Thumbtack

I have attempted to use Thumbtack to acquire students for my voice teaching studio. Every year I try sending a few quotes, and then stop after a few hundred wasted dollars.

Here's the crux of the issue; the leads are very low quality. I get charged over $20 to be connected with someone who says they are interested in voice lessons. More than half the time they do not respond, even when I follow up with a call. Often, the person is merely tire-kicking, or has some other agenda. Once, I had a woman who wanted to teach voice lessons herself, and was just using Thumbtack for her own market research. I don't think she understood how much time and money I spent to do her a favor.

They sometimes refund these poor quality leads, but admonish you, stating that you are paying for the *opportunity* to match up with new clients.

Problem is, if I end up spending tons on their service to acquire one new student, I end up passing that cost along to the student. Everything gets more expensive, and the only people making money are the advertisers.

Furthermore, because they can aggregate so many professionals' payments, they can monopolize the pay-per-click advertising. Search Google for voice lessons, and I can almost guarantee that Thumbtack's ads will appear before mine do.

Most recently, they made a few updates to their policies. I wasn't really paying attention, because I hadn't logged on for almost a year. Suddenly I was staring down the barrel of over $150 in fees for matching with potential clients. Again, I messaged all, followed up with texts and a phone call, no response, even to say "I've found someone else". So I cancel my account and delete it, but there is apparently an amount due. Ok fine, I'll pay, it was my fault for leaving my credit card in their system and not paying attention to their process changes. But I refuse to log in ever again. You can't reply to the automated emails, they get bounced back. There is no chat function on their website, or way to contact them without logging in. It wasn't much better as a user, either.

This company grossly overcharges and under-delivers

Don't give them your credit card! I feel like this user unfriendly site that supposedly links services with clients is a ripoff. Charges are unclear and links are illogical causing you confusion about what youre signing up for. Charges are insane. You get charge in some cases for simply emailing someone back that has no interest in your service because the categories are inaccurate. I sent them 6 emails asking them to put a category for concrete floors / concrete polishing. Instead i got all these epoxy requests/messages on thie site that were a waste of money. Leads are insanely expensive and a lead is considered a charge if you simply send the vague inquiry a message. Clients are grouped into categories that are not viable clients and most leads are vague, like, "I want my floor painted". Never enough data to decide if it is wirth the $30 bucks just to ask them what theyre looking for. And, I swear they deliberately autocharged me. No way to contact them and these Millenials never email you back. It is very amateurish. I get more quality business leads from Craigslist than I ever did here. The other lead sites are just as cumbersome too. Summary: 1. Expect confusion with charges (rigged to be confusing?). 2. Expect that leads are vague. 3. Leads are outrageously expensive and most are not quality leads. 4. Categories are not specific enough for niche high-end professionals. Thumbs down. Especially for the mysteriousness to reach a human and the unrealistic charges. For $5 per month use Craigslist!

Again they raise there quote prices on the contractor. I now pay 6 credits for a 499 sq. Ft job, if I'm lucky enough to get it in 1out of 10 tries. I'm also now paying 6 credits foe painting a nook above a stair case which is about 20 sq. Ft. Where does this even sound fair to me. I call and have complained for a out 3 years and even though I'm told tO'Day for the first time ever they call their professionals back for feed back but funny. I have always been told they don't. Well if they do, where's this top rated painting contractors call back... it's a line of BULL $#*!... They have people come up with prices per job scope who have probably never even had a paint brush in their hand or can't picture the normal size sq. Footage of a nooke above a staircase to know it's only really worth about a half (. 5) credit. They say it's still cheap but only one guy gets a job out of 5 so when 5 guys spend $18 00 or so on on bigger job, they make $90 00 while the 4 contractors have to go spend more money to not get more work.
I'm copying my Web page their and getting my own and will never spend another dime on a company that doesn't have the decency to call a top rated contractor up with as many amazing and awesome reviews as me. My advice to all you other contractors stop making these guys millionaires why you make pennies. Blow these guys off and do your own marketing like I'm going to do. Thumbtack. Com has turned into nothing more than another home advisor, another company just trying to make millions and rip you off... Thanks for getting back to me Thumbtack you show just how much you don't care about the contractors if you care only about yourselves...

