Rated People website

WELLSIANA

trustatrader ...hilarious ..i was with them two years and have a fantastic review count...because they sent me 50 and i filled them in myself..i was biased towards me and never gave myself one bad review although i varied the tick boxs...as for time too join it took as long as it did to cash my cheque..i was never inspected and just had to photocopy documents..i could actually have used someone elses...they are all a money making sham and its not for the professional ...ps gary is an ignorant !!!!!! who listens only to gary

PhylPho

Roger Morris's post at 320 really ought to be pinned to the top of this thread as a wake-up call to every consumer who takes these rate-this or rate-that "services" seriously.

Making money out of the gullible has never been easier than when the Internet is used to run a brokerage service. Anyone here can set one up in a back bedroom because little capital outlay is required, little risk is ever incurred, and no-one can or ever will police your activities. You're just the middle-man. You just say. . . stuff and rake in the money.

Where trade services are concerned, the best advice a potential customer can get is from an existing or former customer. In person. Not via some middleman's Internet website. If it isn't possible to get information from family, friends or neighbours then Roger Morris's recommendation re the Trading Standards service is the best alternative. Anything else. . . forget it.

moneysavingnewbie1

I used RP to advertise a heating job. I couldnt get access to any information about the tradesmen until someone contacted me and then RP sent me a link to look at a profile for the tradesman who was wanting to quote for the job.

I hired the tradesman - who turned out to be a complete psychopath and although I managed to get him out of the house (he was paid in full) I had thought about calling the police because he was ranting and raving. When I advised RP that he was psychotic and a possible danger to others (he literally flipped from being ok / tad wierd - but then became a lunatic), I explained that I would like to warn people about him but felt afraid to leave a review as he obviously knew where I lived. I asked if the review could be anonymous. In response, Rated People cancelled my account. I DID say "I dont want to use your website again" but i didnt say I was leaving or cancel my account! That was their response to my fear of leaving an honest review which would help others, but would obviously mean people wouldn't use this psycho and they therefore wouldn't get their cut.

Where is the customer service? Where is the concern for consumer safety? How is it ok to ignore my appeal for assistance in favour of making themselves money? I dont recommend RP and will never use them again. Ive found an alternative now - literally just now - a website called checkatrade.com. It lists profiles of tradesman for free. You don't need to create a login or pay anything, it just comes up with profiles of people who seem to have been vetted by the site (it lists their insurance details, their qualifications etc) and it has reviews from site members. Its perfect because you call whoever you want yourself (their contact details are on the site) and you can see their profile before you decide to make a call. Don't know how the site makes money (maybe through advertising, maybe they charge the tradesman to appear on their site) but its like Yellow Pages with reviews and im happy I can see reviews before i call. With that alternative i dont see why anyone would use RP. Before i found checkatrade.com i also used mybuilder.com which was better as it shows profiles but I didnt get any calls for one job so they dont seem to have a lot on there (RP dont either by the way) but checkatrade has loads for the job i need doing now and you can see how many tradesman they have in seconds for your job so go and have a look at that site!

I agree having read the above posts that reviews could be fake but its more info (qualifications etc) than Yellow Pages so i think checkatrade is handy. i wish i had family and friends who could recommend people to me but i dont so this is the best alternative for people like me

timdf911

you really don't know who you're letting into your house and what their background is.

I found to my cost the RP builder I used for a short period of time was a serial con man, drug addict plus some of his 'helpers' were ex-cons including a rapist ! Such is the power of Google.

RP really needs to perform a CRM or similar on their 'rated' people.

I'm not saying everyone one from RP is a bad egg, just that they seem to attract more than their fair share of dodgy types.

From now on only local contractors found by recommendation.

dacouch

timdf911 wrote: »

you really don't know who you're letting into your house and what their background is.

I found to my cost the RP builder I used for a short period of time was a serial con man, drug addict plus some of his 'helpers' were ex-cons including a rapist ! Such is the power of Google.

RP really needs to perform a CRM or similar on their 'rated' people.

I'm not saying everyone one from RP is a bad egg, just that they seem to attract more than their fair share of dodgy types.

From now on only local contractors found by recommendation.

Rated People were featured on BBC Watchdog this week, their excuse for a conman being on their list and having great feed back on the RP site was that he's also on other builders websites.

Oh that's ok then.

They must forget what their adverts say about their website.

Worth a watch http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04m0b29/watchdog-series-34-episode-1

timdf911

that's so funny but sad at the same time.

What an absolutely lame excuse, clearly Rated People have no intention of 'cleaning house'.

It's probably take another piece on watchdog but even then I doubt it.

In the meantime steer well clear or at least do your own background checks !!

corrado100

Great website.. thats if you like being hounded by builders who have paid fair amounts of cash to get to you.

timdf911

Interesting wikipedia entry - just about sums RP up in a nutshell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rated_people#Controversy

robatwork

Interesting but not very well written:

Between 2012 and 2013 ratedpeople.com allowed convicted criminal Mark Killick to operate on their website under the name Mark Jenkins allowing him to swindle between £500,000 - £100,000,000 from unsuspecting home owners who used the ratedpeople.com website in good faith.[18]

£100 million?

415217

Just to add to the debate, consumers need to beware of this company (Rated People). Consumers may think that the tradesmen and companies that pay to be on this website will be reputable as it is endorsed by Phil Spencer.
In fact the company bears no liability whatsoever for the tradesmen and companies on their site and, as far as I can tell, carries out no vetting procedures or checks to ensure the safety of the consumers that wish to use it.
In other words, any traveler cowboy, rogue trader, etc, could pay the fee, use a bogus business address and bid for work and it is the luck of the draw whether the consumer receives a call from a legitimate trader or a conman.
Rated People only seem interested in the money it makes from the monthly fee and the bid fee, the fact that consumers are left to be potentially conned is not relevant.
I used it once and my experience only lasted a couple of days, the 'tradesman' did not turn up on time, did not bring any materials and was always full of excuses. I eventually sacked him before he did too much damage and without paying out any money.
My advice is DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE (RATED PEOPLE) AT ANY TIME!