"Customer service for business partners has literally been horrible for the duration of my association with Home Advisor. A significant percentage of customer leads have been bogus, as the customer indicates to me that they were looking for a different service than I offer, or they had no intention of requesting a service and were just browsing instead. You must then request a credit for the lead, or be charged for it. Even though the evidence is typically overwhelming that the lead was not a legitimate one that should be charged for, it is like pulling teeth to get a credit. I spend a lot of time on the phone requesting credit, then calling again to argue for it when it is rejected. They usually only offer the credit with the threat to discontinue the relationship. They seem to adhere to the LOUD squeaky wheel theory.
Worse yet, now that Angie's List and HomeAdvisor have merged, I found out by accident that previously "free" (usually with substantial advertising by the business partner to increase the visibility of the company listing) leads from non-paying member customer inquiries to Angie's List are now being sent through HomeAdvisor, requiring the business partner to pay for the leads. That was never told to the business partners (at least not this one). In my opinion that is at best unethical, deceiving, and wrong! That has been verified both by customer leads who thought they only inquired through Angie's List, and by HomeAdvisor employees when questioned about it.
In addition, the quality of customer leads are well below average for a quality company with upscale service. HomeAdvisor customers tend to be looking only for price, and are typically not concerned that the lowest initial price may not be the best value in the long run. For them, quality is typically not a priority. There are pleasant exceptions, of course, but the trend toward strict price-shopping is real.
My advice to potential business partners of HomeAdvisor is to run away."
"Big city asphalt did not show for appointment and never called. "
"They do not review leads at all it’s just a never ending money pit all the leads they give you are trash within a week I was at close to $700.00 in and not one good lead plus all the time I spent going and walking jobs where most people were just trying to pick your brain , Fyi don’t waste your money"
"For painting the exterior of my home, I never had a more satisfactory job; and, indeed the company name is reflective of the exquisite job well done."
"I contacted HA for referrals for house painters and yard maintenance. I insisted on seeing a driver's license during my interview. I kid you not, every damn one of them were felons! Basic back ground checks can begin here https://webapps.doc.state.nc.us/opi/offendersearch.do?method=view."
"Larkins brothers are the only patio contractors you'll ever want or need, the wow factor blew me away, every detail was perfect"
"I was in search of a contractor to build custom laundry room and garage storage cabinets. HomeAdvisor sent me a name and he contacted me. I had him come out and he measured and did rough drawings after I described my needs. Then, he said he would go back and draw up plans and prepare the bid but he needed $200 for the next step. I was a fool and paid by check only to not hear from the guy until I called him three weeks later. He said he had been swamped but would get it to me. I called him one more time and had no response.
When I wanted to rate the guy, I was unable to because he “hadn’t done work for me.” I contacted HomeAdvisor but they only offered to contact the guy. At that point, I didn’t want him to do the work so I dropped it, very frustrated."
"OUr water heater broke in January and the "professionals" that were sent to our house were absolutely cluless as what they needed to do, where to look and what to do; After 2 hours and $450 later they left without doing anything. THey had no idea what needed to be done. NEVER, EVER again would we call Home Advisors. A complete waste of time and money."
"Home advisor is a scam that will cost you a lot more money than you will make through their provided services. When contacting people through the leads you pay for you will rarely get in contact with anyone resulting in paying to do a job you won't get to do. This is the biggest scam I have ever been suckered into and has cost me a LOT more money than a made. Don't fall for this."
"Advertising about giving clients options is completely false. I did not receive any recommendations. Instead they contacted a business and had them contact me. That business is one I will never use again. I was extremely disappointed with said company. If asked on what I thought about them, I would tell everyone they are very unprofessional and did not stick by their original estimate. In addition to this, they did subpar work. Never again will I use either of these companies. "
"Corrupt as hell. A great way to get business if you can afford the annual fee, but if I had the time and money and resources to sue them out of business, I would. "
"I signed my company up with this service and my advice is to AVOID these people like the plague! I had thousands of dollars of unauthorized charges for fake leads that were for services I do not offer. They kept telling me that I would be credited, then the credits were denied. I called them back and once they knew I was on to them, they turned on the tap to drain my bank account. I had to file a fraud dispute at my bank and get a new account number to stop this and get my money back. I had some guy calling me on the phone screaming and cussing at me while I was at a customer location.
They sent a bill collector after me. I told them to go ahead and come after me as I would make sure I would spend money to make sure they lost money in their attempts to come after me. I told them "You can take that collections notice and shove it where the sun don't shine!" It was at this point the guy became super friendly and agreed to waive all charges and zero out my account.
Someone called me back a month or so later wanting me to sign back up. I had to explain why I hated the company so much and why I felt it was a scam. They had no idea what HA had put me through. One arm doesn't know what the other is doing. I get these calls once a month. I used to tell them all about my horrible experience but now I just explain that they are a scam and know what they did to me so don't need to waste either of our time. I will not sign back up unless they pay me and have no access to my bank account. That is a show stopper for them of course and the entire deal is a scam.
The only legit leads I actually got from the company were bottom feeder price shopper customers. Think about the type of people you get when you advertise something on CraigsList or Facebook Marketplace. They just want the low ball price and don't care about quality. The only contractors that can survive are those who cater to this market and typically do low quality work for a low price. HA is best avoided at all costs no matter if you are a contractor or a homeowner."
"Do not trust the reviews on HomeAdvisor -- the contractors pay to be on the site and so if you write a negative review, the contractor can dispute it and HomeAdvisor will side with them because they are their income source. Even after I provided detailed information and objective evidence of my negative experience, HomeAdvisor would not let my review be posted. I used to use them for projects all the time and no longer will!"
"I went on HA to see if I could “see” as in visually check out how much some work would cost me in my area.
I AM not ready and DO not want calls etc. little did I know that once you start the process and fill out your info you are in their system and receive calls. Not only that, and this infuriates me-they charge the vendors up to 60.00 for my phone number that I’m NOT ready nor think I will be to start my work. All I wanted was to “see” if there was an estimate NOT be inundated with calls. Very misleading and totally not fare to the vendors- IMHO!
And, I called HA and they said it’s paid advertising-how is that a true and honest lead for a consumer to know they are getting a good deal?!? "
"Home Advisor Forced a Payment on My Credit Card for Unwanted Services. Tried to Cancel on 4 Different Occasions and am Still Being Charged! Had to Cancel my Credit Card to Solve the Issue! Their Terms and Conditions is a Total and Complete Fraud. Read it for Yourself and Decide!!!"