Check-a-Trade Musings

Itsgottabedone

I've used Check-a-Trade three times for different services. On each occasion I chose a local tradesman with high ratings. The first two were entirely satisfactory, and I was pleased to be given the feedback form to complete so that I could add my recommendation to those online. My most recent experience was not as good, and left me wondering about the validity of the ratings on the website.

When the work was complete, I had to ask for a feedback form, and when the tradesman got a (rather dog-eared) form from his van he was insistent that I should complete it then and let him pop it in the post for me. I couldn't testify to the standard of the work until I'd kept an eye on the repair for a little while, and wanted to post the form for myself. He persisted in pushing me to complete it for him to take away, but I did keep it.

I'm having thoughts about the reason for him being so keen to have the form and fear that his excellent (9.9) rating on the Check-a-Trade website might not really reflect the opinions of his customers. Any thoughts?

rxbren

check a trade is a waste of time

anything bad they may edit as at the end of the day badly review companies will just leave and leave them and without there scandalous fees checkatrade will lose money

keystone

rxbren wrote: »

check a trade is a waste of time

anything bad they may edit as at the end of the day badly review companies will just leave and leave them and without there scandalous fees checkatrade will lose money

and the same applies to all of them.

Cheers

southcoastrgi

while i can't speak for checkatrade i do use rated people now & again if work is abit slow, i have got some good jobs on there & further work from the jobs the charges are high if the customer doesn't know how much it's gonna cost & just really over prices their budget, i guess it's the same as everything else if you take pride in the job & leave the customer happy then there shouldn't be any bad reviews, so to that end i haven't had any bad reviews so i don't know if that's how the sites deal with neg feed back

Leif

I was recently staying in a hotel, and bored, so turned on the TV. I was shocked to see a program called Cowboy Builders that was sponsored by CheckATrade. Last year I employed a company that turned out to be cowboys, and Trading Standards concluded that the work was below the legally acceptable standard. The company came from CheckATrade, where they had 47 glowing reviews. I do know people who have had excellent work done by CheckATrade companies, but there are many poor trades on the site. It is a lottery.

southcoastrgi

I agree with Leif sometimes it's a lottery whether you get a good or bad trade, which is why everyone on here always says try to get someone that's been recommended, all we need now is a web site for customers maybe checkacustomer as there are as many bad ones as good ones.

Itsgottabedone

Oh dear - thanks for your insight, guys. I was so pleased with the first two experiences, this has been a great disappointment to me. I agree about personal recommendations being the safest bet, but there are some services that are only rarely needed - TV aerial, leather furniture cleaning - and I struggle to find someone to recommend!

By the way, I am the ideal customer!!

southcoastrgi

i would say don't let it put you off, a couple of bad apples doesn't always mean the barrel is rotten

keystone

Leif wrote: »

I was shocked to see a program called Cowboy Builders that was sponsored by CheckATrade.

Couldn't agree more. Absolutely shocking programming.

Cheers

Leif

keystone wrote: »

Couldn't agree more. Absolutely shocking programming.

Cheers

:rotfl:I agree, it was scheisse.

maninthestreet

CheckAtrade make their money from the trades people who advertise with them....