<p>Does anyone here use (or have used) this for service business recommendations? The reason I ask is that my business has had several positive reviews and their reps have been hocking me to advertise on it. It seems like there are so many free review sites that I’m skeptical that many people would choose to pay to subscribe to Angie’s List. It is likely that their reviews may have more validity since clients have told me that they actually call them and interview them before they post their review. The folks here are my target demographic so I am very interested in your opinions.</p>
<p>I’m also skeptical since they repeatedly ask us to advertise on it although their advertising states that contractors aren’t allowed to.</p>
<p>I recently signed up for it because I needed to get my fridge repaired. I found it helpful and it was less than $20 for a year. I never thought I would use it but there are so few contractors in my town that I couldn’t find any free reviews so resorted to paying for reviews. Found two that were EXTREMELY helpful so it definitely paid for itself.</p>
<p>I signed up a few months ago because we moved into a fixer-upper and I knew we’d need LOTS of tradespeople. I did find electricians who were outstanding – found three; hired one who was awesome, but they all seemed really good.</p>
<p>HOWEVER: I’ve been looking for a landscape architect, and when I search for that, I get landscape architects mixed in with landscapers. You know, the guys who do the drive-by mowing. That’s not what I’m looking for, so it’s annoying and not very useful.</p>
<p>I’ve also found that there are very few businesses with more than a few reviews. </p>
<p>I think it’s a great concept but I wish the business model were more mature. In other words, I wish there were more categories and more reviews.</p>
<p>I too thought Angie’s list doesn’t accept advertising. I thought it was like Consumer Reports! That’s disturbing.</p>
<p>PhotoOp: What do you mean, you paid for reviews??</p>
<p>ETA: I posted a positive review of the electrician but no one from Angie’s List called me to interview me. Audiophile, what do you mean??</p>
<p>At least one of my clients told me that Angie’s List called them after their visit and asked very detailed questions. Reading the reviews (they let businesses read their own without being a member), a few were way more detailed than if they were unprompted. Not sure what % are done in this manner.</p>
<p>I’ve gotten multiple calls asking us to advertise and at least one e-mail a week to that effect. I think the pitch (I’ve never taken the call) is to be somehow featured in my category.</p>
<p>I’ve been a member for quite a few years, actually have found it useful maybe three times. I’ve posted reviews, but never been called, so it’s nonsense that they call everyone before posting reviews. I’d use it before I’d use a free site because a business is less likely to have all their friends and relatives posting fake reviews if there’s a cost to join. The main drawback for me has been that there is often a lack of options in my geographic area with enough positive reviews. The whole thing doesn’t work until reviews reach a critical mass, and seeing a list of ten roofers, each of whom has one review, is not useful. One thing for certain, I never pay the slightest attention to the paid ads, and I think anyone with enough consumer savvy to join in the first place would feel the same way.</p>
<p>VeryHappy - I mean I paid to join the site to get the reviews - does that make sense?</p>
<p>But I agree, there were not many to choose from and some had only one review. But we did find it helpful and worthwhile for our refrigerator which I’m happy to say is no longer broken!</p>
<p>I think it depends on where you are as to how helpful it is. We live in a suburb of Philly and we use it quite a bit. We’ve found excellent contractors (electricians, plumbers, landscapers, etc.) through Angie’s List. No one has called us when we have posted reviews.</p>
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<p>Thank you! That makes total sense to me, so I’ll utilize my marketing budget elsewhere.</p>
<p>Does it have automatic renewal…that always bothers me although more and more companies are doing it. I only had trouble with one business not canceling promptly, but I just don’t like my CC automatically charged for things.</p>
<p>For handyman type jobs, I almost joined a few months ago and to check podiatrist reviews.</p>
<p>I paid for a subscription last year. It’s worthless to me. I live in a small city about 200 miles from a big city. Virtually all of the recommendations were for businesses in the distant big city… waste of money for sure in my case.</p>
<p>I joined when I moved to a new area where I don’t know many people. I used a discount code so it was reasonably priced. I have found it very useful – found my cleaning service and my dentist, as well as some other service providers. </p>
<p>If two businesses get equally positive reviews, I consider using the one that offers a discount to subscribers or is featured. I’m pretty sure the cleaning service I went with was featured. There were dozens of businesses, many with great reviews – deciding which ones to get estimates from was tough.</p>
<p>Another recent joiner, getting ready for major flooring work. Also used it to decide on a doctor and to help a friend decide on bathroom contractors. I think it is very helpful but don’t anticipate specific additional uses----will have to see</p>
<p>:-)</p>
<p>It really depends on where you live. It was very helpful in northern Virginia, with tons of reviews. In Harrisburg, not so much. At least it only costs $10 here. The DC chapter kept going up in price–I don’t remember now if it was $59 or $79.</p>
<p>Businesses can advertise if they have at least a B rating.</p>
<p>It does have auto renewal.</p>
<p>We joined.</p>
<p>I have used it for many years in the suburban Philadelphia area. I think it may have started in the Chicago area, built up there, and then moved into other locations. So yes, the value depends on how established it is in your area.</p>
<p>I have never gone wrong using Angie’s List as a resource so find it very worthwhile. They do nag me to do reviews on services I have used, but that is a good thing. Once after I gave a rave review to a computer repair service the head office called me to interview me for their magazine as the business was being given a special writeup due to all the positive reviews it had gotten over several years. I was happy to give this service more good publicity. And no, I had not seen any ads for it in the magazine.</p>
<p>I have a second home in New England and Angie’s List does not seem well established there at this point. </p>
<p>To me, it has been very worthwhile to be able to use service people who come well recommended. Most I have used have plenty of reviews. Plus when I tell them I got their info through Angie’s List they ask me to write a review and know I will be evaluating them so I know they have extra incentive to do good work for me. (Although based on their reviews it seems they would have anyway!)</p>
<p>Yes, they do ask those reviewed well to advertise in their magazine, but that is OK with me, as it does not influence the reviews which are the main resource. They also have a column (“Penalty Box”) in the magazine where they expose companies that have disappointed customers.</p>
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Those are the ones that pay to be featured. Doesn’t make them a better contractor than the ones who don’t. </p>
<p>I just hate the fact that they make it appear that contractor aren’t allowed to influence the reviews or who is featured, and then make us pay. That’s deceptive. I wouldn’t want to use a business that uses those tactics.</p>
<p>My spouse signed up for Angie’s List. He thought we were going to do some work to the house, and he wanted to support a business based in our home state. I’ve looked through it, but in a town the size of ours there is just not enough there. H thought he would use it find a limo service for a recent trip out of town. He discovered that your paid subscription is only good for a certain area. You can’t look for out of state or out of town reviews. If some one were trying to get some work done for an elderly relative, a second home, or even review out of town limo services as he did, one must sign up for another subscription.</p>
<p>I used to subscribe, but I lost trust in them. One painter, who had decent reviews when I first contacted him, turned out to be a nightmare. I went back later to look at the reviews and there were a couple of very negative reviews that somehow had not shown up when I looked the first time, even though they were older. I wondered how that could be. Maybe they were able to hold back the negatives for some kind of trial period? I don’t know, but it seemed very strange.<br>
I had tried a couple other contractors before this one, and they were just ok. I didn’t return to them.</p>
<pre><code>The method that works best for me is to ask those good workers who I use regularly for their recommendations. I found a great dry wall installer from my pool service guy. The dry wall guy gave me the name of an fantastic painter. My painter had the name of an excellent window washing service, etc. It seems that the competent people know who the other competent people are, locally.
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