<p>I signed up for a month but after reading some of the reviews, I am sort of suspicious that businesses are submitting their own good reviews. For example, my current dentist has three (glowing) reviews, all submitted in the same week last March. Coincidence?</p>
<p>I thought I signed up for a month, but they continued billing me, even after my credit card expired. They told me that they have a right to get new credit card numbers, should one expire. I know businesses are members because one contacted me after I wrote a review. I don’t know if they make an effort to monitor reviews. The biggest problem I had was that they had very few reviews in my area.</p>
<p>I thought they were kosher.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised to find that members are gaming the system. Yelp doesn’t monitor who posts reviews. Consumers trust these reviews as the objective unbiased experiences of consumers, but businesses know this and post their own positive reviews. </p>
<p>I recently wanted to buy an appliance, so I paid the $6.95 to access consumer reports for a month. I always thought of Consumer Reports as being the gold standard of unbiased, objective reporting, but guess what – one of their “recommended” washers got terrible reviews on their own site! And they seemed to “skip” many brands, which got me wondering – they’re not surveying all brands out there – they’re probably only surveying the ones that pay to be reviewed by consumer reports.</p>
<p>The only objective advice is from your own mother.</p>
<p>^I actually consider Yelp the best. Every once in a while they take down reports that are either libelous/slanderous or they think may be written by the business. They also give the business a chance to respond to reviews, so if it’s completely false or something out of their control they can state that. And I’ve always felt that people on Yelp are pretty honest rather than angry customers searching out a way to rant. </p>
<p>Note that I’ve never used consumer reports or Angie’s list, so I can’t say for sure. But I really like Yelp.</p>
<p>Classof2015 – Check with your public library. Many have Consumer Reports available on-line for free, accessible from your home – all you need is your library card #.</p>
<p>Angie’s list around here has very, very pricey tradesman. As in twice or more the estimates I got from folks that had locally good reputations from talking with neighbors.</p>
<p>I have been bombed with Angies list ads, since I gave them my email but has not signed up. I am wondering if the service charge any thing to the service provider for the leads/referrals they provide. I found if the service does charge, you will get high estimates for the job, because they have to recover their expenses for the jobs they won.</p>
<p>Angie’s List fan and user since 2009. Was recommended by a friend who had had a great experience locating someone for contracting work in their home. So far, every person, service, etc. we have used from Angie’s List has been exactly as rated by users. I have used them to locate services in 2 cities where our kids were in school or where my sister lives. Again, we have been pleased each time with the service provided. As for double posts, I wanted to rate a health care provider we had used ( and having a senior moment-forgot i had already done so), the program would not allow me to post since a review by me had already been posted. Ironically, the user-rater programs in the metro=Atlanta area seem to have similar ratings for both excellent and mediocre services.</p>
<p>I have used Angie’s List for years and been very satisfied with the results. I have also written numerous reviews for them, and was even interviewed by their magazine when one of the service providers I had recommended was being profiled because of all the great reports they had received. By the way, this service provider had mentioned to me that he gives scheduling preference to Angie’s List members when they call.</p>
<p>I recently had significant landscaping work done and the landscaper specifically asked that I submit a review to Angie’s List re the firm’s work on my property.</p>
<p>I do think it is a reputable organization. Unfortunately it is not active in all areas, and may be of more value where it is more established and has built up more reports.</p>
<p>We own a small business and have gotten calls from Angie’s List telling us that because we have so many good reviews that they would “profile” us, for a fee of course. I think they started out as a good idea, but like many things it has deviated from its purpose. We get calls and emails from them almost every day nw offering to put us on the front page, or other things. I would be very wary,.</p>
<p>I think Angie’s is about the best source of internet objective evaluation of businesses available. Have been a member for ten years or so. It isn’t infallible but it’s better than anything else available that I’m aware of.</p>
<p>arabrab – thanks for the tip – I will check out my library instead of paying $ for CR.</p>
<p>I have never used Angie’s List – is it for people like carpenters, plumbers, etc.? Sort of an on-line “word of mouth” referral?</p>
<p>I personally use my facebook friends for recommendations these day.</p>
<p>I got my electrician via Angie’s List. So far, so good, and I live in the Northeast, where getting skilled and reliable service providers is frustratingly difficult. This guy returns calls, shows up on time, and so far as I can tell, knows what he’s doing. Around here, that’s a huge win. I actually think Angie’s List is most useful in highlighting who to avoid.</p>