Why you cant trustatrader.com

135678

Comments

  • Leif
    Leif Posts: 3,727 Forumite
    BillTrac wrote: »
    I wanted to convert an under stairs cupboard to a cloakroom. I called three different people through Checkatrade. One didn't bother to respond, and the other two came and surveyed and then didn't bother getting back to me.

    I was talking to a friend last week who recommended a plasterer. He came round and gave me a price in an hour. He finished the job yesterday, very well impressed.

    I will never, ever bother with these so-called 'trust a trader' websites again.

    Silly really, because as an electrician I have always relied on recommendations.

    Could it be that they figured out that you were a trade? I imagine it is harder to get away with bad work for a trade. Yes I'm cynical.
    Warning: This forum may contain nuts.
  • Leif
    Leif Posts: 3,727 Forumite
    AKUK wrote: »
    Firstly I am sorry, and apologise if you were offended, this was not my intention.

    I did not have to join Trustatrader, it was, as I mentioned, because it looked to me that they checked the people who join. I am a member of NAPIT, IET, TrustMark and FSB, the first 3 bodies you can join only by merit.

    I cannot comment on those schemes but they seem to make the same claims as CheckATrade "Where reputation matters". So I remain sceptical of any organisation that takes membership fees from trades.
    AKUK wrote: »
    99% of my work is recommendations, and I must tell you that even by recommendation you are not sure 100%. I had a builder, doing work in my house, he was recommended by a good friend, this builder was bad professionally and left my house without finishing the work and with my money.

    Yes you cannot guarantee good work but in my view word of mouth is the only reliable method.
    AKUK wrote: »
    I do a lot of electrical inspection, You cannot imagine how many times I find that a property was tested and inspected by a registered electrician and it was far from complete, I found dangerous faults missed, made up test results, certificates not complete if issued at all etc.

    To be honest I am not surprised. Seeing so called professionals do a bad job encouraged me to put up coving, and hang doors, and I was surprised to find it not hard.
    AKUK wrote: »
    My point is that there is no 100% in any subject, it is not fair to condemn the website and its members because you had one bad experience.

    I had one not so good experience and one very bad one. Both lied to me, and I would not use either again. I've also spoken to several people, and one had a bad experience (bodger) and one a good experience. This does not tally with the claims made elsewhere by the founder that 99.5% are very good. And as I said I've used many trades outside CheckATrade, and they've all been okay to excellent. Having spoken at length with someone who helps run CheckATrade, I am convinced the terms and conditions are grossly biased in favour of trades. Also I do not like the idea that the trade may only care about the review, not the long term quality of the work. Thus they flatter the customer, and do something that looks okay but might not last long. With trades who get work through word of mouth long term quality matters (i.e. not just a few weeks after the work is done and paid for).
    AKUK wrote: »

    I am new to Trustatrader and if I will find that they are not what I think they are, I will stop my membership, and promise you that I will come back and write about it here on this forum, My company is an independent, one person company, and I do not have interest in promoting any other comopany.

    Yes but you do have an interest in promoting an organisation if they help you get work, so you are not disinterested. It is in your interest to promote Trustatrader.

    But to be fair to you, I am quite prepared to believe you are a good trade, as I said earlier some trades on these sites are good. A colleague used someone who was excellent. A long term poster here said he had several good trades from CheckATrade.
    Warning: This forum may contain nuts.
  • AKUK
    AKUK Posts: 6 Forumite
    Leif wrote: »
    I cannot comment on those schemes but they seem to make the same claims as CheckATrade "Where reputation matters". So I remain sceptical of any organisation that takes membership fees from trades.

    The Schemes I am registered with are well known in the industry; NAPIT=National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers,
    IET=Institution of Engineering and Technology and TrustMark. Please search this bodies and you will find that they are different organisations than the ones in this post.
    There are different sites, not all the same. I don't know about checkatrade. I think that being sceptical is the right attitude.
    Leif wrote: »
    Also I do not like the idea that the trade may only care about the review, not the long term quality of the work. Thus they flatter the customer, and do something that looks okay but might not last long. With trades who get work through word of mouth long term quality matters (i.e. not just a few weeks after the work is done and paid for).

    Again you are right but still putting every trade man and group in the same basket.
    I give my customers 5 years warranty for my work (in writing) and any problem is fixed for free during this period, this is because I do not compromise on safety or quality.
    Leif wrote: »
    Yes but you do have an interest in promoting an organisation if they help you get work, so you are not disinterested. It is in your interest to promote Trustatrader.

    Of course I would like to get work, and if it is partially because of TrustaTrader why not, as long as the customer gets good value for his money.
    Leif wrote: »
    But to be fair to you, I am quite prepared to believe you are a good trade, as I said earlier some trades on these sites are good. A colleague used someone who was excellent. A long term poster here said he had several good trades from CheckATrade.

