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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
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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.
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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.
If you are a professional looking for jobs on Thumbtack, don't waste your time or money. Thumbtack contacted me, asking me to set up a profile on their website when they first started, so I thought I'd try it out. It didn't take me too long to figure out they were in way over their heads. They didn't know anything about my business category and expected me to give customers quotes from basically no information. I submitted suggestions numerous times about how the quote process for my industry could be improved, but no one ever listened. (I have 20 years' experience in my industry, so I think I have some useful advice to give.) A former Thumbtack employee even hired me to do some work for them while she was there, and after she left the company, it's gone even further downhill. It's almost impossible to get clients to submit reviews since they are not obligated to do so... and submitting quotes costs money! I refuse to pay any money to submit a blind quote if I don't even know what I'm quoting. They allowed me to delete my account without a fight, probably because I never paid a penny for my credits; they were all rewards earned by helping THEM over the years! Some thanks, Thumbtack.
Tip for consumers:
Customers, you will be sucking money from some innocent Pro's account if you request a quote, so keep that in mind whenever you don't feel like replying to someone for their quote, to at least tell them you've hired someone else.
Date of experience: June 8, 2017
Got ripped off by company today for $60 lead I never accepted and cost me overdraft fees as well. Just starting out that really hurts. Rip off much better options that are more upfront and honest
Date of experience: May 28, 2019
Larry has done many jobs for me. He has built me a porch, electrical work. Plumbing, lawn care etc. Larry is very dependable and trustworthy. I will use him again when the need arises. M. Morris
Date of experience: October 3, 2016
Hired a plumber in san antonio name sosa the plumber through thumbtack, guy did a great job and he didn't hit me with those stupid over price plumber charges like most plumbers do. I recommend him...
Date of experience: May 5, 2017
Leads are over priced, their customer service is patronizing and disrespectful. They will not work with you on anything and are intentionally misleading in how they handle leads and pricing.
Date of experience: December 28, 2023
I've watched Thumbtack for the last 7 years go from a platform where a competent commercial artist could make a decent living to a place that only benefits clients seeking top-notch work and not willing to pay a professional wage for that work.
Used to be clients were required to post their budget ranges so that experienced artists could avoid the $5/hr crowd, (which is 90% of their logo seekers) but since they got too many complaints from clients saying no one would take on their assignments, they're eliminated that except for website design.
I used to average $50-$80/hr on work for serious clients who wanted serious design development. Now I'm lucky if I can average $20/r/ Prices you pay for a quote have gone up from under $10/hr to over $30/hr. You get billed for clients who are just looking and don't commit and clients who don't end up hiring you can leave scathing reviews!
They have continued to raise their rates during the pandemic even though clients have no more money to hire pros to do their work...
Partronizing support team often offers NO viable solutions to your problems.
I would recommend this plate form at all.
Tip for consumers:
Be prepared to spend a lot of money and get little in return.
Products used:
I provide a service.
Date of experience: February 12, 2021
Davis handyman home improvement done some work for me he is talented and experience and know what he is doing i was very comfortable with it, it was in my budget he refinished my basement hong drywall installed shower toilet sinck cabins and more he is very easy to work with is price or reasonable i would recommend to anyone
Date of experience: February 15, 2017
Do not use this site. I learned the hard way that any old company or person can sign up to be on Thumbtack. There is no real vetting. After my experience, I'm starting to think this site is a total scam.
I had an issue where I posted a review for Company A, but it was actually Company B that came to my house. Because my partner and I both were working to find a contractor, there was some confusion and I left a review for the wrong company. Whoops. Easy to fix? Wrong. I could not delete or edit my own review. Really? That's certainly inconvenient. So I emailed them with the error.
I've dealt with two customer service reps (one supervisor named Jeff) that have told me that due to their "integrity" they cannot remove the review. As I said to them, what kind of integrity is it to leave up a review for a company it doesn't belong to? This is false and untrue and should certainly be removed.
