I think I upset the guy from HomeAdvisor.

[Digital Micro]

I recently looked at HomeAdvisor because another technician in my area is getting a lot of service calls from them. Well I started the sign up process and for some reason close to the end something made me change my mind. I guess I made it far enough to get on the sales call list. I got two calls which I didn't not return. Maybe I should've been nice and called the sales rep. back to inform him I did not want to finish the sign up process.

Well here is the transcript of his voicemail this morning;

Hey, I was looking for Chris. Actually Chris register Digital Micro with us here at Home Advisor about a week ago now. I've been trying like heck to get a hold of you guys when nobody ever answers the phone and then the last week. I had some homeowners looking for what you do. I'm pretty sure you probably don't know a whole lot about it, and I don't know a lot about you. So I was calling to get an idea whether or not we can help you out. We help businesses and homeowners with computer troubleshooting upgrading networking wiring solutions. You name it, so give me a call. My number is 303-963-8744. Thanks Chris.

I also got the same email. Here is my email response;

Hello Michael,

I'm no longer interested in finishing the signup process. I am sorry I haven't had time to return your call.

Thank You.

I know that was short. I was busy this morning. Here is his reply email;

Not interested in what?
I don't even know what you guys do really.
You came to us not too long ago and registered your information with us for a reason.
I don't even know if you qualify for our service.
I Thank you for your interest.

Remember he had plenty of request for what I do, but he doesn't know what I do?

I guess I made him mad.

 

[MCDIT]

Bizarre!

 

[jamesp4330]

I signed up with them and started receiving leads pretty quick. However when following up on the leads 8 out of 10 where not good contact info or totally bogus. They attempted to charge me for everyone, even though the few that were verifiable were totally out of the service area I specified. I closed my account with them in 1 week. Be glad you did not got through with it!

 

[labtech]

@Digital Micro
I signed up about a year ago with Home Advisor. I operate in the Greater Boston Area, MA.

My experience with Home Advisor has been very poor. First and foremost, as well the most aggravating, those "sign up reps" are nothing but lying sales folks who are trying to make a commission based living. They will lie to you that you will get so many leads, bla bla. All lies. There will not be a lot of leads, matter of fact a lot fewer than you can expect. And in Alabama, I can only imagine, no disrespect. Also, the leads are of poor quality. People/leads don't pick up the phone or reply to emails. Often the phone numbers are not working, sometimes cannot even leave a voicemail. Really irritating.

The demographic using Home Advisor are basically folks older than 35, mostly in their 50s. They are indecisive and cheap.
The worst thing about Home Advisor is that you will get charged for the lead whether you get to talk to the customer or not, get hired or not, etc. It is really ridiculous.

Management is, forgive me, ****. O eacalatedy complaints to higher managemet about how the Home Advisor system does a poor job in educating the customer to reply to the vendors that are trying to get in contact with them to weigh all of their options as best as possible. Management does not give a flying f**k, not to mention that they are clueless about marketing in general. They keep telling me that "you have to call the customer right away" and that "my offer has to be great" and so on. I tell them: listen, of only me and only one other shop is contacting the same customer and I call the customer right away (literally within a minutes - done this on at least 20 leads), how is it that less than 1% of leads ever pick-up the phone or reply to something.

There is also waste of time on what I call "fake leads" and so on. Then asking for a refund on that fake lead is a headache. Have to chat with the reps, give them a reason, then there is a "review department" who will actually verify your refund claim is legitimate, bla bla. If they wanna bother sending you an email for why your refund claim is rejected, you will get some regular standardized meaningless reason. Your head will literally reach the boiling point within seconds.

And the down-payment to sign up...I regret it so much. I would not give them a penny.

I would strongly suggest to not sign up. Can use the money in other more creative ways.

While Home Advisor may not be a scam, it sure does feel like one.

Sorry for the long rant, but I am so angry with them.

 

[MichaelEC]

Sorry. That sounds like a barely legalized scam to me.

They charge you for leads that they can't validate are legitimate? The burden of proof should be on them, not on you. Apparently they do no screening of the leads at all and you get stuck wasting your time and money.

 

[Porthos]

Can you say Thumbtack....Almost as bad. Always tops serch results and users are mostly bottom feeders looking for something for nothing.

 

[sapphirescales]

You have to understand who the target market of HomeAdvisor and other directories and such are. They're people looking for "cheap" service. And that's what they promise them because they want people to actually visit the website. Why would you use HomeAdvisor rather than just Google it? The reason? It promises to offer cheap service. Same with Uber and pretty much every "middle man" like that. Why the heck would you use Uber rather than just call a cab? It's cheap. And the service providers (whether they're contractors, computer repair technicians, or drivers) get F*cked. But these directories don't care because there's always someone else to replace you. Someone who's desperate enough for business that they allow themselves to get suckered. Don't be that person.

REMEMBER: These are "middle men." The very definition of a middle man is an unnecessary individual that sucks most (if not all) of your profits. All your hard work will go straight into the pocket of the middle man. Don't deal with middle men.

 

[Digital Micro]

I use Thumbtack and have good results. I don't go after everything that comes across much like I do with Field Nation. It's more of a free time filler if I want it. When it comes to Google Adwords, I have never gotten a single call from it. I tried three times and spent a good bit of money each time with no calls from it. I can't say people didn't call eventually from knowing my website.

My business is mainly business support. I won't turn down a residential call if they are willing to pay. I was going to at one time, but I came to my senses. Why give away money? If I can fit it in I will. I don't want to spend time marketing to residential clients. That's why I looked at Thumbtack. Yeah I might have to give a little discount but, I didn't put in any time to get them.

 

[Markverhyden]

There has been a phrase floating around for a while. Basically "if it's free for you, you are the product" And that sums up services like Home Advisor. The person requesting pays nothing to the service, providers pay to get access to requests which is how they make their money. That's why I've never signed up for them.

I've signed up with Thumbtack because I only pay for leads I bid on, which is fine. But I've not had any success in getting work with them.

Other sites like Field Nation, etc I don't have a problem with. They get a cut of the completed work order total so you just have to make sure your pricing covers that.

 

[labtech]

One more comment: in theory, Home Advisor built it's reputation on what most perceive as trustful in the home repair/renovation market. Plus, running background checks on the vendors further builds on the perception that the system is legit. Should we break down the older people's thinking, they are likely to look at something like Home Advisor rather than whoever on Google, because they associate the good old trust from the company's past and likely former experience with home repair/renovations project. So now, they go to Home Advisor for all of their needs. The problem is computer repair/data recovery/ network support etc is a totally different animal compared to home repair.

On the other hand, quite the opposite, Thumbtack's demographic is 35 and under, a lot of people in their 20s. still cheap, of course. The good thing, those leads can actually provides fairly good insight into what the demographic is like, expectations, etc.