Real Estate 18,686 Roofing numbers were determined by the total number Contractors of existing local businesses. Hawaii’s BBB Travel Agencies exceeded the marks by ending with 40 13,088 & Bureau advertising reviews and 26 investigations this Electricians past fiscal year. Property Management 17,381 Plumbing 13,335 Dating Contractors Services

® 16,187 17,262 The Strength of By The Numbers...

Hawaii’s BBB® ACCREDITED BUSINESSES BY SIZE

4% 4% While we wish every business could belong. Only trustworthy businesses 6% that meet high ethical standards are eligible for BBB Accreditation. During 17% ﬁscal 2013, Hawaii’s BBB welcomed 393 new BBB Accredited Businesses 69% ending the year with a total of 2,658.

Because of these elite businesses, we are able to monitor and investigate Size Total complaints about advertising; issue Less than 10 1,831 reports on charitable organizations; 11 to 25 446 and administer BBB’s alternative 26 to 50 155 51 to 100 104 dispute resolution programs. 100+ 122 Working With Hawaii’s BBB ACCREDITED BUSINESSES BY LOCATION “Here at Hawaii Human Resources (HiHR) we strive for excellence, transparency, and trust within the PEO 12% industry. Hawaii’s BBB was a natural ﬁt for our company since the BBB’s values resonate with our own. We succeed 12% only when Hawaii’s other businesses succeed and we value the integrity and 4% honesty our BBB membership greatly 72% enhances with all of our clients.”

—Kellie Schmidtke, Dir. of Marketing & Communications, HiHR County Total Honolulu 1,908 “As a small business, instilling credibility Kauai 119 and trust with our customers is Maui 319 paramount. By being a BBB accredited Big Island Hawaii 308 Other 4 business it allows us to show our commitment to quality service, transparency in advertising and a HAWAII’S BBB FINANCIAL OVERVIEW provide a forum in which customer feedback is heard fairly and in good Revenues Expenses Net Income faith.” 2010 1324898.90 1244600.00 80298.90 —Shawn O. Kelly, Branch Sales Manager, 2011 1298763.00 1262459.00 36304.00 Mann Mortgage 2012 1305592.85 1300173.78 5419.07 2013 1257289.96 1334816.21 -77526.25 Key 2013 Accomplishments

Hawaii’s BBB® began publishing complaint detail in February 2013. Publishing 818 cases before the end of the ﬁscal year. This allows consumers to directly observe how businesses take care of their customers and also gives businesses the opportunity to tell their side of the story.

We ended the ﬁscal year with an Accredited Business retention rate of 89%, 4% higher than projected.

Our team Launched a two minute “How to” video series on ﬁling a complaint and responding to a complaint. These videos are accessible to consumers and businesses online. By having the visual resources available for quick reference, BBB is helping consumers and businesses to have e!ective complaint resolution dialogues.

We initiated a dispute resolution student intern program. The program allows graduate students to apply dispute resolution techniques learned in the classroom to help resolve marketplace disputes.

26 investigations were done by Hawaii’s BBB during 2013. We were able to denounce bad business practices and warn the public about ongoing scams a!ecting our community. 2013 Torch Awards

Each year, Hawaii’s BBB Torch Award program helps illuminate the importance of a marketplace where buyers and sellers, and donors and charities can trust each other. BBB’s Torch Awards promote trust in the marketplace and honor local businesses and public charities for their outstanding commitment to fair, honest, and ethical marketplace practices.

Prior to this year’s luncheon, a panel consisting of Darren Kimura, founder of Sopogy, Patricia Brandt, CEO of Innovations Development Group and Peter Crouch, the Dean of the College of Engineering at University of Hawai’i at Manoa, participated in a discussion on Innovation and Ethics. The discussion led by, John Webster, Director of the Hogan Entrepreneurial Program at Chaminade University was full of audience participation and very well received.

This year we were pleased to introduce a new award which honors and celebrates innovation and entrepreneurship here in Hawaii, BBB’s Keauhou Award! This year the, Ke au hou, which translates into The New Era or The New Wave was awarded to Steve Sue, Founder of BizGym.com

Steve has signiﬁcantly advanced marketplace trust through a demonstrated commitment to not only help entrepreneurs and business owners but also deliver essential life skills to younger adults and children.

This year we received over 45 entries for the awards. While we had many outstanding businesses enter only a select few would move on to become the recipients. Congratulations to our 2013 winners!