What made it worse was the condescending form letter. It's as if no one is listening or cares. Thumbtack has absolutely NO integrity, in my mind.
I will be deleting my account and not using them. I hope you choose to do the same. Who knows how many bs reviews there are due to the fact that one can go on there seeking revenge or otherwise and just making something up about a company they did not use.
Date of experience: June 23, 2022
THEY CHARGE YOU A SMALL AMOUNT AND THEN IF YOU CANCEL THEY RATTLE OFF A BUNCH OF CHARGES REALLY FAST. READ THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS BEFORE SIGNING UP. THE LEADS THE OFFER ARE EXPENSIVE, INCOMPLETE AND NOT EXCLUSIVE. TOTALLY AN INSANE RACKET THAT I CAN ONLY ASSUME IS ILLEGAL.
https://www.thumbtack.com/terms/
Date of experience: August 13, 2020
PLEASE do not use these services on Thumbtack. I was horribly ripped off by $400.00 dollars and the Supervisor of Customer Service at Thumbtack would not advocate to try and get at least half of my money back. The contractors who BID for the jobs pay Thumbtack, so there's money in their accounts.
I had to have another photographer and a photo shop hire, re-do the images plus I had to pay nearly $600.00
I'll NEVER use anyone on Thumbtack, it's a royal SCAM, no better than CRAIGSLIST, maybe worse since they have a customer service team that won't help you against these fraudulent contractors.
Date of experience: November 11, 2015
Ive been a Thumbtack business customer for several years, been difficult to justify hanging on for that long. They have changed their business model since then and gotten worse and worse, and more expensive every time. $27+ to send someone your name and number to get in contact with you about helping them remodel their bathroom? Pay money to send quotes but then the "customer" never contacts you about anything? You will throw money away if you are a small business that uses this service. And when they send you a survey to voice your concerns, the survey page is broken, asking to please fill in all fields, and use only numbers, which I do, but it keeps rejecting... so Im voicing my complaints here. Not to mention, it makes no effort to slightly educate the customers on what they are looking for, so as a finish carpenter, Im getting requests for popcorn ceiling removal, and rotten window repair, and there is apparently no way to filter out these requests, as I have tried. There are alternatives to Thumbtack, try them first, this company will drive you crazy, waste your time and take your money.
Date of experience: June 11, 2018
AFTER MANY MONTHS OF BEING A TOP TIER PROFESSIONAL WITH THUMBTACK, THEY DECIDE TO CANCEL MY BUSINESS PROFILE FOR NO REASON AT ALL! SOMETHING TO DO WITH ANOTHER ACCOUNT? COMPLETE BULL ON TOP OF THE FACT I LITERALLY WAS HIRED OVER 200 TIMES WITH NEARING 50 PLUS POSITIVE REVIEWS! COMPLETE BULL$#*!! $#*! THUMBTACK
Date of experience: October 11, 2019
Ruben Chacon (Stricks & Stones modification & Repair) Has done many up grades in my Home and has done a very Good Job at all that was given to him. I bought property in Big Bear California and I have been talking to him about building a House on it. I really recommend him very highly. Richard Aguirre (Retired Electrician).
Date of experience: September 15, 2014
My name is Lisa and I have gotten a little bit of trouble. And I found Michael on the internet with Ashley Law Group professional and hard-working took my case very seriously at all times with care and heart I would suggest anybody if you need a good lawyer he's the one to call he'll take care of your needs and do it professionally with a heart thank you Michael you changed my life
Date of experience: May 19, 2022
We're so happy to hear you found exactly what you were looking for through Thumbtack. Thanks for taking the time to share your story, Lisa, we appreciate it. Be sure to leave this pro a review on the platform if you haven't already: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/review-a-pro.