    Thanks, and I am sure that I am not the only one. I think that part of the problem is that people want good work for cheap, this does not exist; good quality parts cost more and good work takes longer.
    The fact that it is working does not mean that it is safe!!!
  • wary
    wary Posts: 786
    First Post First Anniversary
    Forumite
    I think we're straying from the point of the thread, which is that TrustaTrader have a review system but wouldn't allow negative reviews about their tradesmen, certainly not in this instance. Whilst I can understand this (without condoning it) from a purely commercial aspect, it is also truly appalling as it presents a biased view to those who choose to use it.

    There will no doubt be good & bad tradesmen, but how does one distinguish using that website? At least with personal recommendations and word-of-mouth, you can get a balanced view. Imagine if those with a bad experience were gagged from saying so?

    AKUK - let's hear what you think of the Ops experience when they tried to leave negative feedback on Trustatrader? Don't you find this totally appalling that they wouldn't allow it (other than a 3-word review when put under pressure)? Don't you find the whole thing stinks from this perspective?

    Oops, I've just re-read your original post and see that you've tried to turn the Op's experiencing back around onto them, portraying them as being a whinging !!!!!!! who are never satisfied! At the end of the day, they should still be allowed to leave honest feedback either way, should they not?
  • AKUK
    AKUK Posts: 6 Forumite
    wary wrote: »
    I think we're straying from the point of the thread, which is that TrustaTrader have a review system but wouldn't allow negative reviews about their tradesmen, certainly not in this instance. Whilst I can understand this (without condoning it) from a purely commercial aspect, it is also truly appalling as it presents a biased view to those who choose to use it.
    I hope that bad reviews are published, this will allow to distinguish between the qualified and honest/good traders and the qualified and bad traders. I think that even for commercial reasons to ignore bad reviews is wrong. In the long term if this is the policy people like me that try to do the right thing will leave this website.
    wary wrote: »
    There will no doubt be good & bad tradesmen, but how does one distinguish using that website? At least with personal recommendations and word-of-mouth, you can get a balanced view. Imagine if those with a bad experience were gagged from saying so?
    Personal recommendation is always good, but have to be careful because it can come from the traders family, friends neighbours etc. they are doing him/her a favour not to you. Therefore, I suggest that any person who comes to your property to do work, if he/she is an electrician or plumber check their registration number with a government recognised body like: NAPIT, NICEIC, Safe gas etc. than call and verify that they are really members, you can check it in these bodies websites.
    wary wrote: »
    AKUK - let's hear what you think of the Ops experience when they tried to leave negative feedback on Trustatrader? Don't you find this totally appalling that they wouldn't allow it (other than a 3-word review when put under pressure)? Don't you find the whole thing stinks from this perspective?
    No!! and I think I expressed my view about it above. If you are properly qualified and doing a good and honest job, you want an honest review. According to my experience all my customers reviews on the website were identical copies of the customer's review.
    wary wrote: »
    Oops, I've just re-read your original post and see that you've tried to turn the Op's experiencing back around onto them, portraying them as being a whinging !!!!!!! who are never satisfied! At the end of the day, they should still be allowed to leave honest feedback either way, should they not?
    Sorry did not get this one...what do you mean...?
    The fact that it is working does not mean that it is safe!!!
  • grayme-m wrote: »
    There is a website advertising on our local commercial radio station like this one (may be this one).

    A thought I had was, if anyone can leave negative or positive feedback, what stops a tradesman making up a lot of positive feedback about themselves?

    Tradesmen cannot leave their own positive feedback because the admin staff on the site check the validity at regular intervals . I have had occasion where I have followed up substandard tradesmen and always report them to the site . Also the beauty of the site is the use of feedback in the first place and a good tip is to look at the volume and regularity of feedback .

    Overall I have been delighted with the quality of service from Trustatrader and endeavour to provide a quality service to all my customers . However , as with any site you will have rogue elements that slip the net

    Trevor
  • Leif wrote: »
    I'm very suspicious of this post, mainly because it is too quick to support the web site, but also because he says "we have been the target of word of mouth builders and can assure you that they too have a tendency to be poor . "

    This is certainly not my experience, and not the experience of friends.

    I used a builder recommended by a colleague's parents. Excellent.

    I used a tiler recommended by the (good) company that did my kitchen. Excellent.

    I used my late mother's plumber. Excellent.

    I used a kitchen company with huge numbers of excellent reviews on an unpaid review site. Excellent.

    Numerous friends have used trades obtained by word of mouth and had good work done. In fact they have used them several times.

    I used a builder from CheckATrade. So so, with issues e.g. bodged filling of screw holes in skirting board, damage to window frame etc. The project manager drove me nuts with his "I'll do it tomorrow" promises/lies, when in reality he had no intention of doing it tomorrow, and I was lucky if he did it in a month.

    I used a bathroon design and fitting company from CheckATrade. Complete cowboys, and I am about to send a letter informing them that in 14 days I will start court proceedings to get back the £3000 deposit. They screwed up a bathroom refit, and I had to have it redone. They lied about what they did, and the work was incompetent e.g. using cement based adhesive with porcelain tiles on bare plaster. Not only should they have used primer but they falsely claimed to have done so. And when I tried to remove tiles, I found they almost fell off the walls. These are 45cm by 24cm tiles in the bath area, and could seriously injure someone if they fell off. I had three surveys that confirmed poor workmanship. As to whether I will ever see any of that £3000, who knows.

