Posted on 03/28/2015 2:44:47 PM PDT by ncalburt
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/03/26/angies-list-class-action-lawsuit/
(Excerpt) Read more at phillymag.com ...
All I know about Angie’s List is that when I went to her web site, the first things she wanted was my email address, then a $25 membership fee.
I live in a small city. What if I pay the $25 & she has NO listings or very few for my town? No way to know without paying the fee. Spend your money & take your chance is her offering. The county fair ring toss game is a better deal.
I left the site in disgust, but she had my email address. She kept sending me spam, wanting me to join. I tried to get removed from her mailing list, but that didn’t work, the emails kept coming. Finally, I blocked her, & after a while, her junk email to me stopped.
I wont be going back to Angie’s List - a list of suckers.
That is even more disgusting. Rent seeking websites.
“We do fine being a member if the BBB.”
The last time I talked to the local BBB, they insisted that I tell them what my annual revenue was for the last couple years. Then they would tell me what they would charge me to be “certified” by them. I asked them to just send me their rate schedule and I would tell them what category I fit into. They said, “no”, that’s not how they work. I told them that they had no right to know my confidential financial information. A couple years earlier, they had told me I would have to pay $600 per year to be “certified” and I had refused.
The BBB comes off like a shake down racket, in my opinion.
The general consumer public has no idea what the BBB does to coerce money out of small businesses.
“...a shakedown...”
Do Sharpton and Jackson also have “suggested” contribution level amounts based on corporate gross revenue too? I’ll bet they do.
He said he finds her a lot better looking after she made her first couple million.
Angie’s List was at least in the past, maybe still, too expensive and not worth the cost. Much of of it could be obtained for free from other sources.
It was somewhat viable in the era before the internet.
Back in the 80s it was called “Unified Neighbors” and the current management purchased that company.
Angie is a Harvard MBA so now it’s all financial engineering.
We have paid $300/year membership ever since 2008 when I started working for the company. The company has been a member since 1998.
But the company is saddled with three prior quarters of deficits so Angies List was in the red on the year, reporting a $10.4 million loss to close out 2014.
Angie Hicks is a Harvard MBA.
It’s all financial engineering.
The politics of Angie’s List aside, it’s a sound and valuable resource for consumers who need and want professional services. The chief value is in the customer reviews you find there, in just about any category you can name.
Businesses don’t have to pay to be listed on Angie’s List. Any member can write and publish a review on anyone they do business with. Businesses who want to capitalize on generating lots of positive reviews will often sign up as paid participants. Doing so, attracts business from Angie’s List members, who then post reviews of their experiences with those businesses. Generate lots of positive buzz and you can boom your business.
On the flip side, deliver crappy service and you’re going to generate a lot of negative reviews, which defeats the purpose of paying to be there every month.
Bottom line, if you see a contractor on Angie’s List with a ton of good reviews, they’ve earned it, and there’s a high likelihood that you can trust them to do a good job for you.
I’ve had my business on Angie’s List for over two years now, and have had a great experience with it. We’re now doing better than we have in years and years because of all the positive reviews we’ve earned.
They damn sure called a MT Juliet, TN Trane dealer. The man was a Vietnam Vet and a real pro. He tore out all the old duct work as I wanted it new. He also put in a couple of new registers with ductwork plus the Trane AC and my choice of thermostats was done professionally. These days it seems HVAC and plumbers show up on time and painters/drywall and others are druggies and/or cannot be on time. If you would like to talk to him or his wife as a fellow pro email me in private reply.
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