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To avoid getting snowed on a plowing contract, make sure you do your own digging.

That is the message offered by the Better Business Bureau, a consumer support organization that takes complaints related to business services.

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Ottawa BBB president Diane Iadeluca says the snow removal companies that typically get bad ratings are the ones that overbook and lack the resources to honour their contracts.

“Often it happens that these startup companies — or people that do landscaping in the summer for example — decide that ‘I’m going to do snowplowing this year,’ and often they are not equipped … to service their customers.”

One contractor, Ace of Blades, has received 15 complaints since January from customers who claim it was late or didn’t show up after snowfalls. Some customers appeared to have paid the full amount for the season in advance, a practice the BBB discourages.

Anne Lowrey, who lives on Western Avenue, near Island Park, is among the disgruntled customers.