My name john russo i had just bought a condo in charlestown mass i needed to update the kitchen and one bath i found joseph sobalo on thumbtack i like his pricing and the way he replied to me he worked within my budget and in a timely maner he told me all the differenet ways to save maoney he has been doing this type of work for 50 years i learned a lot about what materials you can buy from high end to low end he also did the painting i nam very happy with joseph and his work i have to give him a 5 star rating
Date of experience: January 13, 2016
Thumbtack has earned a terrible reputation among service providers in that professionals no longer have the right to select clients for whom they feel they will be a good fit. Rather, Thumbtack now does the choosing, the result being high, unreasonable costs to the professional, usually being left with nothing to show for it but a lighter wallet. The prior system made sense where the professional had exclusive rights to bid on a job. Since the professional no longer has that control, Thumbtack gets paid each and every time a prospective client (regardless of how sincere their interest) clicks on a link to get free further information from the professional. Prior to the change, an average cost for a bid selected by the professional might have been about $3.50. Now, that professional can expect to pay $15 or more from clicks of people who may not even be a good fit. Thumbtack has taken away the initial direct communication between the professional and perspective client, which defeats the purpose for an entity like Thumbtack to exist at all.
Date of experience: May 23, 2019
I have been using it for 8 months. I spent over $300 on leads and only got one job worth about $400.
They charge you to see contact info of leads for freelance jobs. In my case photography. EVEN IF YOU DO NOT GET HIRED. The bad thing is that the system often allows anyone to put out a message that they need something, with very few details, leading to inaccurate matches. 90% of the time noone writes back and honestly sometimes I think the leads are fake, for one lead it can cost $19. I get more jobs from my FREE google business listing. I think they should work harder to get people to put down specific job details. Or only charge if one gets hired. I have had to initiate many refunds also because the people are in a different state than their jobs etc... this model won't survive long.
TIPs for consumers using Thumbtack
Maybe use Thumbtack to find people and then look them up on google business, read reviews and contact them independently. Realize that the companies and contractors are often paying up to $18-30 just to e-mail you! Most of the people on thumbtack are also listed on yelp or google business. Pay them outside of thumbtack because thumtack skims off the pay as well as asking contractors to pay for your e-mail contact info, even if they are not hired!
Tip for consumers:
Don't use it unless you are totally desperate and rich.
Spend money on facebook ads instead for local leads.
Products used:
This is a referral site and I am a business advertising on it. We pay to see client leads.
Very much B 2 B
The product is digital so no shipping, shipping does not apply, it is set ny each company,
Date of experience: September 4, 2021
Thanks for sharing this feedback, it's helpful as we're always looking to improve the pro experience. We definitely understand it can be frustrating when project details don't match the project type, or if there aren't enough details to determine if the job is a good fit for your business. As for refunds, we do refund if the lead is outside of your location or job type preferences, and when customers aren't responsive. Check out this article to learn more about and submit refund requests: https://help.thumbtack.com/pros/topic-cost-and-payments-lh-pro/subtopic-refunds-lh. We're sorry to hear that you haven't had a great experience, and once more appreciate your feedback. If there's anything we can do to change your mind or make things better, please reach out to us directly so that we can provide more personalized support.
In many ways, Thumbtack is like taking your money to the casino. They give you just enough hope to keep throwing money down with anticipation that your next bet is a win. I gave myself a test budget of $100 and have found that either the users on Thumbtack are just casual shoppers trying to gather a "price range" for the services they are loosely considering or Thumbtack is sending false leads. You see, with Thumbtack you purchase credits upfront. Each job bid varies from 3-6 credits (at least it does for wedding planning services) to send over a quote. Most are 5 to 6 credits with credit purchase prices changing as you need them. For example a starter pack of 30 credits was $30, then 6 credits was $10, then 1 credit was $1.66. Once you've bid, and the quote is viewed, the money is gone. Out of $100 I've sent about 17 quotes. Of those 17 Thumbtack claims 15 were viewed, 2 went to my website, 1 physical contacted me as a result of my bid and 0 hires. The lead that I had was really only looking to validate whether her planning process was on the right track and didn't even have planning in her budget at all! Thumbtack takes your money up front, provides instant gratification with slightly room temperature leads and takes your money even if all five bidders (that's the max) go un hired.
