Why you cant trustatrader.com

To-poor · 20 March 2011 at 7:07PM

This website supposedly contains a directory of vetted and referenced tradesmen that you can trust. Ive used two traders from this website both picked by me because of the high standard of onsite recommnedations from previous customers and had bad experiences with both.

I wondered if I was unlucky but after trying to leave feedback regarding my bad experiences Ive since realised that not all references are published!

If you leave a positive review it gets posted straight onto the site but negative reviews are not unless "investigated".

I left two frank and accurate reviews detailing the bad workmanship and service I experienced from NA Carpentry and Aqua PH plumbling neither of which have been published.

I have spoken at length with [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] the owner of the site and explained fully the extent of my experiences with these tradesmen and the reviews are still not viewable.

In a token effort and after a lot of pressure, my review of NA Carpentry appeared on the site and was heavily edited to just three words "Do Not Use". Unsurpisingly Andy of NA Carpentry then performed a job for free and received a glowing reference which appeared on the site making a joke of the damage he caused to my property and the review I left.

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] is well aware of the damage caused by NA Carpentry and went so far as to refund the money I paid to them yet he still wont publish my feedback to stop other customers making the same mistake I did?

I have contacted Trustatrader several times to enquire as to why my reviews have not been published and have never received a satisfactory response.

Imagine if ebay only published positive reviews of members who ripped off others.

EssexGirl · 20 March 2011 at 8:37PM

As far as I'm aware, the "trusted" traders have to pay to advertise on that website, so as far as I'm concerned I wouldn't touch a trader on there with a bargepole no matter what is said about them.

That's why the owner doesn't want any negative comments about his cash cows.

Ask around, go by word of mouth.

vuvuzela · 3 October 2011 at 2:35PM

Signing up, one post, defending a website ? SPAM.

fadetogrey · 3 October 2011 at 2:44PM

50/50 wrote: »

I've used tradesmen from Trustatrader, and had no problems at all. As for the traders having to pay, why shouldn't they be expected to pay for the use of the site, as it's bringing them in work, it's a business, not a charity.

I've also looked up the reviews that the top poster has said, and although I've seen the 'DO NOT USE! review, and can understand his frustration, have a couple of questions myself. If your first impression was so poor, why did you bother to use him and not look elsewhere? You also got your money back, and your review saying exactly not to use, so what if your own words didn't make it up there? That 'do not use' is probably more effective than any vitriolic ramblings about some bloke whose work hasn't come up to your expectations. You said first impression was poor and yet you stil used him, so can only guess it's because he was the cheapest. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. At least you had your peanuts thrown back.

This was a paid endorsement from a director of trustrader...:whistle::whistle:

shaun_from_Africa · 3 October 2011 at 3:00PM

Checkatrade isn't any better.

They state that businesses are "Recommended, vetted and monitored" yet they twice failed to reply to an e-mail I send asking why they allowed a driveway company to be listed whilst they were operating illegally (being investigated by the local council for setting up and running the business from a residential property despite already having planning permission denied for this).

macnoonix · 21 December 2011 at 6:28PM

Hi there , I joined this site to defend Trustatrader . I became unemployed in July 2010 as an electrician and spent 8 weeks queueing for a fortnightly dole cheque of £80 . Luckily at the time my wife was in the process of receiving a cash settlement from her ex husband and after a lot of careful thought we decided to apply the money wisely and started my own business . After a few months of trying to pull my business off the ground I began to build up a client base and in January went through a fairly rigorous process of supplying documents and literature to Trustatrader for membership . This was a very comforting process for me because I knew that not everyone becomes a member and only those with the necessary qualifications , insurance and paperwork would be considered . For this reason I would imagine that the gentleman with the bad experiences with Trustrader should acknowledge that despite a rigorous vetting process there are instances that some tradesmen slip the net . However , we have been the target of word of mouth builders and can assure you that they too have a tendency to be poor .

I am now looking to renew my membership in January and have enjoyed a very happy relationship with the site and my clients who have accessed me from there and have had no problem with endorsing the site to other tradesmen

Trustatrader has a feedback system and I have never had any negative feedback myself and cannot imagine the site would screen negative feedback . They will always contact the clients to validate negative feedback and take a dim view of poor workmanship .

I hope this has been helpful

Trevor

T.Nixon Domestic Electrician

burnleymik · 21 December 2011 at 6:39PM

macnoonix wrote: »

in January went through a fairly rigorous process of supplying documents and literature to Trustatrader for membership . This was a very comforting process for me because I knew that not everyone becomes a member and only those with the necessary qualifications , insurance and paperwork would be considered .

Just because a tradesman has the relevant documents doesn't mean they will do a good job or even be any good at what they are doing.

Although I agree negative feedback should be checked for legitimacy, if it i found to be honest and true then it should be added to said tradesman's records, otherwise the site is basically a fraud.

It seems to me like the business model is a failure if what is posted here is true. Might as well just use the yellow pages.

katejo · 21 December 2011 at 9:57PM

I have not yet used this site but it was recommended to me just last week. I was therefore disappointed to see the criticisms on MSE. If you have had a good experience, please do let us know

maninthestreet · 22 December 2011 at 9:54AM

The business model of trustatrader (and at least one other business that replaces 'trust' with 'check' in their name) is that they offer a paid business directory service to tradesmen. So the tradesmen are their customers, not the members of the public who choose to use the services of one of their customers. Not surprisingly, trustatrader is not gong to bite the hands of those that feed it......

5050 · 23 January 2012 at 4:18PM

burnleymik wrote: »

Just because a tradesman has the relevant documents doesn't mean they will do a good job or even be any good at what they are doing.

Although I agree negative feedback should be checked for legitimacy, if it i found to be honest and true then it should be added to said tradesman's records, otherwise the site is basically a fraud.

It seems to me like the business model is a failure if what is posted here is true. Might as well just use the yellow pages.

The reason you don't see many bad reviews, if any, on Trustatrader is simple - if the traders turn out to be crap, they're removed from the site, refunded their money, and told not to come back. If they're not trustworthy, of course they're not going to be allowed to stay. Not every company would even hand the money back if they found out that something was false, but these guys just hand the money back so that's the end of it.

dacouch · 23 January 2012 at 6:09PM

vuvuzela wrote: »

Signing up, two posts, defending a website ? SPAM.

Me thinks you could be right

Why you cant trustatrader.com

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