Rated People website

Catalyst1969

Rex_Mundi wrote: »

Any website that advertises/recommends trades is very much open to abuse from any tradesperson that advertises there, or from the site owners in the chase for a quick buck (feedback or not, this is far too easy to abuse on the Internet). If possible at all, I would always suggest that you get recommendations from friends/family/nieghbours for a builder that they have dealt with personally.

That's true Rex Mundi, but your problem is really with Rated People for not allowing you to change your ratings isn't it?

I am a tardesperson and you are taring me with a brush that I feel is actually covered in Rated People tar. Rated People are in it to make money and as a tradesperson I am getting stiffed by customers that have no intention of getting any work done, YET I have paid a ' lead ' fee. Customers also can be a pain and maybe you need to realize this - if you have not already.

Catalyst1969

I think you are over reacting. Though I admit that like any company Rated People fail to initiate solutions for both customers and trades-people in a timely manner.

Catalyst1969

Rated People needs to clean up its act. That goes from a trades-person's point of view too. I say this as some customers need banning from posting fake jobs as it costs them nothing to give me the run around.

mphowells

Having just today posted my first quote request with Rated People I came across this thread (I’m a first page Google person) and have read more or less all 13 pages. Wanted to make a few points so have just set up an account – make of that what you will, as there are clearly sceptics on people doing that. I should highlight that I suck at DIY so my points are from a customer perspective, certainly not a tradesman!

While I totally agree that Rated People’s charging structure seems OTT (they get paid even if the tradesman doesn’t), those who say RP are out to line their own pockets are totally correct. Of course they are, they’re a business. As a tradesman aren’t you interested in making money?! Obviously I can’t comment on their customer service yet but my personal experience is that I only ever jump on the net to review something if I’ve had a bad experience (don’t get me started on talk talk), if it’s a good experience I tend not to bother.

I am assuming you are aware of the charges which will be levied against you for chasing leads, so are you not going into this with your eyes open? And if you chase a lead and it turns out they aren’t interested anymore then this is a risk you should be aware of. I have had various tradesman around over the years to provide a quote, they go away saying they will and I never hear from them again. This is as much ‘time wasting’ as Rated People customers.

As for customers of Rated People complaining about bad experiences with tradesman, it’s a website – it doesn’t magically make a tradesman good. Go into it with your eyes open and treat with the same caution you would if you were contacting people in the yellow pages, local paper or Google.

Anyway if I get a quote for my painting work I like I’ll post back and let you know how it went. Humble pie at the ready…..

Jean_Bentall

I'd never heard of Rated People until this week, but came across them when I was searching for a local company to install a conservatory. I got a couple of replies straight away, then cancelled any further invitations. One of the 2 who responded arranged to come at an agreed time, then rang at that time to say he'd just realised what the time was and was elsewhere! His company/trading name was not recognised or found on Google search or at Companies House. The other one came, was very plausible, gave a very competitive quote and something then made me Google him after he'd gone. Imagine my surprise when I found that his company was registered as in liquidation! Also he'd told fibs: he told us his age but that didn't tally with the year of birth registered at Companies House. So I then began to wonder how many other fibs he'd told us. Needless to say, I won't be using him. When he sends the plans back to me, I will ask him to tell me the current financial status of his company and see how he replies!

timdf911

Sounds like a typical 'Rated People' contractor - not saying they're all bad but Rated People and similar sights seem to have more than their fair share of dubious types touting for work.

As has been said many times before - best to use local companies with proper offices / bases and rely on personal recommendations.

jimbotheplasterer

I've recently set up a plastering business with a chap who is a skilled craftsman, whilst I have many years experience in property renovation.
We thought it would be a good idea to try the service Rated People offer, as on initial inspection they were offering a one off payment to trial their marketing.

It swiftly became apparent, after some more indepth reading on sites such as this, that an honest, new business would struggle when we have no review history and so on, so we bought one lead, failed to win the job, and decided this was not for us - we would go down the traditional route of leaflets and recommendations, putting ourselves out there personally.

My business partner paid for the first month's membership online using his card, fully under the illusion it was a one-off, as it was not made clear at all one had to opt out and jump through several hoops to get RP to even let you go.

I received an invoice the next month for £18, so I replied immediately to it to ask them to cancel our subscription forthwith - I managed to overlook the email address was noreply@ratedpeople.com, again not vigilant on my part, but who uses email addresses you cannot reply to when they have real customer service at heart?

So another invoice arrived via email this month, and I realised the error of my ways, and followed the cancellation route advised on their website - which was visit the requisite page, and email them to cancel subscription. This I did, only to receive an email telling me this was not adequate to cancel, I now needed to ring them up - which I did.

My original email explained clearly I had not used their services after buying the one lead for just over a fiver, and so as a gesture of goodwill, i would appreciate a refund of the two months £36 in total my partner had come out of his account, as it was very misleading that we were being tied into a contract - guess what, they played hardball with me, what a surprise, quoting company policy - I escalated to a manager - he towed the company line, but offered me free membership for two months and £30 credit for leads - but no refund.

I do not want to buy/have given any more rated people leads, they are of poor quality, usually a quoting exercise from what I have gleaned, and their customers set their own budgets before a quote is given - this can only lead to underpriced jobs and disappointed customers when the tradesman cuts corners to fit into their price expectations - I have no desire to compromise the quality of work we do, and no amount of sweeteners will change this.

I should have done my research more thoroughly about rated people before we decided to sample their wares, and now I'm finding they are indeed incredibly difficult to deal with when it comes to getting monies back - a mere £36 refund and I'd have been happy, but no, company policy means their front line staff, and their line managers do not have the authorisation to do a teeny weeny refund - so to all you new businesses out there - save yourself the hassle and go elsewhere with your marketing budget.

I am escalating via letter to Head Office, and I will let you all know how that pans out

truemll

I am a customer, have used this website twice, I have to say I will stay away from this site forever, it was bad enough for the first time and I gave it another chance, and the second time, it was even worse. The tradesman actually told me the price he quoted me include I give him a 5 star positive review on the rated people website as part of the job. What a complete joke!!!

manny46

I used rated people a while ago for a builder. To cut a long story short the work they carried out was so bad I had to get someone else to do the work from scratch.
When I put a bad rating on their site they took it straight off, as the builders pay them each time they get someone interested in quoting for work.
This company is still on there with five star ratings.
They have no qualifications to be builders, and can't carry out even the simplest of tasks.
When I phoned rated people they didn't want to know, its a shame as I'm sure there are decent companies on there.

timdf911

You have to try very hard to get Rated People to keep negative feedback on line about a contractor as it potentially damages RP's reputation.
I had to talk one of their 'rated builders' to county court before they would do anything.
In the end RP dumped said builder - but said builder simply got back on RP but under a different name until I tipped off RP and he was dumped again.
No doubt he's out there somewhere ripping off other people on some other site.