Portland Timbers should have known better

By William MacKenzie,

The Portland Timbers got an out from its troubling partnership with Hillsboro-based DaBella Exteriors on Wednesday when The Oregonian disclosed that “the company’s chief executive (Donnie McMillan Jr.) is facing a lawsuit that threatens to bring to light complaints that he made unwanted advances and sexually harassed at least three female employees.”
“The Portland Timbers have terminated the club’s corporate partnership with DaBella, effective immediately, after learning yesterday of allegations of misconduct at the company included in a court filing that was made public on Feb. 23.,” the club announced in typical public relations-speak.

As if Portland didn’t already have enough reputation concerns.

The Timbers should have seen this coming.

It used to be that sports teams linked up only with highly regarded businesses that would enhance their mutual reputations, not tarnish them. Apparently, the Timbers didn’t care when they announced their multi-year jersey rights partnership with DaBella on Nov. 15, 2023.

According to the Sports Business Journal, the Timbers deal with DaBella came together after DaBella officials, including McMillan and DaBella CMO Bastian Cowsert, and Timbers officials, including owner Merritt Paulson, CEO Heather Davis and CRO Joe Cote, met at Providence Park in July 2023.

DaBella saw the value of teaming up with a respected professional soccer team. “Brand matters in our category; the majority of our customers are putting on a roof once,” Cowsert told the Sports Business Journal. ”So having brand equity translates to a commitment in quality and customer satisfaction.”

The Timbers must have decided to ignore the fact that DaBella’s reputation in the home improvement business is far from an admired leader with “a commitment in quality and customer satisfaction”.

If the team had done even a little research, including of some major media, it would have found questions about McMillan and a previous business, a stream of negative reviews of DaBella’s business practices, and concerns about the company’s ethical lapses.

In March 2010, when McMillan was president of a Mukilteo, WA-based window replacement company, Penguin Windows, the company reached a settlement with the Washington Attorney General’s Office over a complaint made against it by the state’s chief legal office.

That complaint alleged the company misrepresented its products, making false claims about the energy savings customers would achieve and misleading consumers into thinking that the in-home appointments they set up with Penguin were something other than sales calls.

Penguin subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal bankruptcy court in Seattle, WA on Feb. 25, 2011. The company, which was legally incorporated as Statewide Inc., shuttered later that year.
McMillan founded DaBella in Oregon that same year.

The company, which has since expanded to 46 locations across 17 states, has accumulated a massive stream of negative customer reviews on a wide variety of sites since then.

Yelp

2023 : “If I could give zero stars I would… They will not stop calling and coming to my door PUSHING their “free roof estimate” BS… They take advantage of the kindness of people who don’t want to push them away and be rude but I’ve had ENOUGH.”

2022: “This outfit is the most unprofessional, unqualified construction company in Oregon. Check their record with OCCB (Oregon Construction Contractors Board)…Their customer service is abysmal and the work that was done on our house had zero supervision while it was being completed…Do not trust this company. They are deceitful and you will end up worse off than when you started. ..Oregon homeowners should be protected from dishonest, predatory businesses like this one…just look up their contractors license (194160) and read how many complaints they continually receive. It’s horrendous and Oregon homeowners should be protected from dishonest, predatory businesses like this one.

Pissedconsumer.com

Recent comments: “Do not let these people in your house!”, “Do not use this company”, “This is not a company I would trust. If they don’t respect you enough to return phone calls, give you a timeline, they won’t respect you enough to follow through and do a good job”, “Hire Dabella at your own risk. I recommend avoiding them completely.”, “Don’t bother with DaBella, they are a terrible company”.

Consumer Affairs

“Assume it’s 2x as bad as it sounds! Sales people LIED to me on timing. Told 6-8 weeks, took 16 weeks…they just dish the work out to local contractors, whoever is cheap! They send some ** contractors who didn’t have their own materials or tools needed who ripped off thousands of dollars of custom historical trim.”

Better Business Bureau

“DaBella agreed to knock $5,000 off initial price of $ $27,694 for new roof. When I received my first statement the $5300 was not deducted off my bill. I then again called ***** and he said he would talk to the finance department to take care of the deduction. I called him 5 more times within the next three weeks with no response or when he did answer phone he said he was working on it. Finally after three weeks he said there was nothing he could do because the job was done and loan was pushed through.”

When the Timbers/DaBella deal was announced, McMillan said the Timbers are “…an organization that shares our core values”.

That’s regrettable.