- Log in
- Browse Businesses
- Guides
- Resources
- Write a Review
- Request a Review
- Backed by the National Science Foundation
- For Business
Thumbtack generates numerous accounts to send false leads (potential customers) to the "pros." With each generated account, they send one "lead" to five pros. Each pro is charged $30 or more for each "lead," which I have experienced and observed, multiple times, every day I was a member of the platform. Shameful, deceptive and unethical practices. Customer service is poor, nearly non-existent. And, don't expect any refunds...you won't get any.
Date of experience: July 14, 2023
Share Review on:
Thumbtack has a rating of 1.6 stars from 1,566 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Thumbtack most frequently mention customer service, credit card, and phone number problems. Thumbtack ranks 99th among Local Reviews sites.
This company does not typically respond to reviews
Cut the grass, pulled weeds, finished with mulch all in 30 min! Did a fantastic job! Thank you Roberto Lopez from Lopez Landscaping and tree Services. *******226
Don't bother working with them! They are useless and using bots and not qualified leads that request a job and want to pay 50 bucks while some projects are minimum $500-750. No customer service total bs and you will lose loads of money on "leads" as they call them but it's just fake accounts that show some sort of activity.
I have been a member of Thumbtack for years. I have spent hundreds of dollars on leads. It's come to the point where they now charge $10, $20, $30 per lead and the 'customer' doesn't even respond. I believe they're farming out fake leads. Scam.
Then the refuse to give a refund because 'That is a valid charge and outside our Refunds policy since the lead is sent because it is matched with your preferences.'
What a smokescreen. This recent lead I asked for a refund, not only did the lead not respond, but the lead didn't even give me an option to quote on it.
Buyer beware
Date of experience: April 10, 2019
I purchased a large pack of credits as a wedding officiant. Our typical price is about $100. They started to charge 4 credits per quote, which was about $12 or more. Discovered that the majority of my quotes were unread or the person had hired someone within seconds of my quote. I also believe that employees of Thumbtack put out fake requests to eat up your credits and force you to purchase more.
Date of experience: October 17, 2017
I tried getting project cost estimates from 5 different contractors through thumbtack.com. Only one responded to the request, but didn't follow through with a formal cost estimate. The others didn't respond at all, so I called them directly. None followed through on their promises/commitments to either call back or show up when promised. The review rating for one of the contractors was a 5-Star but was the single review was from the receptionist I spoke to. So, I assume thumbtack.com isn't too selective about what contractors they represent or promote. I'm quite disappointed.
Date of experience: May 26, 2020
I am one of the top pro on Thumbtack as heating and cooling specialist. I was not happy with their charges ( Contractors being charged extremely high each time they send a quote to a customer for any work) but I was kinda managing it and was able to establish good customer service and a review record. They made changes to charges and suppose to be better but oh my God! What a rubbery... They charged me 75$ for sending a quote to customer even though not certain that the customer is legend and customer never went beyond just sending me a text.( yes I have been charged 75$ because customer send me a message saying "he will call".)
I stopped sending quotes to customers pause all that hard work good service due charges extremely high. That also means contractors will increase their charges because Thumbtack charges more than they should.
Date of experience: April 29, 2018
I am updating my review and changing it from one star to five stars because it is actually proved to work for us. We love Thumbtack much better than Porch if comparing the two. Easy to use, and provides very informative leads. We like it. The customer base is about average or below average, but overall, Thumbtack is helping us out a lot.
Date of experience: April 19, 2018
We called customer service we give them notice that a customer change her request and then Thumbtack refused to refund us our money in the services that we provide all that is listed in our profile offer after hour service the customer originally requested same day service then they came back with a nighttime service which we do not offer several items that was not checked off as extra work was not checked off originally six hours later if the request came up again under a different criteria which we would not have did it, because we do not offer those services
Date of experience: June 1, 2020
They will charge you more to quote based on factors only they dictate. Many "leads" are just tire kickers. As a tax pro, I would have to spend at least $300 to generate a client, when they can go online and do it for $99 at most. They tell you positive reviews win you business; don't believe it. Save your money; these idiots will just take and take.
Date of experience: January 29, 2017
This company will charge you up to $59.00 in the first request the client or generated computer lead, it is been send to you.
