I have a tenant's house which I've had work done on. I found tradesmen through Mybuilder. Unfortunately, after I wrote positive for kitchen fitter, a restoration worker came in and had to do some remedial work on kitchen, which I couldn't see till he pointed it out to me - cracked plumbing, dangerous wiring - as well as the other work I'd got him in for. I don't want to cause problems for the fitter, but I want my review removed. Mybuilder hasn't responded. I'm assuming from reading this fitter's had to pay a fee for contact and feedback? In that case, how can I trust the site?
My thought is that your post is not relevant to the topic! (apart from you are about to set up a service similar to RP) Your survey is long (& not very well structured) The 'data' you can collect from that survey does not translate into "information" to "solve" a lot of the "problems" - as you claim!?
I personally would stay well away from any such work providing sites. I only tried rated out for a month and found it useless. This was mainly because of the lack of decent jobs on there. I must say this is because of living in stoke on trent, as you could see there was plenty of work out of the area. I found the jobs never had realistic budgets and the lead prices seems a lot higher for an electrician then other trades. I quoted for a rewire where it turned out to be a builder that couldn't be bothered to even be there. He didn't say he wasn't going to be there and when I arrived at the job he phoned saying just go in and work me a price out. I very quickly realised I was dealing with an idiot, as he had no idea what he wanted but wanted a price. That cost me half a days work in total plus £41 to rated. I only prised it at 1200 and never heard anything. There's no comparison as a builder can pick up a £30,000 job for the same lead price. I personally think its a way of a customer getting a cheep job and there only ever one winner here. And as usual its never the tradesmen!
I just can't get my head around how RP can LEGALLY market the site as containing "job leads" - but if you buy a "duff" lead & challenge them about it - it is just classed "information" and "not a job lead" and they "do not guarantee" the info is legitimate - although they sell it!? So, if RP know that not all "info" is legitimate - how can RP LEGALLY charge for all of it? (Without considering the MORAL issues!) Unfortunately, everyone will suffer as a result of "new policy". Customers, Tradespeople & RP. RP have clearly stated that they will not consider reverting their new policy - although they are aware of the abuse that takes place (& that it is worse since the new policy) RP's attempt to fix the problem of "abuse" has failed badly - they are driving away their "model" tradepeople (I'm 5/5 star, 20+ ratings & an "ask an expert") to target the few pounds they have lost out on (when people have claimed a credit they shouldn't) That's an internal problem of RP - but tradespeople will pay for it! ... just not me anymore!
I'm with you fellows, I rated the service before the policy changes, And now they have removed our safety net now every job I go to purchase, I'm thinking h is this a genuine lead? More often than not they are but what if a tradesmen is down to his last £50 and he buys 2 dudd leads, where does that leave him. I've ranted on twitter and everything but to no avail. But I suppose the flip side is even if you had an add in yellow pages, you are still going to get people that just require a "price" with no intension of using your service. But your paying a flat fee for adverts so it's not as bad. Also there are a lot if unhappy tradesmen that are leaving and they know that, that's why every channel you watch now there is a RP advert because they need to replenish the lost income from those that have left. I've had 6 tire kickers in since Xmas and lost about £150...not happy at putting money in RP coffers and getting nothing in return...
CALLING ALL RP MEMBERS! RP recently sent me an email (it went to all "ask an expert" members - maybe other member too??) Within the email was a survey... Within the survey were the following questions! (& explanations)... "5. Were you aware that RatedPeople.com offers a "Quality Promise" (sometimes referred to as "report a bad lead" ) for the leads that you buy? For reference the RatedPeople.com Quality Promise is: "Every lead you purchase should enable you to quote on that job, if not we will credit back your account with the cost of that lead" "6. What do you take it to mean when we say our "Quality Promise is that every lead you purchase should enable you to quote on that job, if not we will credit back your account with the cost of that lead" "7. Do you think the RatedPeople.com "Quality Promise" policy above is clear and unambiguous?" "9. Thinking back to when you first joined RatedPeople.com were you aware of the Quality Promise at the point that you joined?" "10. And how important is the Quality Promise to you now?" "11. And finally do you think the Quality Promise is a good differentiator for RatedPeople.com versus competitor services?" (Obviously a few other Q's - but just the most relevant being referee to at the mo!) I've emailed RP to confirm the status of the "quality promise" (ie was the survey hypothetical?? - No response at this time!) THIS SMELLS LIKE RP IMPLEMENTING A NEW POLICY - "QUALITY PROMISE" - WHICH AFFECTIVELY MEANS THAY'RE REVERTING BACK TO THE OLD POLICY If I get this confirmed I will post an update! Until then.. Keep NOT buying leads ! Keep TALKING about this / on this thread ! ..or come & say "Hello".. ALL SUPPORT & EXPERIENCES WELCOME
I need to learn "the twitter" ! I decided to "face-f#%k" RP (justj's made up term for screwing some over on "the Facebook" !) .. I got a response then! (Although rubbish - the ball was rolling!) EVERY other attempt to communicate with someone "responsible" for "policies" failed! .. & I guess you already know the rest! & thank you for taking the time to comment / share !
Fingers crossed! I think RP and the likes need a bit of competition. Can you imagine a Google or Amazon equivalent?!
Hi, From a customer point of view I found both rated people and my builder invaluable in assisting me to find quality trades personnel when required. I now know a ,great Roofer and a plumber! I was recently horrified to learn that all leads have to be paid for by the trader and if the job isn't quoted for for whatever reason it still has to be paid for as credits do not apply. This has put me off posting in the early stages of planning work to obtain an idea of cost as I don't want to cost traders money when I am not in a position to hire. It also concerns me that reputable traders will simply stop using the site to obtain work! A good idea thwarted for no apparent reason!!!
Like a lot of tradesman I've used RP got 5star ratings etc but the policy of no refund for dud leads I purchased a lead withn hours i was the first to buy the lead I called the client, phone off went down the other routes never a Reply , the lead isn't really valid as email was the only route to contact I emailed RP nothing back I phoned them Blood out of a stone comes to mind
Hi Folks, ive been reading through the comments and i have to say i agree that this new no refund policy and the huge hike in job lead prices is a complete liberty. I have had rated people on the phone asking them questions about this and they say they cannot discuss policy /"bunny fingers" ...... that old chestnut, our arguments about it all falls on deaf ears, you just chase your tail around with frustration. I have got work off rated people on and off from when they first started about 7 or 8 years ago they was called rated trades back then. They used to charge for jobs roughly as follows £100 jobs was £5, £200 jobs was £10 and the most you would pay was £20 max even if it was a few thousand budget, they always gave you a credit if you didn't get the job. They then got strict a few years later as they got wise and grew as a company and believed if you actually got to quote on the job then you should not be refunded, and the job prices went up a little amongst other changes. To be fair they are a company and they have got to earn out of it too ,hand on heart i don't really care about loosing a fiver or a tenner and even the odd £20 here and there, you can get enough from other jobs to cover it but £80 PLUS V.A.T!!!!! for 1 job and you cannot get it back because the new policy says you have purchased the details and they act as a pairing/introductory site....... no way.....i mean WTH are They doing!! Rated people have got worse the past few years because Andrew Skipwith (founder) sold the company to a group of investors, who have taken a brand name and let a bunch of mindless idiots change everything all for max profit. So we now see at rated people their takings have sky-rocketed, no refunds at all and raising prices of jobs through the roof . On paper this all looks absolutely fantastic for the mindless idiots careers and rated peoples takings right? yes! of course! although im afraid if rated peoples investors dont wake up and get a grip this will be short lived. Here i believe is why: The prices of jobs are so ridiculously high, tradesmen are very cautious to buy jobs at say for arguments sake £80, and even if you considered it, you would want to be first to buy. If the job was already brought you would be taking a huge gamble if you brought it as, if you do not get the job, you haven't got a hope in hells chance of getting your cash back, even if the customer does not answer or return your calls and or emails. Sometimes people buy at the same time unfortunately, that aside, What does this do for the customer? it does not give them up to 3 tradesmen as they say it gives 1! so that is a negative for the customers using the service to find tradesmen. Because of the massive increase in job prices that we have seen in recent years, if they are charging say £15 for a £100 budget job now, you are going to want to recuperate that huge cost by charging the customer more than you would if you paid £5 for the lead, that is another negative for the customers so we have a formula that read something like this: Customer: LOOSE Tradesman: LOOSE Rated people: WIN This cannot and will not last, as we are the small people large companies like rated people look down and laugh at us when we complain, i was even sent an email, giving me a phone number to call if i would like to leave rated people!! great solution!! I have personally had endless job leads where i cannot contact the customer via phone or email and also people who put jobs on and then dont want the work done after all for various random reasons. In the last month i have had 1 guy who put a job on to change a bath tap, when i phoned, he was installing the tap himself, he tried to get me to explain how to turn the water off and how his water system worked in his property, he had no intention at all of paying someone to do the work, this man cost me £16.80 tell me that's fair? and also off the top of my head a lady who had a water leak from her mains stopcock (probably the packing gland) i arranged an appointment to visit, she then phoned and cancelled to say a British Gas heating engineer turned it off the other day, so they are liable and one of their plumbers will go round there to fix it!! that cost me £20!! in these type of circumstances we need to be refunded. They say that you are paying for the contact details although they call it a lead, it is not a lead if you cannot contact the customer and also if they do odd things like i said above. This area needs to be managed a lot better. rated people have only been in operation around 7 years and with everything going viral so fast these days via the internet coupled with the people leaving in droves and i mean droves (and there staff encouraging to leave, if you don't like it) i cant see this lasting. Its a shame, as rated people is a great idea, i feel it does need some big overhauls on its policies to keep itself going into the foreseeable future, i hope it does. if anyone has opened a group about this as i saw mentioned in other posts please let me know on here or via Email craignisbett@gmail.com i would love to join it Update: I tried to explain my frustration very diplomatically via e mail and phone to RP and they have responded by removing me from their site, as their policy gives them the right to do this they have said, what a fantastic customer service team they have.
Hi Justj, Did you manage to start any group up? if you did i would love to join in, i put a large post on here about rated people and their new policies, please let me know Kind Regards Craig Craignisbett@gmail.com
I have a facebook page about RP called "homeowners and tradespeople beware!", check us out on facebook.
I have to agreeChippie, local advert, contacts and word of mouth should be enough to keep you busy. I know people will say I am being harsh but you should only go out on your own when you have enough to survive and from then on it should take care of itself. RatedPeople, MyHammer etc are just leeches
Ill be cold an dead in my box before. I pay some pen pushing office jokey for the privilege to get up in the morning an go to work!!!!!! having seen two mates use rated people for work an land 90% of there quotes at rip off high prices it sickens me to think. that people think it fair to pay to go to work.
All I hear off customers who have used myhammer, trustatrader etc is that the tradesmen they get are no nothing idiots. Girl I know had an absolutely horrific time with a plumber, who used a used combi when charging for new and forced entry to the property when challenged on it. That was through myhammer. Trading Standards and Old Bill involved but myhammer didnt seem too interested according to her
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