rated people

fatbikersbouncebetter

As an experiment and to get some jobs for an old friend still trading, we joined Rated People after their TV adverts are going at it big time at the moment.

The RATED bit is OK once a trader has been with the site for some time, as its the customers that rate them. So if the trader is new, he/they have no rated comments.

Secondly, every job psoted by the general public is free....... yes but not to the trader who has to pay a fee dependent on the 'customers' own budget.

To join cost £10 + vat which is cheap enough and the trader gets the first 'lead' thrown in, then is costs £40 a quarter to stay and then, and this is the uncontrolable bit.


If you are not a trader you simply have budget limits to choose from ie: 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 8000 that you tick. The fee the trader then pays is based on your guessed budget, the higher the guess, the more we pay. This changes from £4.50 to £50 just for the customers phone number.

We have spent £100 already, two 'customers' didn't have a budget at all, just wanted a price. One didn't come back, , One agreed to order and then used our price as a lever to get a cheaper job elsewhere.

One said he wanted the job done in June...... so why quote now.

If you decide to use this service, be more precise with your jod destription and be realistic with the budget, don't guess the highest price and be willing to get realistic prices.


:T PS: jobs that are unrealistic in size, value or ambition will be ignored.

fluffpot

just confirming what most trades know really - these websites are no good for either customers or tradespeople. Anyone who's any good will not have to make use of them to generate jobs

chippi_2

The only people that benefit from this is Rated People (££££), I still cant believe how misleading these adds are.
If you need a good tradesman than ask around or look in the local papers etc, its all too flawed im my opinion for everyone.

elsien

I wouldn't use rated people. I did have a look once, but as soon as it asked for the thorough description of what I wanted, I realised that I wasn't sure what was required and that's what I needed a tradesman to come out and have a look first.
Which isn't an option on the site.

Leif

fluffpot wrote: »

just confirming what most trades know really - these websites are no good for either customers or tradespeople. Anyone who's any good will not have to make use of them to generate jobs

I agree. A trade who does a good job gets more work by word of mouth. That is based on my experience.

chippi_2

fluffpot wrote: »

just confirming what most trades know really - these websites are no good for either customers or tradespeople. Anyone who's any good will not have to make use of them to generate jobs

I would just like to say that although this may be mainly true, there are a lot of very skilled individuals out there that are struggling at the mo due to the economy and these sites prey on there shortage of work, the phrase "if your any good you will never be out of work" may have been true 5 years ago but now its more a case of "its not what you know its who you know". Cheers

Leif

chippi wrote: »

I would just like to say that although this may be mainly true

A colleague got a good roofer from one of these advertising sites. No doubt some trades on such sites are good, but I think the truth is that they are more the exception than the rule. One company I used were out and out rogues, very dishonest, incompetent ... 47 glowing reviews ... huh?

ormus

you may as well stick a pin in the yellow pages.

dacouch

If your a new trader, the rating system is easy enough to manipulate to get yourself say 5 glowing reviews, it would cost you about 50quid to do. If you have a think about it, you should be able to work out how to do it, clue you would not have to physically do any manual work to get the glowing reviews

Also bear in mind that if a bad review is left, the trader complains to ratedpeople and (Unlike their adverts) they will delete it. They make their money from the tradesmen so they want to keep them happy/on their books.

Leif

dacouch wrote: »

Also bear in mind that if a bad review is left, the trader complains to ratedpeople and (Unlike their adverts) they will delete it. They make their money from the tradesmen so they want to keep them happy/on their books.

I believe that CheckATrade do not allow trades to block negative reviews, although they can blag a delay e.g. "Me mum died yesterday, I need a fortnight before I can respond". The trade has a right to reply, and they can say anything, such as "We have refunded labour costs" when they haven't, so basically the response is meaningless. Those who run these sites may well have good intentions, but reality can be rather different from the concept.

costbox

We found a tradesperson through Rated People. They did an appalling job and left before it was finished - owing us money of course. I tried to post this on Rated People to warn other people, but Rated People won't let you post anything that might get them sued - so even saying that the quality of the work failed to meet building control's basic standards was unacceptable. I would avoid Rate People.