Steven Paul
Paint works of Texas
Irving Texas

Not really proffesionals. I am dissapointed the way they did my splash back. I will never used this site again.

Alana McCurdy aka Wilma H Jackson (Double A Cleaning of Brewton AL) a supposed Thumbtack Pro, quoted me a price for the repair of windows on a house.

Based on the quote given she asked for and received 50% down, she received the payment and I have not talked to or seen her again.

Now my house has 6 windows, or holes in the wall with not windows that allow me to secure the house. (See attached photos)

Thumbtack then told me they will NOT honor their Pro with their $1M property protection because no damage was done to the property, really. I'm missing 6 windows in my house.

Additionally, the Thumbtack pro was out on bond for drug charges when they used the site to respond to my project.

http://www.atmorenews.com/2016/05/11/ecso-arrests-10-drug-sweep-runs-across-county/

"Wilma Alana Jackson, 40, Brewton, arrested May 5, charged with drug paraphernalia, unlawful possession of controlled substance x 2 (meth and hydrocodone), possession marijuana 2nd; Jackson released $5,000 bond."

http://www.northescambia.com/2016/05/10-arrested-during-undercover-alabama-drug-sweep

Thumbtack does not do a continual check of screening pro's for licenses and pending arrests. Checks every 3,6, or 12 months would help to keep track of situations like this in the future.

Two prospects message me, one outside of my travel range and the other asking me if I give discounts. And I get charged over $16... I am so pissed.

Alvin and Michelle Privette make a great team. They did a beautiful job on the backsplash for my kitchen

If you are a professional don't waste your time, money or effort in this scam sham lead generator. They are bogus leads to get you to spend money.

Run run. They are overcharging for leads the consumer and the customer. They need to be shut down asap. I refuse to spend another dime on this site!

I have been a part of thumbtack sense early 2015, I have gotten 10 jobs from the site, now I have put in 65 quotes ranging from 3 credits to 9 credits have only got ten, now the funny thing is thumbtack made a big mistake by sending me a monthly review, now on this review they show you how many bids that I was the lowest bidder hmm I didn't get any of the jobs, I have now called the Albany ny BBB they have officially taken 950.00 in bids from me and the big mistake thumbtacks is making is they answer your quotes and ask if I can come take a free quote at there house, I said yes I can the funny thing is the text talking stops 3 minutes later the quote has been taken down because customer is waiting for a better time you are scumbags thumbtack you should be in jail stealing thief I am shutting this down I went to an attorney I am asking any other contractors have had same issue my lawyer is willing to add you to this law suit I am about ready to serve to them. I will not stand for my hard earned money to be taken from me

I found the site via Google due to an home A/C issue I found I had when I got home from work at 6pm. I went through their questionnaire stating I wanted a service call "now" and was of course told I would be contacted with contact information and estimates. Knowing there would be no way to give an accurate estimate on such a repair without going through diagnostics on my A/C unit personally I became very curious as to what response I would get. I immediately began getting bombarded with text messages (stupid me for agreeing to text notifications) then emails from potential A/C repair companies in my area. When you open the email you get an introductory statement from that company and usually someone's name that either owns the company or works for it. You will have a button that you click on to "review quote & reply". I received the same basic answer on all 7 or 8 of the companies that were suggested. A quote for anywhere from free to $49 for a service call then an estimated "best time for them" to contact or do the service call. Every one of them suggested the same "tomorrow at 9:00:9: 30; 10:00 etc" which due to my need wasn't helpful at all. It's the next day now. I received another suggested repair company late morning with the same "cookie-cutter" response. I'm guessing that it would be up to me to pick one of these people or have them all come out for an estimate. For what it's worth, none of the responses were a personal response, they were all automated. 18 hours later and still no personal contact or even an attempt at personal contact from any of the companies I received an auto-response from. As an fyi, I went back to Google to search for myself after I realized the lack of content from this website, I had an A/C company there within the hour. A/C fixed, a couple extra bucks for the evening call, and the wife is happy. That means I'm happy.

Thumbtack referred gutterscrubbers.com to clean gutters. They were a no show! But they charged the client!

They came and did a great job I will have them come 2 time a month very nice girl very well spoken and they do excellent work

Wow what a wonderful job, complete, clean up was unbelievable, I would never hesitate to recommend this service. C E A Landscaping in Tucson, AZ.

I put off turning on Instant Match until just recently since Thumbtack CONTINUED to bombard me with emails and PHONE CALLS about using the service. The first two weeks of using I averaged about 250 quotes sent on my behalf using the instant match feature. I turned it off for a long weekend, as I try to "unplug" every once in a while. When I turned the feature back on the following week, I was surprised that I hadn't gotten any responses after a few days. To my shock and surprise - only SEVEN quotes had been sent for me in FOUR days. I had 250 quotes sent the previous week and, in total last week, i had 20!

I have called, emailed, and left feedback to thumbtack resulting in thumbtack informing me that my profile (which was 99% complete) was not fully completed and that's why I wasn't receiving as many matches. So I fixed that. ALL questions are answered, added more photos, had the recommended amount of reviews -- i even broadened the scope of acceptable clients. AND NOTHING. No change.

They continue to say that it is something that I can fix, but refuse to give me any clear answers as to what has changed over the past 14 days, and how the algorithm now works. I am left in the dark. The most specific thing I was told was that more hires and more reviews could help me seem to be a "better fit" via the algorithm, but tell me -- HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET HIRED IF I CAN'T GET MATCHED TO ANY CLIENTS? This is all besides their recent pricing structure change, terrible bugs in the app, and terribly unhelpful customer service.

Elder Craig Fields did an outstanding job for me and my wife wedding and for a very responsible rate

I know that many contractor's had problems being ripped off I so many complaints everything is wrong about them

I do not recommend this company for either a consumer or a pro.
You'll find a needle in a haystack much quicker!
Untrustworthy.

As a contractor i can say it was biggest waste of money and scam! Please dont waste your time on this and money!

I have quoted countless times and not hired once! Fake leads for sure! Waste of money! Do not pay for these leads please!

I had a bad experience. I strongly feel that this is a garbage. The lead is not filtered. I would not recommend it. Waist of time, effort and money

These people took $60 out of my account for noooo reason and would not give me a refund back. What they do is charge your personal card everytime someone tries to contact you about a job no matter if you have used the app or not they will take money out of your account DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT put in any of your personal account cause they will attack your account and leave you with nothing. This is a horrible horrible company and the person who came up with this is a fake and a fraud. He is getting rich off of taking people money who is trying to make a living. Im pretty sure his pockets are fat while the rest of us are being attacked by his company. No manager will speak with me only their customer service so what does that tell you. Do not use this app this is a pile of $#*! company do not trust them in any way please believe me i will not lie to you. If you need to use the TASK RABBIT APP for professionals and TASKER for people who need work done they will not take anything out of your account only put in what you make they are very easy to communicate with amd will not mess over you or anyone else. I REPEAT DO NOT USE THUMBTACK FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN TO GET $#*!ED OVER NO GREASE SERIOUSLY I AM TRYING TO WARN EVERYONE I CAN BEFORE YOU HAVE A EXPERIENCE LIKE MINE OR MANY OTHERS JUST CHECK OUT HOW MANY BAAAAD REVIEWS THEY HAVE

RS Painting, did an outstanding job painting. She went far beyond what was expected of her. Great job!