    I posted a review on CheckATrade, and took many weeks to apepar, and then it was pulled as the bodgers claimed to have suffered a death in the family. It took several weeks to re-appear, and almost straight away a response appeared, containing nothing but lies. The bodgers claimed to have refunded some money, and claimed to have used an adhesive that did not require primer. I showed written proof to CheckATrade that the response was fraudulent, but they did nothing (well, they claimed to speak to the bodgers, but said that all conversations had to remain private due to data protection regs). Oh, and CheckATrade edited my review such that a sentence saying "I have lost £3000" became "I have made a loss". Quite different! I have heard elsewhere from trades that many reviews are fraudulent, and although I have no proof of that statement (and CheckATrade would deny it) it would not surprise me were it to be true.

    Basically CheckATrade is nothing more than a sales brochure for companies. Some are good, at least 50% aren't. A colleague used them, and got a good trade. A job agent I spoke to used them and got a bodger. If a trade is any good, they get work from word of mouth. If they are either new, or bad, then they use a site such as CheckATrade. My view is avoid these sites. They are not your friend, as they act for trades.

    Hi there . When I posted about word of mouth builders I was referring to a builder that we required to complete an extension (long story) . My wife an I had recieved several quotes for the work and I was eventually introduced to a builder and his son who had undertaken a couple of jobs in the past for fellow work colleagues . He seemed very pleasant and professional and his quote came in about 1500 below everyone else . He started out very well with good intention and the work seemed to be progressing nicely .
    The money paid was to pay his wages and materials on tap and a week after the last cheque was given to him he disappeared for 6 weeks ! It was then we started noticing flaws in his work . He had thrown 10mm microbore plastic piping in to add to a 22mm heating system ! He had nailed every piece of plasterboard back to front despite the instruction to plaster other side on the plasterboard itself ! He broke three tiles on the roof !
    So we tried to chase up where he had gone and after 6 weeks eventually contacted trading standards and was informed that we had to exhaust all avenues of communication before they would take things further . I wrote a letter to the builder and explained we would require him to complete the work and if there had been no contact within 7 days we would take things further . His wife called 48 hours later from a phone box an was on the phone just long enough to tell me he would be back the following Monday . When that did not happen I then sent another letter explaining that because of poor workmanship and his lapse work ethic we would be seeking further advice and would be requiring money back for works not undertaken. He called again within 48 hours and far from being apologetic was quite rude when I explained about the plumbing and plasterboard .
    I then had to pay for plaster for him to use on the walls , woodwork for sills and skirting and coving . He had little or no intention of finishing work off and after a further 2 weeks disappeared again this time without trace !
    We now have to get a quote for another builder to come around and replace the concrete he laid (which I can brush away with a soft broom) replace the tiles and do other remedial work which should have been done right in the first place

    As I said ..... not all `word of mouth` tradesmen are what they are cracked up to be
  • AKUK
    AKUK Posts: 6 Forumite
    edited 21 July 2012 at 9:06PM
    There are several ways to check the work and credentials of a trader.
    If you do not trust Trustatrader or sites like it, you can search feedback about a trader in other places; is he registered with a government body (like for electricians, NAPIT, NICEIC, ELECSA, ECA etc) then you will, may be, find his website and there some more references and more information, and then may be Linkedin with more references. If he was recommended you can go and see his work.

    It is very easy to be a victim of a bad trader if you did not check properly. I was in this situation some years ago, and to be honest these people are experts in getting your money for nothing.

    If a tradesman has in total 60 or 70 good references it is hard to believe that he is not good. People do not like to recommend, especially in writing, and if they do they must believe that he earned it. You can search my records all is open and accessible (akuk.co.uk), so look for someone who will open his records, history, education, experience to your scrutiny and ready to give you customers contacts to ask about him...

    It is not that a website is bad, it is the tradesman that let you and colleagues down...
    The fact that it is working does not mean that it is safe!!!
  • Justicia
    Justicia Posts: 1,437
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 22 July 2012 at 5:59PM
    AKUK wrote: »
    is he registered with a government body (like for electricians, NAPIT, NICEIC, ELECSA, ECA etc)

    They are not "government bodies." They are private companies, compliant with an overall government mandate to provide accreditation schemes.
    "Part P" is not, and has never been, an accredited electrical qualification. It is a Building Regulation. No one can be "Part P qualified."

    Forum posts are not legal advice; are for educational and discussion purposes only, and are not a substitute for proper consultation with a competent, qualified advisor.
  • AKUK
    AKUK Posts: 6 Forumite
    Yes, you are right, these are private companies that are recognised by the government as approved bodies to register tradesman as competent persons. They are different from the type of bodies we were talking about here and to be registered with them you have to be properly qualified and you are assessed every year.

    Just wanted to add that this is a good way to eliminate a big chunk of cowboy traders, but still even this system is not fail proof.

    Checking that a recommended tradesman is registered, will save a lot of headache.
    The fact that it is working does not mean that it is safe!!!
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards