I used to be a huge advocate for AL, It was very successful for me back when I first started and we had some great jobs come out of it. As of 3 years ago it seems like they cannot keep account reps so its a constant revolving door of people that dont understand the business they are in. I have spent hours on the phone with new reps every single time I call in explaining to them what I do, I am always promised the world, calls back, account editing etc only to have failed and broken promises. also it seems like everyone is always in "meetings/out to lunch" so getting ahold of anyone other then the receptionist is absolutely impossible.

in the last year ive had 3 new reps, I need to edit the map and our locations where we show up and it seems like thats a "burden" Toppled with AL being free the "leads" that im getting are not the same as they used to be. they are a disaster now.

Angies list officially gets an F for business practices, reorganization and overall success rate. In the beginning they were awesome, now they are bottom feeders. Im officially done with them.

The owner of the previous company I worked for was a big advocate of it...but all of the leads I ever fielded from them were hang-and-bang's or "the cable guy strung a wire across my floor, can you come fix it?" stuff.

Yeah, I feel the same way. I paid them almost $4k on this current contract and 3k the year before. I'm done, zero, zip, nada going forward.

I joined an incredible BNI group and booked my city Expo in the Spring (at a fraction of the cost of the AL advertising). I'm looking forward to tons of impressions and a great referral network.

Called 3 times today. Nothing.

Funny, once your up for renewal they sure find the time to talk to you.

Can't believe Angie's List has gone the way of the other miserable contractor scam sites. Guess they made their billions off the back of us and lost their way in the process.

I just don't know how I feel about BNI. Get asked all the time to join and I've done a few previews, but I don't know if it's right for me.

They sure as hell do!!

I dig it. I've been in since just before Thanksgiving. I always said what I missed about leaving the corporate and retail world was the people I worked with. So now, with BNI, I feel I have a friend at work again. If you want to talk about a great sale or system, you can. If you want to bitch about a bad prospect, you can.

As for results, it's early. Most of the group says it takes a year to start rolling, build trust and getting referrals. However, I have closed a little bit of business and have some pretty good inside leads for the pipeline over the next couple months. If I do well with those, obviously that will only get better with time. I also used the flooring guy too. (I'm sure greasing the wheel when you get into a group like that doesn't hurt either.)

My group is about 55, Big! So YMMV for sure. For me, doing $100 service calls all the way to good size systems, everyone is a prospect. I hope to get a 10-20% lift in revenue from it this year (and I signed up for two). I'm sure I'll see you in San Diego, so I'll have real numbers....

BNI all depends on the group of people.. I was invited to one group that pretty much consisted of a bunch of low level service people such as salon owners and so on which would have probably led to nothing. Another group was much more promising but another guy in my area weaseled in before I was able to commit. I have no idea how it worked out for him.

I don't do al, yelp or thumbtack at all. I found it to difficult to manage.

That's crazy. Do you need the Angie's List work? 3/4K contract!? I had Home Advisor reach out to me and I've shunned them forever. I find that Yelp/AL has clientele that always wants a "deal" and needs me to integrate the gear they purchased at Best Buy. I've got no time for that BS.

How do you cancel? What is listed in the ToS/contract for you to cancel? Do they have an actual business address? If you're on some type of recurring payment plan or soon to be up for renewal that will auto-bill I suggest you send a certified letter with return signature required stating your intention to cancel and to cease all future billing on your account.

Why didn't you come to this conclusion before you told me how awesome and amazing they are. You owe me 5 grand!!!

In the beginning they were awesome, now they are bottom feeders. Im officially done with them.

I used to be on the Angies List bandwagon. When we started the members paid a good subscription for access to Angies List. That meaned that they at least were willing to pay for recommendations for quality contractors.

We tried Service Magic and that was a disaster. People who were only interested who could do the job as cheap as possible. Plus paying for all the leads where people just wanted to ask questions and didn't really want any work done.

Now Angies List is free and the quality of the members has dropped considerably. The way they list companies has also changed.

Luckily for us we are starting to do more commercial work so we are less reliant on Angies List.

I am trying Thumbtack out now. I only did one project, which was smaller but an easy job and gained a nice client. The reason I am going to give it a try is I am only paying for the leads I want to contact and quote. I paid for the $30 credit package, or whatever the smallest package is. I have only quoted two jobs, the one I got and one other. Both were two credits which totals something like $2.50. The one I did not get, they credited back because they say the potential client never responded in the allotted time. I have no idea if TT will be successful for us, but being it is so cheap and I can choose when to bid, I figured it is worth giving a shot for filler work.

All good points, all very true. I've been in their system for about a year (?). I think I've only closed two jobs, but they were more than hang and bangs at least. It is great that you only pay when you want to bid. I do Extreme cherry picking on their leads now, only things that should be in the 5-10 or 10-20k range. But, even when I go do the walk-through, the prospects still want to pay a fraction of what they really need.

I don't need $10k-$20k jobs from them, but if they come along, great. I am just looking for filler jobs here and there. The job I did netted around $500 for a few hours of work, which came from a $2.50 lead. I'll take that any day. Client was happy, gave us a 5 star review within hours of leaving also. I also cherry pick what I want to bid on though. MANY of the leads say they require early morning installations before 9am or after 6pm. No. I am not going to do that. Maybe start a job before 9 but leads specifically state 6am-9am. I would do it for a premium price, but otherwise, I stay within business hours.

I looked at Thumbtack. Put in a request for someone to provide and mount 55" LED on an articulating mount above fireplace, conceal wires, install power, 2 20' hdmi cables and to patch walls.

The highest quote that came in was $250.00. We sell that package on Angies List for more than twice that price.

Checked the reviews of companies who responded. One reviewer was happy that the installer mounted three TVs in an hour and a half. Not sure that a company like mine that does quality work and does not rush through jobs would be able to compete with these guys that offer such low prices.

The problem is everybody is just concerned with getting the cheapest price and then later complain about the poor quality.