Many of this lead are non responsive and there's no way to find out is they are legit or not.
I think someone has to dig into, this business is a multi-million entity in less than 10 years, and all about scamming their vendors.
Date of experience: March 10, 2019
I used to utilize Thumbtack regularly, they got a lot of money out of me which I didn't mind spending $3-5 per request, but now $50-70 per request... That is such robbery and abuse, you will never get another penny out of me and from what I see hundreds of others. I guess you'd rather get a few people to pay $50 then many paying $5. Just dumb! Shame on you Thumbtack! Bad business, VERY bad business!
Date of experience: March 23, 2019
Everyone I have hired on thumbtack has been great, and I've needed a lot of different services. However, I used to be a pro, and I still have money sitting in my account that I haven't been able to use. Initially, the site got me a lot of clients, but they chose to ban the service I was offering. Since I've wasted close to $20 on this, I can only give 4 stars. I would have definitely ended up spending more money on the site if they didn't make this weird change.
Date of experience: August 7, 2018
Pros will lose plenty of money using this site. They debit your card daily and before 3 days you will be out of budget with no jobs landed. You will not get any support from their team at all. Stay away if you don't want to lose money.
Date of experience: October 1, 2019
They used to be good. Then they got screwy with how they charged you. A customer requested information and in 24 hours, I let her know I was unavailable. She marked me hired and gave me a 1 star review. That's just wrong. I am deleting my account.
Date of experience: July 16, 2018
I recently hired Helen Gain of Aunty Helen's Kitchen for my sons rehearsal dinner. The food was fabulous and Helen was wonderful to work with. She took the time to set up a beautiful spot for the serving dishes. I highly recommend her for any catering needs you may have. Btw her garlic mashed potatoes are beyond belief! If you choose her for your catering needs you won't be disappointed..
Date of experience: April 24, 2016
I started to sign up-then saw the prices to bid on poorly described jobs. I did not go further. Now my email box is full of crap emails. I looked at them none looked like a legitimate job. And surely none worth 12 dollars to bid upon. I thought some of the Freelancer sites were bad taking 20% of your takings on a job. This one is pure GREED. Creepy
Date of experience: January 19, 2018
Thumbtack is so not a good platform to use for your home service needs. I have had a couple bad experiences with them. Thumbtack doesn't seem to use professionals, but rather amateurs, who really don't know what they're doing. Thumbtack doesn't really seem to do much about complaints, either. Using Thumbtack is a total waste of time and money. I would suggest using Home Advisor, Angie's List or even Yelp.
Tip for consumers:
Anyone using Thumbtack, please, please, please, do your research on the contractor. You never know who you're doing business with.
Products used:
I purchased my own materials for project.
Date of experience: November 18, 2022
DO NOT use this platform. You have to pay for leads, even if you don't get the job. The money doesn't go back on your account it just stays in Thumbtack. Even when you go to cancel the account, they pocket the money. Every lead is just automatically charged. Also de-activating the account is a nightmare. I finally had to call in and ask THEM to do it manually. Then I lost my money. Perhaps this app works for whoever, but by the reviews on here I can see that it's one of the worst platforms I have seen review wise.
Tip for consumers:
Dont
Date of experience: December 6, 2022
I used Thumbtack to find a contractor who builds patio decks. They ended up giving my information to a convicted felon who built a patio for me and has now collapsed. I am trying to file a small claims action against this man but Thumbtack will not provide me the information so I can contact him. The contact information I have is no longer valid. I have currently reached out to action 9 for help. My main point is Thumbtack does not VET out their contractors so everyone please be careful.
Date of experience: December 17, 2015
Thumbtack set up appointment for work to be performed by recommended contractor; contractor was a no show, no call, did not return messages, etc. I specifically made plans to be at home all day to accommodate this contractor and was extremely disappointed when he didn't show up as promised. It is impossible to get in touch with Thumbtack to let them know what is happening.
Date of experience: July 23, 2018
Mr. David Lewis/Electrician, is doing my electrical work on the land we have in Georgia. He did a great job an I would use him again, will answer you right away an has been right there every time I have called him.
Thank you Mr. David Lewis.
