What you need to know:
BBB reviews can be manipulated by unethical business people like Brian Darnell.
A rapid succession of favorable reviews appeared for Prodigy Restoration Group after we submitted a complaint about Darnell’s conduct to the BBB.
Be on the lookout:
Brian Darnell did not operate under just the Prodigy Restoration Group name, he has also done business as Darnell-Group, Darnell Construction, Design Build St. Louis, and Brian Darnell, all with a focus on General Contracting, Room Additions, and Remodeling Services. This was pointed out in the post about the Darnell Shell Game.
What happened with us:
Previously we showed you how a crooked contractor like Brian Darnell was able to manipulate a Better Business Bureau (BBB) review such that a person he was to pay to assist him with a job was leaving a review of Prodigy Restoration Group, Brian Darnell’s now failed business, on the BBB website.
We also showed how the address for Prodigy Restoration Group was a “virtual office”, a sign that the business may not be what it seems.
In this post we will go over some other signs from the BBB reviews of Prodigy Restoration Group that would tip off a consumer that something is not right.
On the St. Louis BBB website there is a page for Prodigy Restoration Group, the BBB received 9 positive reviews of Brian Darnell’s Prodigy Restoration Group out of 9 reviews left. This would probably lead you to believe that Prodigy was a reputable business, of course the fact that it is “Out of Business” is a sign that the first appearance is probably wrong.
Once you dig a little deeper you will see that there was a complaint filed against Darnell’s Prodigy business around mid-October of 2015. That was our complaint, there’s no point in going into the complaint or the silly response that Brian Darnell gave, the $16,990 judgement against Prodigy Restoration Group that the court awarded us the following year says it all.
What a sharp eyed consumer ought to notice is that several weeks after submitting our complaint the first positive review of Prodigy Restoration Group was left with the BBB. The review by Garrett W. with the BBB would not be the only place that Garrett wrote about his ‘pleasurable experience’ with Prodigy. That will be a topic for another posting.
At this point the positive reviews started to roll in, Mike C. the following week.
Jason H. a week after that, 28 days later Lucinda B. writes of her ‘fantastic’ experience.
The very next day Al M. leaves a positive review.
Five more days and then Dan T. posts “A++++, can’t say enough”, then next week Jowana K J. says positive experience, a month later Tom R., and then the next day the already introduced Charles S.
Amazing! Brian Darnell’s Prodigy Restoration Group was formed as a business in June of 2014 and never had a single review left on the BBB website until we made a complaint to the BBB in October of 2015, and immediately thereafter, following a 16 month drought with no reviews, an avalanche of positive accolades for Darnell’s business start pouring in over a 90 day span.
This folks is a warning sign, if you find a business that has a long string of positive reviews over a very short time, be very suspicious.