Overview
The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) has structured its website to allow consumers to perform a variety of tasks, such as checking whether a home improvement contractor (HIC) is registered with OCABR, seeing whether an HIC has delinquent fee payments, and filing a complaint against an HIC. It has also published information on how to hire an HIC; required contract terms in home improvement contracts; and a document called “A Massachusetts Homeowner’s Guide to the Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) Program” to help homeowners understand Chapter 142A of the Massachusetts General Laws, which governs the HIC Program.
In performing our audit testing, we used OCABR’s website and evaluated it in terms of ease of navigation, as well as completeness and accuracy of information. In some areas, OCABR’s website was very cumbersome to navigate. For example, a consumer has to go through at least seven steps to determine whether an arbitration or Residential Contractor’s Guaranty Fund (RCGF) case has been filed against an HIC. Additionally, some information on the website was incomplete or inaccurate. For example, for 47 of the 172 arbitration cases that were filed during our audit period, no information was listed in three fields (date received, date paid, and amount paid) out of the six that are supposed to be populated from the arbitration tables used to enter arbitration case data. Similarly, 89 of the 102 RCGF cases filed during our audit period were missing the street and city name of the filer’s address. Nine also had incorrect HIC street addresses, and 1 had an incorrect HIC business name.
In the Office of the State Auditor’s opinion, because consumers depend on the information on OCABR’s website to make informed decisions about procuring HIC services, OCABR should ensure that the website is easy to navigate and contains complete, accurate information.
Auditee’s Response
The HIC program’s landing page provides a number of important resources for both homeowners and contractors. In addition to the “Massachusetts Homeowner’s Guide to the Home Improvement Contractor (HIC) Program,” there are a number of resources like the “HIC Contractors Guide,” information and links regarding registration and renewal, links for homeowners to check an HIC registration and to file a complaint against a contractor, and much more. While OCABR disagrees that the website is difficult to navigate, we remain committed to providing homeowners and contractors with easily accessible, accurate information for all HIC programs. We will work with EOHED IT to review the HIC website to ensure accuracy and identify areas for enhancements and efficiencies.
Auditor’s Reply
We agree that OCABR’s website provides useful information. However, the process of looking up HIC registrations, arbitration cases, RCGF payments, and complaints is cumbersome. For example, as stated above, consumers must go through at least seven steps to determine whether an arbitration or RCGF case has been filed against an HIC.
Based on its reply, OCABR is taking measures to review the completeness and accuracy of the information on its website. We also recommend that OCABR review its website for opportunities to improve the ease of navigation.
| Date published: | March 10, 2021 |
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