Trusted Regina Blog

Trusted Regina team announces the Regina organization to receive our $500 donation but wait, there's more..

20. Dec 2015 Admin Trusted Partner News, Trusted Regina Directory , TRUSTED TIPS, Website

The Trusted Regina Directory team and all of the the Trusted Regina businesses we partner with are based in Regina and we all care about the Regina community!

The Trusted team wanted to join in the amazing spirit of giving that we saw happening this year in the Queen City. Individuals we were inspired by were those like Niall O'Hanlon from the Fat Badger that motivated hundreds to give to the soon to be arriving Syrian refugees, showing the true heart of the majority! THIS MAKE OUR HEARTS SING and gave us the motivation to do something !!

SO....On December 14th we posted on the Trusted Regina Facebook page, asking for the Regina public to nominate their personal favorite Regina based non profit organization. We also wanted to know WHY they were nominated. We committed to choose 1 of the nominated organizations to receive a $500 cheque on December 23rd from the Trusted Regina team.

Regina, you have done yourself proud!! We are absolutely over joyed that so many of you shared your favorite charity, group and places that are out there in our community making a difference every day of the year!

Some of these are well established Regina organizations that have been around for many years, some are true grass roots initiatives of everyday people coming together to affect positive change in our community and we salute them ALL!

Many of them we have donated items and money to in the last 4 years we have been in business, those include:

Others we had never heard of & we really appreciated getting to know more about them and what they do!! Thank you everyone who took the time to share their favourite!!

We regret that there can only be 1 recipient of the $500 donation - we really wish we could afford to give a cheque to every single one, as all are so deserving, but we are just a small local business and we just can not afford that at this time.

DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL............

We have decided to give our donation to an organization that we haven't helped before, one that we know offers a service to the most vulnerable in their hours of desperate need.

An organization who's mission it is 'To build a community where respect, equality and freedom create an environment where violence against women and children does not exist. ' .

Our 2016 recipient is SOFIA House Regina.

We know that the holiday season is a time when family & relationship tensions can strain to break point and we want to do what we can to help this amazing Regina organization this year.

BUT WAIT ...there's more...

We may not be able to stroke a $500 cheque for all the organizations and groups that were nominated on the Facebook post we did...but we can do something for each of them!

Keep checking in to our Facebook page between now and Christmas Eve, so you will be able to keep up with the activities of the Trusted Regina Elves - See the 3 of them in this delightful video INSPIRED BY and it is A PERSONAL SALUTE TO REGINA CAT RESCUE - who was the most nominated of all the Regina organizations this year!

We look forward to making your kittys purrrrrr with our gift!

WE are going to do our best to help each and every one of the organizations, groups and people YOU nominated and appreciate so much! We cannot promise $500 gifts, but we do care, and we know that what we are going to do will help ...so thank you all for the list of all these amazing Regina people and organizations who are definitely on the NICE LIST this year!!!!

PLEASE NOTE:

These gifts we give do not just come from the Trusted Regina team, they are from and on behalf of the Trusted Regina community - That means they are from EACH and EVERY Trusted Regina businesses you will find listed on the TrustedRegina Directory!

Please SUPPORT them and thank THEM for being awesome!

In life it's not the actions of 1 or 2 that make the most difference, it's the actions of many and ONLY TOGETHER ARE WE TRUSTED! Thank you for INSPIRING US

Trusted Regina receives a negative Google review from Trevor

10. Dec 2015 Trusted Regina Trusted Partner News, Trusted Regina Directory , TRUSTED TIPS, Website

The Trusted Regina directory team really care about the opinions and thoughts of YOU, the Regina public. WE work for you by finding the best locally accountable Regina businesses and promoting them as a community. We do this so you can find trustworthy companies really easily. We are just like you, and we have been burned in the past from disreputable companies who over promised and undelivered, in fact the founder Sara was ripped off and this prompted her to start Trusted!! ( read the story here)

The internet has really been a game changer for consumers and for businesses. On the positive side it means we can research companies and products much easier BEFORE we contact them, saving us time.....but what if you read reviews that are bias, misinformed or simply not the truth?? We have supported Trusted partners through this process and tried to guide them in how to deal with this sometimes devastating process, it’s something that most local businesses really do fear.