Toni & Larry Grace
Tip for consumers:
This is his phone Number..
*******513
Products used:
We will have when is all done a new pole an Electric to the mobile home going on the land..
Date of experience: February 20, 2020
Mike Kops, who is a Personal Trainer I found on your website is outstanding. I was looking for several things in the selection process. First, I needed to find someone that could not only get me in shape but deal with a long term injury that I have had. Second, I needed someone that I could trust in developing a program that would help me meet my goals and third, a good personality. Working out is hard but if you can do it with someone that has a good sense of humor, it helps take the edge off. I would recommend Mike Kops to anyone who wants to get back in shape or is currently working out but wants to achieve a higher of fitness.
Tip for consumers:
It certainly helps narrow down the sure for a better than average trainer.
Date of experience: October 19, 2016
This company is horrible. Our painting business had an account & I was overcharged more than once, sometimes up to $75 or more for bogus leads. I didn't even have customer interaction. I contacted customer service & they won't do a thing. I deleted my account & will be contacting the better business bureau.
Date of experience: March 6, 2019
Gave a reasonable estimate then removed old concrete for sidewalk as requested. All prep work was done quickly. Communicated good through out the job. Was satisfied with finish project. Neighbor also used them for concrete work.
Date of experience: June 7, 2016
My research firm was fraudulently induced to provide highly proprietary information with the oral understanding of the fee my firm would be paid. They then used that information generating over $100,000 in profits for itself. They told me they had no intention of paying the agreed upon fee or any fee at all.
Be particularly leery of their deputy general counsel Matthew Fairty, who, based on the above described experience, I have concluded is a bona fide devious cheat and liar.
Tip for consumers:
These people will steal your property without batting an eye.
Products used:
NA
Date of experience: October 26, 2023
After this company defrauded our company, we took a look at their so-called positive reviews on Trust Pilot. Because they looked suspicious we commissioned a 34 page analysis of those reviews. The conclusion was that many of their "positive" reviews appear to be bogus, thereby defrauding consumers who rely on those bogus reviews to do business with the company.
Date of experience: May 9, 2023
This site is very expensive for contractors. The least could cost over hundred dollar. This site is out of control. It is hard for contractors to live like this. So where you have a contractor come see your project know weather they get the job or not they are paying for the lead. So if you hit up 3 contractor everyone of them has to pay for it. I have attached a photo of what contractor have to pay. That job is for 2 square of side walk. So people who are wanting service be aware contractors pay.
Date of experience: July 20, 2022
Thanks for sharing feedback about lead pricing. It's important to us that consumers are able to pick the best fit for their project, which is why they have an opportunity to communicate with more than one pro. As for pricing, we recommend reviewing this article in our Help Center to better understand how our pricing varies and how you can get the most out of your budget: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/pay-for-leads. We'd like to gather more specific feedback about pricing from you as well, please email us at support@thumbtack.com with more details about your industry and what types of jobs you work on, compared to the leads you receive.
It really is annoying and irritating when you think WOW, these A-holes waited to get some money then stopped sending potential client emails... i gave them 30 bucks, now I know they are a scam... NOT ONE response from any potential client... Is this what the internet is now, a bunch of scams hiding behind the curtain of the virtual world...
We need to get back to the way we used to do business, over the phone, face to face, and just more honest. But then I remember that its human nature to lie, steal, and cheat... especially in the world of business...
Good luck everyone, its ok to test things out but once you know its BS, GET OUT!
Date of experience: February 12, 2016
Thumbtack is a technology leader building the modern home management platform. Through the Thumbtack app, people can effortlessly care for their homes — confidently knowing what to do, when to do it, and who to hire. Bringing the $500 billion home services industry online, Thumbtack empowers millions of people to fix, maintain, and improve their most valuable asset. The company’s investors include Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Javelin Venture Partners, Baillie Gifford, and Capital G, among others.
Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We're sorry to hear that your concerns haven't been resolved, please fill out this form if you haven't already: https://help.thumbtack.com/report-a-concern. Our team will follow up with you within 2-3 business days to help. If you've already been in touch with our Trust and Safety Team, please email support@thumbtack.com with any outstanding questions or concerns you have.