Rated People

david69_2

I agree i know someone who claims to be a builder who hasn't got a qualification to his name yet can still join the Federation of master builders and have nice stickers on his van.
I wouldn't trust him to change a light bulb but he gets the work through these sites and having a fancy sign written van and website

charlotte99

Brig...agree I probably used the wrong words and thanks for highlighting, I wont make that mistake when I get whoever in to look at it. I dont know that I need damproofing, I just have a damp problem that needs to be fixed. Probably in worse position now, only have the suveyors report, he was an independent though so cant see he would be biased in any way. Hey, ho....just have to bite the bullet and get some builders around.

robatwork

Read this:
http://www.askjeff.co.uk/rising_damp.html

If you get a quote from the companies he mentions the charge will be £500 or more but at least you'll know it's independent...

judygarland

If I was looking for a tradesperson to carry out work, my first choice would be a recommendation from someone I know who has been happy with their work. If I cannot find someone that way, I would then contact my Local Council who run a scheme where reputable traders are included on a list after being vetted. If the LA get complaints from any of the people on the list then they are removed from it, so it is much better than picking up the Yellow pages.

I actually run a business that is listed on my local council's register and it works well. I've also recently been using Rated People to fill the odd day that I may have to fill and this is my opinion of this website.

As a tradesperson, I tried this site a couple of years ago and thought it was a waste of my money and time. Each lead is priced. A job under £80 will cost £3.50 plus VAT and then it gradually increases for the price of the job. You start off on a free trial and then you have to pay a quarterly charge of around £40 + VAT.

There are many many jobs posted where the "customer" inputs that they think the job will cost £100 when it is nearer £400. Obviously, you dont bother buying these leads. I would say that over 50% of the leads posted have unrealistic price brackets. I purchased a lead the other day where the customer wanted 5 internal doors fitting (a good days work with the furniture) and they had posted "up to £100". The next bracket is "up to £250" and so you wouldnt expect to pay £250 but £100 is an extremely competitive price so you basically "gamble" your money to buy the lead. At the same time, 2 other people can purchase it. I bought this particular lead and then called the customer to be told "unless you can do it for less than £75" it's not worth you visiting to provide a quote!" So if a tradesperson did actually carry out that job, it would have cost them 2 return journeys of fuel to carry out a quote plus do the job plus the cost of the lead so he would end up earning less than the minimum wage!

Then you have the timewasters. I bought one lead that said " I want 8 fence panels erecting". When I called to arrange to visit he said "do you know how much fence panels are, I was just wondering"!

In the last 3 months since using Rated People, I have actually carried out 5 jobs and bought about 30 leads. Luckily with the ones I have done, they were really happy and I have been back and carried out more work.

What a lot of people don't realise is that people purchasing the leads are not vetted in any way. They do call you and have a quick chat but they don't check whether you have public liability insurance or in fact any qualifications for your particular trade. It would also be very easy for you to get friends to post bogus jobs which you can purchase and then get 100% positive feedback.

A friend of mine has a couple of properties that he lets and he usually asks the estate agent that manages it for him for recommendations of local tradespeople. He has never had a problem with shoddy work and now has a few numbers to call for future jobs.

Good luck

Former_MSE_Andrea

Hi everyone

Rated People has asked us to post on its behalf. MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the forum.

We view discussion around our ratings system as a top priority. We also view discussion about our service generally as a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality and reliability of our offering.

This post is to address recent posts regarding our ratings system and vetting process. Unlike other recommendation sites, where anyone can rate, RatedPeople.com operates a "closed-loop" rating system. This simply means that in order to submit a rating, you need to have posted a job on Rated People, which is then purchased by a Rated tradesman.

We are working hard to make sure these ratings can’t be manipulated and have included automated filters to check for IP address/job origination, time stamping and manual checks triggered by known profiles. Most recently, we also implemented a ratings spot-check system, where we randomly check positive and negative reviews to ensure people are not cheating the system.

Homeowners can always go back to amend their ratings and tradesmen are able to comment. We don’t delete reviews of tradesmen, whether negative or positive, unless investigation reveals the review to be false. We also suspend tradesmen who are found to be cheating the system. Anyone suspicious about the ratings on the site is welcome to contact our team who will be happy to investigate further.

In addition to monitoring ratings, we also perform ID verification on all tradesmen who join our service. We also check for Gas Safe certification, ask about Part P electrical accreditation and Public Liability Insurance. We recommend all our homeowners to ask for references and credentials before working with a tradesman.

We welcome all feedback and encourage tradesmen and homeowners to contact our Customer Service & Support hotline at 0800 953 3002.

fluffpot

Well the website in relation to electrics is poor and NO mention of Part P at all, despite what they say above.

I'm an electrician and I would not put myself up on there

Sambucus_Nigra

dacouch wrote: »

Easy enough to manipulate your reviews / ratings so you have lots of good reviews on rated people

Not only, but also...Rated people will remove negative reviews. Which rather defeats the object somewhat.

If Rated people have an issue with this FACT - then I am happy to provide proof in the emails that we sent requesting why they removed our negative 'rating' for a chap who we had to go to the police about and who was arrested for fraud.

Don't believe a word of it.

keystone

We are suitably obliged to the company for this enlightening piece of fluff (with 'andsome apols to the poster below you).

Pleased Andrea qualified it with

MSE doesn't endorse anything a company says on the forum.

though.

Cheers

Innys

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Not only, but also...Rated people will remove negative reviews. Which rather defeats the object somewhat.

If Rated people have an issue with this FACT - then I am happy to provide proof in the emails that we sent requesting why they removed our negative 'rating' for a chap who we had to go to the police about and who was arrested for fraud.

Don't believe a word of it.

It could be that rated people have changed their review system since you tried to post a negative review.

Personally, I don't believe it, but why not give it a shot? You secured a chap through them - can you now post a negative review on the fraudster without it being censored?

robatwork

It's a shame they don't "man up" and post on here properly - sink or swim by their own replies.

There are people here, believe it or not, who find good tradesmen on these types of website, so it won't all be critical.