Public Charity Category: Child & Family Service. Small Business Category: PoP-A-Lock Honolulu. Medium Business Category: HiEmployment. Large Business Category: Veracity Payment Solutions.

BBB Torch Awards Trust Performance Integrity ® 2013 Top 10 Scams

Hawaii's community reported scams over 2,800 times to us during this past ﬁscal year. With that information and some investigation on our end, we were able to get the word out to the public via social media, local media and Hawaii's BBB website. Below is a list of the top 10 scams reported to us by Hawaii consumers:

1. Sweepstakes and Lottery

2. Advance Fee Loan and Debt Reduction Scams

3. Phishing and Vishing Scams

4. Fake Government Grant O!ers

5. Work at Home Scams

6. Questionable Collection Calls

7. Fake Check and Overpayment Scams

8. Rental Scams

9. Anti-Virus and Spyware Scams

10. Questionable Auto Warranty O!ers

“I would like to thank you and the sta! at Hawaii’s BBB for the speediness and e"ciency of the investigation and follow up.”

—Gayle Ogiro, Consumer Search Engine Sponsorship

Online marketing plays a signiﬁcant role in the marketplace today. Hawaii’s BBB is o!ering Accredited Businesses a marketing opportunity that ensures a high return on investment. BBB® works with Google™ to bring you BBB’s Search Engine Sponsorship (SES). Industry speciﬁc key words and phrases often used by consumers are utilized by the program which drives tra"c straight to our landing pages which are always located in the premium search positions on Google.

BBB’s SES is a marketing program for business to consumer, service and product providers. A limited number of accredited businesses sponsor the Google – Better Business Bureau (category) page with subscriptions.

SES consumers, research quality & reliability not price. They don’t waste their money or time and don’t waste your time with quote requests that can’t turn into sales.

SES provides accredited businesses a high Return on Investment. Our data shows that participants have approximately four times more internet hits to their BBB page than before the program started.

10 Industries Represented by 68 Accredited Businesses

1. Weddings 2. Home Improvement and Remodeling 3. Electricians 4. Plumbers 5. Painting 6. Landscaping 7. Home Builders 8. Solar 9. Rooﬁng 10. Moving and Storage

“BBB is a beacon of trust in our community. We appreciate how well the BBB vets businesses to ensure they are complying with the highest ethical standards. Our BBB membership and accreditation is vital to our clients because it demonstrates that we've met the gold standard.”

—Julie Ford, President, Schweitzer Consulting, LLC HAWAII’S BBB BOARD OF DIRECTORS

O!cers Directors

Thomas W. Dixon, Jr. Vic Angoco Dave Erdman Jason Hall Chair Matson Navigation Company PacRim Marketing Group, Inc. Kaiser Permanente First Hawaiian Bank

Craig Hamamoto Michael Han Susan Ing Myles Murakami KTA Super Stores The Wedding Ring Shop Bank of Hawaii 1st Vice Chair Atlas Insurance Agency Kathy Inkinen Wayne Kirihara Stan Masamitsu Inkinen & Associates, Inc. Central Paciﬁc Bank Tony Group Cleota G. Brown 2nd Vice Chair Dawn Morais Webster Terry O’Reilley Ken Rewick Zen Banx American Savings Bank Hawaiian Airlines

Rachel R. Shimamoto, CTC Secretary Margie Sasaki Bobby Senaha Ed Shinoda Travel Ways, Inc. HMSA Hawaii Business Magazine

Dwayne S. Takeno, CPA Garret Sullivan Robert Tanaka Juli Torigoe Treasurer Sullivan & Associates Bob Tanaka, Inc. Realtors Servco PKF Paciﬁc Hawaii LLP

Nancy Daniels, APR Marian Tsuji Pamela Tumpap Scott Williams Lanakila Paciﬁc Maui Chamber of Commerce Lex Brodie’s Tire Company Immediate Past Chair Outrigger Enterprises Group Sam Yee Finance Factors, Ltd.

HAWAII’S BBB STAFF

Gregory D. Dunn Alesia Borja Jose Cabauatan Chief Executive O!cer

Dwight Kealoha Adam Espiritu Tanya Gillan Chief Executive O!cer Emeritus Margaret Hart Scott Ho!man Timothy Caminos Director of Communications Mick Mckenzie Karl Nakagawa Kehau Abe Controller Elizabeth Ramos Ronalyn Reyes Lisa Nakao Director of Operations Lorie Sides Russel Subiono Sherrie Hill Director of Recruitment & Retention Selena Vargas Sandra Youkers