Checkatrade

stressedashell

Really glad I found this thread, I really thought C-A-T was a reputable site!

theEnd

Didn't realise it was that dodgy.

Although I have to say, the few traders I've found from it have been very good.

Blue_light_2

Checkatrade require your permission to contact the trader in the event of a complaint. Otherwise they will not publish a bad review. Several people have been subjected to harassment and threats from one particular builder so have withdrawn their reports, resulting in only good reports on the website. Tradespeople I have spoken to say that they have no faith in it. Many members get friends to write good reviews.

haylamay

Hello everyone,

I am very sorry so many people are unhappy with Checkatrade. My husband is a member and we have been paying a lot of money for many years. However, he has over 90 fantastic reviews which must tell people something. I really am very proud to be his wife! He works so very hard to keep and maintain his reputation, as we all know your reputation is only as good as the last review. He doesn't have 1 immoral buddy let a lone 90 immoral buddies to make false reviews, surely people can see that for themselves.

If there is a secret to finding a hard working, honest and reliable trader please look to see how many people give him repeat business. More than half my husbands work is repeat custom and they have him back over and over again. He is also a member of 'Buy With Confidence' and this may make a difference to people looking for a trader.

The saddest thing from my point of view is that we cannot report rouge customers, who look for an honest trader and then are insulted when he refuses to do a job cheap for cash, or deliberately try to manipulate him and pull a fast one on him.

Thank you for taking time to read all this and I hope the people who are disappointed with Checkatrade have a better experience next time and don't take out their frustration on the next builder. Please remember self employed builders and tradesmen are human beings, not responsible for the last builders failings, have feelings are loved by their families and are 'in it to make a living, not a killing'

NonGeographicalMan

haylamay wrote: »

Please remember self employed builders and tradesmen are human beings, not responsible for the last builders failings, have feelings are loved by their families and are 'in it to make a living, not a killing'

With comments like this you aren't fooling anyone, especially noting that this is the first post you have ever made in the MSE forum under this user name and that you have joined it specially for this purpose.

I feel that almost certainly you are a senior staff member of CheckATrade or the wife of a genuine major Rogue Trader who lures in all their new victims via CheckATrade. Your reason for posting seems to almost certainly be that you are now worried about the falloff in new business being obtained through the CheckATrade LureASuckerOnToTheRocks route and that your post has been made in a desperate bid to try and prop up this ghastly unethical company that should long ago have been shut down by Trading Standards or the Office of Fair Trading.:eek::mad::mad::mad:

trena1c

sillywilly wrote: »

What the building services industry needs is a review site like Tripadvisor for holidays where both good and bad - HONEST reviews are allowed and the site makes nothing from them.

You go on Tripadvisor and there are some shocking reviews of some of the hotels on there that they happily publish.

Why isn't there a similar site for trade services? BTW the plumber who did illegal and potentially lethal work was a company called Langdown Plumbing and Heating - utter cowboys! One to avoid unless you fancy getting potentially electrocuted to death!!

There is a site similar to Trip Advisor .... it is called Biz Advisor

BizAdvisor.co is the only completely Independent Business Review website in the world with Full Social Media Promotion.
Whether you have had excellent customer service or been treated badly, they want to hear from you!

haylamay

Dear NonGeographicalMan, Yes I did sign up to this forum specifically to comment on my husbands and my position. I have never joined anything like this and I am not on any other forum. Sorry if that look suspicious to you as you clearly enjoy the banter on forums

Please note 'By With Confidence' is 'Trading Standards' which my husband is a member. My advice is that if you need someone to help you, look for people with repeat business.

Kindest regards

cepheus

haylamay wrote: »

The saddest thing from my point of view is that we cannot report rouge customers,

I would keep quiet about that sort of business :kisses:

NonGeographicalMan

haylamay wrote: »

Yes I did sign up to this forum specifically to comment on my husbands and my position. I have never joined anything like this and I am not on any other forum.

Please note 'By With Confidence' is 'Trading Standards' which my husband is a member. My advice is that if you need someone to help you, look for people with repeat business.

Dear haylamay,

If you really are a genuine lady who has a husband who is a tradesman who is listed on Checkatrade, as well I presume as elsewhere, I apologise if have jumped to a mistaken conclusion.

Nobody is saying that having a list on Checkatrade automatically means a tradesman is no good. Most trades people seem to list their services in a large number of online directories and their seem to be a lot of these because they earn revenue from their click trhru links to other sites.

Unfortunately what most people can say is that the fact a tradesman has only glowing recommendations on Checkatrade does not automatically mean they are any good and can be relied on because the Rogue Traders get their friends and relatives to endorse them (or simply set up multiples bogus user accounts) to provide good feedback whilst any negative feedback can be removed at will by the trader. Sadly rogue traders who do bad work often seem to work the hardest on manipulating their ratings.:(

Our criticisms here are of the apparent lack of scruples of people who run Checkatrade who clearly only seem to care about money and expanding their empire do not seem worried if poor workmen are able to manipulate their ratings to look like a reliable tradesmen.

I agree that Buy With Confidence run by Trading Standard is a much better scheme and a much more reliable indicator that the public probably can rely on the quality of workmanship by your other half. Clearly the Rogue Traders who gain business via CheckATrade do not normally tend to be listed by the Buy With Confidence scheme. Also in rural areas local parish councils can often be another excellent source of recommendations for reliable trades people.

haylamay

Thank you NonGeoghraphicalman,

You are clearly a person with principals and my husband and I are fully behind your fight to uphold honesty and fairness. I'm sorry if you've have had a bad experience and appreciate your well balanced reply.

It would be interesting to find out if the rouges put up photos of work or find a way for Checkatrade to weed them out more quickly. You have certainly helped me to think to think about it. When I first read all the negative feed back I was just really hurt, but maybe there is a way forward. I'll keep thinking on it and it will help us to understand how people feel about Checkatrade.

Haylamay

I'll be signing off the forum now, but hope you and the others have better experiences in the future.