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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.
I hired Marquis Delgado for a message day, pool side. He was awesome and his girl therapist was just as good. Every single gal ( 40 - 60 yrs) was very happy. Both therapists listened to individual needs and delivered. They were quiet, polite and accommodating. Thank you Marquis and look forward to the next spa day at my house
Date of experience: August 8, 2016
I had Pro account. They charge you when a potential client contacts you to ask a question, NOT when you are hired. Like $15 each client in my case. Worst customer service. Very difficult to get any help. Dealing with them I really felt that this company just want to take as much money they can and it is not important for them to provide their. Customers good experiences. Absolutely horrible.
Date of experience: June 1, 2018
Tried thumbtack over a 4 month period ( as pro) carpet cleaning. Very disappointed to say the least. Fraud charges on my Credit Card. Fake leads. ( approximate 78%) fake. Customer service some of the worst I've ever seen. Had a client go crazy on one of my Carpet clean team members. Customer called thumb tack and lied. Next thing i know thumb tack charges my CC over 400$ and NO customer service. They ( thumbtack) kept our $ in the name of violating policy. NO policy was violated. These guys are fraudulent and highly recommend any pros to steer clear.
Date of experience: February 5, 2018
The concept is brilliant and the website looks great, but in reality- they do not check the background, licenses and qualifications of the service providers. Some people present themselves as professionals, do shoddy work, cause damage, rip off and disappear. They don't even check if the business really exists. Thumbtack takes no responsibility for that. They also have a class action law suit waiver. I would stay away from that website, better check reviews on real business on Yelp.
Date of experience: July 26, 2016
Bad experience with Landscaper who lived in another state. I come to find out via Facebook page for the Landscaper 2 other customers were experiencing the same service, which was none from him. One individual actually went to arbitration and the landscaper in question hasn't paid him anything! Hard lesson to learn, I suggest if you go through Thumbtack, check the references before you give the " Professional" any money!
Date of experience: October 13, 2017
Zero stars - I could not get any money back For an incomplete job or reimbursed for damages. She is still active on Thumbtack.
Project: attach new boards to 6' x 6.5' porch ceiling. Project not done after $300 and 5 days. Three different days she said she had two flat tires. Kathy spilled paint on my wall and she did not get it off. I had to pay someone else to finish the job. I also had to pay for a professional $175 to remove the paint she spilled.
Date of experience: May 15, 2020
I created a thumbtack account just to see if it would work for our business. After spending about $30 with no jobs I quit using it and logged out. That was last october, I just checked my bank statement to see they have been charging me each month because my "instant job match" was on (which I did not even know). I was charged hundreds of dollars throughout the past couple months and have not even signed in.
Date of experience: January 22, 2018
I have been around the horn trying to get my website where I wanted it, spent a lot of money and finally found someone who really gets the job done at a reasonable price and quickly. Dave has a deep computer background and it shows. If you want the biggest bang for your buck, look no further!
Tip for consumers:
Tell Dave what you want and stand back!
Date of experience: March 17, 2017
Contractors will take there own sweet time contacting you. You are better off finding your own. Beware: if you go through thumbtack your mail box will be filled with spam and their unsubscribe link does not work. I wish that I had never heard of these s. O. b's.
Date of experience: June 6, 2017
Bad site making millions out of our hard earn money as business owners.
You pay $1.69 per credit to contact prospect customers. Out of 10 customers, 8 will view your quote costing you around $60.2 will actually reply to your quote. 1 may hire your services.
This site is honey for cheap people trying to get their money's worth next to nothing.
Blind bidding is dangerous and expensive. Mostly disappointing! Be aware.
Date of experience: June 2, 2017
I received a handful of free credits, since I didn't want to spend money and I had the account for so long. I probably applied to dozens of requests, and only got somebody who was trying to scam me into giving them money.
Don't waste your time, nobody will ever reply to you because they are just computer generated situations.
Date of experience: June 24, 2017
An entire wall was damaged and needed to be repaired. Maurice did an amazing job in making the wall look brand new. The ending resulting put a smile on my face. I would use him for all my home repairs.
Date of experience: June 25, 2016
Thumbtack charges you for "leads" but these leads never respond, no matter how fast you respond. Try to talk to there customer service? Nope. They won't refund you a penny. If I had to guess, they mix in real customers with there own bots/employees who pose as real people, thats why dont respond.
For example:
If I'm promoting myself for $100/week and am promised 5-10 leads, when those leads don't show, they send fake users to "contact" you, but never respond.
The way I know they are faking it is every customer that doesn't respond asks the same question, "Whats your availability"?
Date of experience: June 14, 2019
Mitch has done numerous household jobs for me over the last few years, including plumbing and electrical repairs, painting, and miscellaneous odd jobs that I can't do. He is responsible, courteous, and reliable. I would not hesitate to recommend him.
Date of experience: December 14, 2016
I was a thumbtack pro and had over 25 5 star reviews and not a smidgeon less. They deleted my account because of an altercation I got into with my brother in law over 10 years ago. They never sent me my money back of all the credits I had on their site. Plus, they always fabricate ways to charge people more credits than they should. One day it's 4 credits, 2 credits the next time. And they partner with low ball competitors that use up all your credits in order for you to buy more. Stay away!
Date of experience: February 14, 2017
The costs to send quotes should be much cheaper. You can spend a lot on people who only look at your quote but never contact you... and only five pros can quote on one job? That's horrible, it would be better to pay a monthly fee and let the customers choose who they want and send out quotes through an open forum. When I was in Los Angeles you would have to send your quote within two minutes to be one of the first five... which if you're on a ladder is impossible or doing anything else remotely important. It also does not allow you personalize your quote whatsoever.
For every 20 I submit maybe 5 respond and one job comes of it. Based on my work that could be 20% of my profit. Thumbtack is banking off being the middle man, literally raking in $#*! tons of cash for being a web host with frustrating policies and loopholes. Someone do us a service and start a kickstarter to make a better web based service and put thumbtack to shame please...
Date of experience: April 14, 2017
The new system that thumb tack has implemented since November Has made it impossible for vendors to follow up with clients Contacts send you messages of the climb would like to hear from you but you have no way of Responding. After talking to customer service several times it's clear that thumb tack is in chaos and until the system is corrected or it goes back to the old system when they 1st started I am staying away from thumbtack.
Date of experience: January 18, 2019
This company, by far, is the worst lead generation. They are so cheap that they don't even have a live person responding to your concerns. I have given them over $5000 so far, and they deactivated my account by mistake, and it has been two weeks. After many emails and sending help on their web site, still no news. I lost all my contact, and leads.
Tip for consumers:
if you want to waste your money sign up with them
Products used:
I have a cleaning business and I was looking to have leads from Thumbtack
Date of experience: September 14, 2022
Hired a guy named Joshua yates from Thumbtack for bathroom tiling. He got $1500 from
Me and left the work unfinished. And would not answer my call now. Thumb tack needs to know these guys are very unprofessional. Please be careful when you hire these guys. This happened in the Atlanta area. He also took few things from my garage. Can Thumbtack help me on this?
Date of experience: December 16, 2016
Signed up, 4,5 days later started getting leads, I was excited and started replying. That mistake cost me almost $1000, leads never replied, ever. I reached out for a reimbursement and to close my account. Shut down from the get go, because I replied to the leads. Almost $1000 later in credit card charges. Please don't make the same mistake I did. Look into what you are signing up for before you reply to any leads. Worst experience of my life with a company, horrible reimbursement policy, basically non existent. If the service they provide is not for you. Welp you are out of luck my man you can't get your money back. In my desperation for work I made a huge mistake. Just please watch out and understand how it all works before signing up. Better yet, find a cheaper option.
Tip for consumers:
Just stay away! There must be cheaper options out there.
Products used:
Pro Service
Date of experience: August 20, 2021
Hi Gaby, thanks for reaching out to let us know what happened. We're so sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience or a full understanding of the platform before getting started. We'd really like to locate your account and help with refunds, as well as see if we can turn your experience around. It sounds like you might have been charged for leads before you set your preferences, which is an important part of the getting started process, to ensure you're only receiving leads for jobs you want and are available for. Please reach out to our team directly, through any social media platform, so that we can properly assist you and find your account.
