Website which rates local trades 'people'

dacouch

gofaquotes have been spamming MSE a fair bit recently, see posts 182 and 183 from "Gareth" http://forum.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=811327&page=10

Whois shows the owners name as...Gareth Jones

Please feel free to click spam on his spam posts

Oh and 4 here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/50820123#Comment_50820123

pineapple

I used one of these sites to find a plasterer. I got the impression he was just starting out and still not fully competent. My little job took an age and was not 100%. I've had plastering done before and know the difference. That said he was a lot cheaper than the competition and was a lovely guy so I would have felt mean leaving a negative review (so I didn't leave any). I would definitely not hire him for a full room (the next job) or recommend him to friends for big or complex jobs. I suspect there are a lot of people like me.

baldelectrician

Some councils have registered trader schemes

If they don't you could always call trading standards as ask if they have any info on a particualr company

C_Mababejive

I am a fully skilled proper engineer and i would not register myself on any of these crummy websites. I stand by my own professionalism and if people dont like my prices, fine..they can go away and get it cheaper if they like.

Does anyone know of similar sites for rate a lawyer,doctor,teacher,estate agent..blah blah blah....When did you last see a joker like Dom Littlewood hounding a Barrister because he gave apparently poor service to a client? It doesnt happen does it becuase these failed TV presenters and similar have to take whatever work they can get and the ordinary working man or woman is easy pickings for them.

Arthurian

How can we be sure the council's 'trusted trader' scheme is any better than the other website-recommendation sites, eg findabuilder or ratedpeople ?

ormus

afaik only local tradesmen are listed and they dont pay anything.
the end users will soon let the council/charity know if any of em are con men. and they will be removed from the lists.

Leif

Arthurian wrote: »

How can we be sure the council's 'trusted trader' scheme is any better than the other website-recommendation sites, eg findabuilder or ratedpeople ?

You probably don't. I was talking to a job agent recently, and he said he'd used a couple of bad trades (bodgers) recently. When I asked where he got them, he said one was from CheckATrade. Sadly schemes probably do no more than filter out the con men and crooks, but not the bodgers and cack handed. That said, my mum got someone via Help The Aged, who have an approved list, and he was good. Not cheap though. Stick to personal recommendations, it is the best route. An alternative is to ask someone you trust. I asked the people who fitted my kitchen for the name of a tiler, and he was good. A local stove company gave me the name of a plasterer they use, and I bet he is decent. That said, you might want to avoid trades used by Vance Miller kitchens.

pda

keystone wrote: »

Somewhere there is a village thats missing it's idiot.

Cheers

better go back home then

pda

ListysDad wrote: »

PDA you get off yours. All of us idiots who offer advice have businesses here but we refrain from pushing said business due to the RULES.

Is PDA short for Pretty Darned Offensive? :mad:

Whats there to be offended by? Everyone in their right mind knows what the person is doing... is it not the mods job to police this, rather than some busybody?

rossaa

We had a cowboy builder (Building Foundations, Staines, Middx) a year ago, wrecked our bathroom, dangerous wiring caused a fire, had to have it all redone, they got the deposit but no more. We had building control and trading standards involved as this company did a runner and failed to respond to any of our letters.

They are still listed with Checkatrade and Elecsa despite our written complaints and following their complaints procedures. On Checkatrade they have an average of 9.8 with lots of glowing reports despite our complaints, strangely our complaints are not listed. Spoke to Checkatrade today, got loads of excuses, but they are obviously not going to list negative comments. Even trading standards advised not to trust checkatrade.

We are now looking to get other work done, three companies have come to price up the work so far, we asked for detailed quotes, only one has provided this, the other two haven’t and those two are listed with checkatrade with high ratings. I’m now looking to see if a company is listed with checktrade and similar sites, then I won’t use them. Very frustrating though.