This time it is our turn.....Trevor took the time to leave a review for The Trusted Regina team today, so we wanted to make something positive out of a ‘ negative situation ‘ for the Trusted team. Read his review and our founder Sara Wheelwright’s response below.

We truly thank Trevor for allowing us an opportunity to speak about what we do , and hopefully explain that we are indeed the REAL DEAL, also this allows us the opportunity to use our experience to highlight one of the biggest things local and big businesses are having to deal with! Words are powerful and we all have a voice online, please be informed, be nice and be wise in how you use that voice.

Response from Sara

Trevor- firstly thanks for sharing your thoughts with us and giving our team a chance to explain to you who we, what we do and why we are set up the way we are.

Firstly a business does't pay to be Trusted - they qualify to be Trusted after passing a strict verification process ( pass or fail) and signing an annual contract to uphold a specific standard and set of guarantees. We welcome feedback and you can contact us by phone, email or on our many social media pages . We are a local team with offices in Regina and Saskatoon.

We are not a ' review company ' you are correct - they are 10 a penny all over the web, most reviews online are not verified in any way. In addition evidence and data clearly proves that up to 40% of all reviews are false . Also, we know that many people who review businesses negatively are not interested in solving issues , but just use these review sites to complain. This can really effect local businesses who would otherwise have worked hard to rectify any wrongs they may have done! No one is perfect are they?

At Trusted - we are unique- the testimonials you see displayed on the feature listings are from real people that we spoke to personally as part of the verification process- we contact 25 previous clients and survey them in person and over the phone.

( See an example below)

We work with the businesses over the year - helping them with service questions, sharing info from the public, training them about the internet and social media and supporting their endeavors by promoting them as wonderful local companies that meet our high standards and believe in what we stand for. However who we really work for is YOU - the public. We also mystery shop a random selection of the businesses to check that they are doing a great job when they don't know we are looking!

If there are issues - We offer a hands on dispute resolution process that determines if the business has broken their contract with Trusted - if we find they have, we give them the opportunity to rectify their mistake - if they do not we remove them from the Trusted website(s) - we speak to both parties on the phone, on email and in person to ensure we know all the facts before making our decision.

The businesses pay an annual membership fee which is minimal, from that we invest heavily in marketing to promote them as a community. How else do we let people know about our service in the cities we serve? Also, of course our hardworking local team are compensated for the countless hours we put into providing the best possible on and offline experience for the public and the partners.

If you wish to complain about any Trusted business , you can contact us via any of the ways mentioned above and we will be happy to offer assistance, advice and even mediation if you feel you need it?

However by just reviewing Trusted negatively, like you have today with out truly knowing who we are and what we do, means you are again solidifying to our team that review sites are not what we ever want to be ...We offer a local service that is specialized, unique , personal , locally focused , accountable and absolutely trustworthy .

Many thanks again for the opportunity to educate you and any others that may have been feeling the same way. We hope you reconsider you 2 star review of our services, we would love nothing more than to be an asset in your life!

Sincerely on behalf of my team and the Trusted Partners across SK .

Sara Wheelwright , Owner S & E Trusted Online Directories

The Trusted Regina ,com directory talk to the experts TRUSTED Show- who are we and what do we do?

12. Jun 2013 trusted Regina Talk to The Experts, Trusted Partner News, Trusted Regina Contest, TRUSTED TIPS, Website

www.trustedregina.com celebrated it's 1 year anniversary on April 15th 2013 ..the directory has had over 45,000 visitors ( most from Regina - 81% from Saskatchewan ), yet we get questions on a weekly basis from the public and businesses who are unsure what we actually do and what being Trusted means !

The Trusted Regina Directory team of www.trustedregina.com want to make sure that the public knows exactly who we are , what we stand for ( and against ) and how we do what we do , so we asked our wonderful Facebook and Twitter fans to submit questions about Trusted to us , so we could answer them..50 questions later we knew we had a great show ( and that we had done the right thing to ask!!).

Sean Dean and the team then chose 5 lucky winners from these questions to thank them for their great questions, see the list of prizes and winners below!

Enjoy the Trusted Show!!

1. $100 Just For You Day Spa Gift Certificate - Shonte Hill

2. $100 Trusted Regina Gift Certificate - Cindy Verbeek

3. $100 Trusted Regina Gift Certificate- Greg Rintoul

4. $100 Trusted Regina Gift Certificate- Anita Robinson

5. $100 Trusted Regina Gift Certificate-Bridget Veiszer

If you are a lucky winner please email sara@trustedcanada.com for the full details and to claim your prize!

TrustedRegina.com team and the Trusted Partners at the 2013 What Women Wants show and Trusted App is live!

18. Mar 2013 trusted Trusted Partner News, Trusted Regina Contest, TRUSTED TIPS, Website

HUGE announcement - the Trusted App created by Saskatoon's College Mobile (Trusted always want to support local) has been approved by Apple - download it on your iPhone and enter the contest to win $1000's of prizes over the next few months ! ( Android app coming soon!) - !!! Download here and enter to win ..or just got to he App store and search for 'Trusted' or ' Trusted Canada' and we will be there!!

The www.trustedregina.com team had a wonderful time at the Regina What Women Want Show 2013....it might have been blizzard and freezing outside but inside we had almost TOO Much fun!! The show was all about supporting LOCAL businesses and that is what WE DO...the ones WE know you can Trust!!

We had $1000's of prizes to give away all donated by Trusted Regina Partners, a Big GONG ( that we banged every 2 hours all weekend when we picked a winner) , a magician, balloons and so many giggles..the feedback from the public was amazing ..clearly we have something people like and appreciate! ( phew!!) .

Fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter as we always appreciate feedback and LOVE giving away prizes!!

Enjoy the video ...see if there is anyone you recognize ..and be sure to go to the show next year..as we are only going to be bigger and better!!

TrustedRegina Partners are committed to supporting the local community -The Penny Project

10. Sep 2012 Trusted Regina Trusted Partner News, Website

www.trustedregina.com is committed to giving back to the community and Trusted directories parent company S & E Trusted Online Directory has donated over $18,000 so far to local non-profits since www.trustedSaskatoon.com launched May 31st, 2012 ..this is a large amount for a small home-based business just into its 2nd year of business...but the Trusted team believes it is the right thing to do and we are committed to continue to give generously always..and to help the people of the cities we service- that why we are the only directories that work for you ..all of you!

Our Trusted Regina Partners as a group seem to have the same idea and many have made many small, large and ongoing commitments to hundreds of small local non-profits in Regina and Saskatoon as well as some of the larger fundraising initiatives going on that get a lot of media attention...the big one in Regina right now is for Habitat for Humanity Regina - which is close to our Trusted founder Sara Wheelwright's heart, as the $1000 Trusted committed to the Womans Build was the first Trusted Regina donation ever ( read the blog here )!

This time Habitat has partnered with Newstalk 980 CJME for a Habitat build.

The Penny Project

CJME has teamed up with Habitiat For Humanity to make the soon-to-be expired pennies REALLY COUNT! We have a goal of collecting 10 MILLION pennies from Regina and surrounding communities!

10,000,000 Pennies = $100,000 = A HOME for a Regina Family in need… We Need YOUR HELP! Make your pennies count!

You can drop them off in the barrels located any Trusted Regina Partner location below!

If you have LOTS of pennies to donate, and want NewsTalk to come pick them up for you, they’ll be happy to! call and they’ll make arrangements to come grab them!

No pennies, but still want to donate? Visit Newstalk and sponsors at one of the following locations with your $5, $10 and $20's and make your pledge!

THE PENNY PROJECT! It Just Makes Cents !

Thats ANOTHER reason to choose a www.trustedregina.com business- they CARE about THEIR community

....and that another reason they have been .....