Angi/Angie's List - A Rant

[Flat6Driver]

The web is super helpful for some things. When you need something you're not familiar with, it's terrible. I have an AirBNB in another state in a small town. We're there now and needed an exterminator after hours. Look up Name of Town and Exterminator on Google and found something that appeared to be local (I think a local number). Wife calls it and it clicks over to Angi, who's in TN (1000+ mile away) doing a similar Google search and reading off the names and ratings. This isn't going well and we decide to take it on ourselves. As we're getting off the call, she's offering us electricians and "would you like hear about deals?". Um, no.

This was my first interaction with Angi, but many of these small businesses have bought into/been drawn into this search engine optimization where they technically get hits, but are No Where Near the service area or you're connected to these boiler room call centers.

I ended up calling one of the big companies and dealing with their call center. Everyone loses I guess.

 

[dented]

I have never attempted to use it ever since it started. Before it was just internet search. Now I just ask a specific question into my phone and get the answer. Good luck.

 

[schmee]

Yeah, it's gone from an informational site to a bit of a scam. A forced middle man who has nothing to do with the whole process really.

 

[radtz]

I always used to have that problem when looking for contractors for our cabin. Here's someone local and its' some firm across the county. My solution was to stop googling and ask locals I know for suggestions.

 

[Greggorios]

Used a contractor from Angie's list years ago with mixed results-definitely would not recommend now. Finding a reliable contractor for whatever sized job is hard enough without including a middle man/woman that has no actual experience with the particular contractor or the type of work being considered. Recommendations on line are near useless. In this area, at the present moment, most contractors are in such high demand the situation is as bad as it's ever been.

Word of mouth by family/friends would be my starting place for a search. In the words of David Byrne...Same as it ever was.

BTW, my one and only experience with Air BnB was also disappointing. I'll pay the extra dough for a hotel next time.

 

[Flat6Driver]

Used a contractor from Angie's list years ago with mixed results-definitely would not recommend now. Finding a reliable contractor for whatever sized job is hard enough without including a middle man/woman that has no actual experience with the particular contractor or the type of work being considered. Recommendations on line are near useless. In this area, at the present moment, most contractors are in such high demand the situation is as bad as it's ever been.

Word of mouth by family/friends would be my starting place for a search. In the words of David Byrne...Same as it ever was.

BTW, my one and only experience with Air BnB was also disappointing. I'll pay the extra dough for a hotel next time.

Yeah, word of mouth works best up here, because literally everyone knows everyone else. I only know a few people so I need to break into that circle, but I'm still an outsider/nobody but with a checking account.

Sorry AirBNB didn't work out for you. I stayed at a place once where I was only renting a room and sharing the bathroom. The owner was away, I had ridden my motorcycle there and was quite hot and sweaty when I got there. Just rolled in and in 15 minutes I'm in some dude's shower. It "felt" weird. I have enough money that I'm only going for private baths from now on.

 

[Peegoo]

The price of convenience is loss of control.

Use the Web like vendors want you to--and you are at their mercy.

I have absolutely no use for Alexa, Siri, Angi, or any other virtual "assistants." The best thing they do is allow vendors to get one step closer to your money.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

As a tile contractor, I used to get six or eight Angie solicitation calls a year. Until I started recognizing the number.

First they leave messages like “hey I got a tile job I want you to look at out in Wixom !” Then I realized it was Kyle and he worked for Angie’s list. Freaking Kyle…



I’ve always said the only kind of Angie’s list I’d ever really be interested in was a reverse Angie’s list. Based on the original Angie’s list idea of rating contractors.

This one would specifically be for contractors - to rate homeowners.

Where you could look up and see if the homeowners name showed up on it as troublesome, late paying, overly picky, psycho, dangerous dog, gross dirty house, etc…

 

[KokoTele]

Unfortunately, Angie's list doesn't vet its providers and nearly anyone can sign up to take a job. In the current market, anyone who's good does not need Angie's list or Thumbtack to keep busy, so you're better off seeking recommendations elsewhere.

 

[uriah1]

Actually, I use the BBB website. They are pretty useful.

 

[CharlieO]

I used homeadvisor.com for a few years with great results. In 2017 the company that owns Home Advisor purchased Angi's List. I recently contacted homeadvisor.com in an attempt to find a local house cleaning service that would clean one of my listings before I put it on the market. The responses that I got were absolutely worthless. I got absolutely zero responses from house cleaning contractors, and got recommendations from HomeAdvisor for handyman services that are located 50 to 75 miles away.

It appears that the company has thrown out the old successful business model, probably in an attempt to cut costs and boost revenue, in attempt to pay for the ill-advised purchase of Angi's List.

 

[wabashslim]

I had no luck at all using Angi to find a roofer...out of the 4 contacts, two were knuckle-dragging idiots and only one got back with an estimate. However, my daily email spam content mysteriously went up about 1000% starting about that time...hmmm....
I found a great roofer on - wait for it - Craigslist.

 

[Killing Floor]

Started as a subscription model review forum of service providers. Then they “enhanced” into a fee based advertising platform for service providers so the vendors could target unfamiliar homeowners. So yeah. Duh.

 

[memorex]

When we first moved here in 2021, I was having a hard time finding someone for just lawn cutting, edging, and cleanup (grass removal). Everyone was either booked up, or didn't call back. I tried Home Advisor, and they found someone, but, besides their $20/yr annual fee, by the time they tacked their own add-on fees on to the guys $50 per cutting charge, it came to $129 per cutting. I promptly cancelled my membership and requested my $20 back. Then, I started to get callbacks from landscapers (not through Home Advisor) who were willing to do all the lawncare for $40 per visit, so I hired one of them. Now this year in May, I discovered Home Advisor auto-charged my credit card $20, and I had to get on the phone with them again to get my money back and make sure they cancelled my membership. We'll see what happens next year.

 

[Flat6Driver]

Another funny thing about this small town and everyone knowing each other. I did get a referral for an electrician from a local. She said she had a bad experience. I called anyhow and hey cam by this morning. He told me he'd been in the house before for.one of the prior owners. (Same as my cleaning crew and my property manager). Anyhow, went to lunch and ran into the electrician again. It's a crazy small place.

 

[Stubee]

I use word of mouth, Google Maps reviews & surprisingly enough Facebook locale groups. Not a huge FB fan but that part is sometimes useful.

 

[Kandinskyesque]

They've started doing it this side of the pond too.

I tried getting an unholstery cleaner and ended up with an idiot from 50 miles away turning up in a football (soccer) shirt:- always a bad sign.
I showed him the door after the first chair of a 3 piece suite was done.
I've never had an invoice from him.

We're in Smallsville and fairly remote so local trades etc tend to be good or they're out of business.
I just get Mrs K to check the local FB page now, we've only ever had one bad recommendation.

 

[Teleguy61]

About 10 years ago, I had used HomeAdvisor several times successfully, for both our primary and rental properties.
The people you got were never the best, but they all showed up when they said they would, and did a good job for the quoted price.
I'm sorry to learn that they are now the ones behind the "new" Angi, whose ads look so bogus as to be definitely off-putting.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Unfortunately, Angie's list doesn't vet its providers and nearly anyone can sign up to take a job. In the current market, anyone who's good does not need Angie's list or Thumbtack to keep busy, so you're better off seeking recommendations elsewhere.

Right now ?

Even the hacks are turning down work !