The project was a non-typical home addition. As the contractor, Dan Barrett shared his years of experience when recommending project plan alterations that improved the original design plans. Throughout the entire process, the construction site was cleaned up at the end of each day and materials were kept covered and protected from the weather.
Along with a team of skilled craftsmen, the full use of quality materials and solid attention to detail resulted in a very strong and beautiful finish.
Barrett Custom Carpentry provided professional workmanship, continuous communication with the client and their prompt and polite service provided a pleasurable experience
Barrett Custom Carpentry is an ideal contractor to work with.
Date of experience: July 7, 2016
It appears that Im experiencing what many Pros are with the Thumbtack bidding process. Former payment models were a good and valuable method to obtain new clients. With the new blind cost to bid a job, the bidder does NOT know the fee until after the bid is submitted and the bill arrives. The most information a business person can obtain is a range of potential rates.
Customer service has not been helpful in addressing this situation. If a client responds to my bid in any way I am charged. It is an untenable model! While Thumbtack used to be beneficial and responsive, it has gone totally downhill from a Pros perspective. The positive reviews on this site seem largely to be from the customer perspective. Sad!
Date of experience: July 18, 2018
This place is a scam and send you fake leads so be careful. How you gonna charge me $72 for a lead that I responded to promptly and the supposed customer answers back with "thank you for the prompt response but my better half has it taken care of." I didn't even try to give her prices or anything my response was "I could come on any day that she requested" and got that answer back. That is a bogus lead and it isn't the first time they charged me for stuff like that for sure a rip off. Don't even bother with it the leads you do get are weak.
Tip for consumers:
Dont do it they promise you all these leads and 95% of them aren't even here in Michigan they are in Chicago. And if your licensed you know can't use a Michigan license in Illinois.
Products used:
Lead generating company to give contractors leads in my case was for HVAC repair and replacement.
Date of experience: August 5, 2022
Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Robert. We work hard to ensure the leads on Thumbtack are legitimate, interested consumers. If you come across a suspicious lead, or your customer isn't interested in the project, please request a refund and/or report it: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/how-to-request-a-refund. You also mentioned you were receiving leads outside of the area you service, please read this article to update your preferences: https://help.thumbtack.com/article/travel-preferences.
I have never been more disappointed with a company than Thumbtack. They force you to buy $25 worth of credits to participate and explain their advertise their "refund" policy as giving you any credits back if the receiver does not review your quote in 48 hours. Nothing about refunding the actual money is advertised anywhere! Want to ask customer service for help? They will cite you provision from a long document and inform you why they cannot help. Then ask over and over again if they can help. Poor customer service, poor company. Don't waste your time or money.
Date of experience: July 3, 2017
I have been with Thumbtack as a Pro for about 3 years now. I have seen an all out effort to maximize their profit and take away money from pros as each year goes by. I just now was denied a refund for a duplicate lead because they said too much time passed between each inquiry. So I paid twice for the same lady, same phone number. Lead prices have gone up, refund policies are so strict that it's a miracle when you receive one. Thumbtack highly suggests to customers that they reach out to multiple pros, without letting the customer know that each pro they reach out to will be paying a non refundable fee whether they choose that pro or not. Thumbtack has become ruthlessly greedy and this is agreed by every pro I have spoken with. This will lead to their detriment and hopefully will be addressed in one of their corporate meetings. You can clearly see there is an issue by all of the 1 star reviews on this website!
Date of experience: November 30, 2021
Hi Chance, we're sorry to hear this feedback, as we do want pros to be successful on the platform. It sounds like you should've received a refund for that duplicate lead, that's definitely frustrating. Please send us a DM on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) so that we can locate your account and try to resolve those concerns for you. We'll pass along the pricing feedback to our team, as we're always wanting to improve. We hope to hear from you directly.
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.
We're sorry to hear you haven't received the support you've needed, Maggie. Thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention here. For a quick response, please send us a direct message via social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) and we'll look into this for you immediately, in an effort to help get your account reactivated and explain what happened.