Date of experience: August 6, 2016
I've used Thumbtack for over 4 years. The first 2-3 years things were great and I had no reason to contact support. But oh man, this year I contacted them because a reviewer left a 4 start review simply because she "wanted to stop receiving messages from Thumbtack". Now crazy thing is I was never even HIRED. I sent her my quote and 2 months later I get this 4-star review. It was then that I asked her why and she gave me that response. I called Thumbtack, chatted with Thumbtack. They specifically saw the message where she said "I just wanted Thumbtack to stop sending me messages". Their response, "We believe reviewers are allowed to leave reviews and not get them taken down, that could be a lawsuit". I was shocked. It felt like I was on a different planet. What kind of logic is that?
I contacted them earlier this week for a customer that put a incorrect zip code and popped up as "in my area". I wanted a refund for that quote. They gave me one, but proceeded to tell me I need to update my preferences to not get jobs like that. This guy could've lived in Madagascar and put my zip and it would've popped up in my feed. Zero empathy and zero ownership. Nothing is ever their fault. Worst customer support I've dealt with.
Date of experience: June 10, 2018
We joined as a professional to help get more local landscaping jobs and thumbtack charged us without us know for information to potential customers that were FAKE/SPAM.
After calling the people that we're supposedly interested in having landscaping done, we called them and nothing! This person said they never requested a quote or landscaper to call them for a quote.
After finding out this company has a bad history of selling fake information we called up our bank to dispute the charge on the AUTOMATIC payment that they charged us on the AUTOMATIC/RANDOM lead that was interested for over $20, we dispited the charged. A couple weeks later, we had the charge come back to us because apparently it wad a real lead and thumbtack just wants their money and does NOT CARE ABOUT ITS CUSTOMERS.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND STAYING AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AND STICK TO YELP. TOTALLY DISGUSTED WITH THIS COMPANY.
Date of experience: September 15, 2023
I used Thumbtack to search for a contractor. They were all clearly cheaper than Home Advisor contractors so I hired one. I saw the guy throwing up one morning and asked if he was okay. He said he wasn't feeling good, i insisted the poor guy leave and come back tomorrow. GUESS WHAT... he never came back, left his tool bag here and my husband for a package of drugs in it. I was furious... I called Thumbtack to complain and ask how this guy was able to be referred by them and they told me anyone can sign up. YOU JUST SENT A JUNKIE TO MY HOUSE I SAID. They said they would look into it. End of story, the guy never came back took $1000 of my money probably spent $100 of it here and it's all my fault looking for these cheap quotes. HOME ADVISOR has real pro's thats for sure.
Date of experience: March 12, 2018
Had a surprise party on September 17,2016 and found him on thumbtack. JP THE DJ. Was remarkable. He was fun, funny, blend rite in with the family. I would hire him each and every event my family has... don't forget the music was great and LOUD LIKE WE LIKE IT! THANKS JP
Date of experience: September 27, 2016
I hired Glen and his men to clean up my yard. It hadn't been serviced in a year. I had interviewed others, but I found Glen to be very personsble and enthusiadtic about his work. He and his team did such a fabulous job, I hired them to come back!
Date of experience: June 6, 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.
Hi Meghan, thank you for bringing your experience to our attention. We'd like to look further into your review dispute and help. We also want to address the concerns you mentioned about the legitimacy of reviews and the way our Content and Review Policy works, which you can review in full here: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/content-and-review-policy. Consumers are only able to leave reviews for pros if the pro shared their external review link, for past jobs, or if you've worked with them on a project and interacted within the messenger. In order to maintain trust on our site, Thumbtack doesn't edit, change, or delete reviews that comply with our Content Policy. Thumbtack consumers can add one update to each review, instructions for that are here: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/update-review. You're welcome to send us a direct message via social media, so that our team can look into this for you and ensure you're getting the support you need. We hope to hear from you soon.