Way back in the early days of this blog I talked about using Service Magic to find someone to fix my bathroom tiles. We need to have the whole thing re-wall boarded and tiled. Everything else in the bathroom is in fine working order, but the tiles are original 1950's tiles and the wall is starting to give way.
Well the first try with Service Magic was fruitless. No Contractors that seemed well qualified applied. We had someone else in who we got from a friend but they seemed to being going for the hard sell trying to get us to put in a new tub etc. Sorry .... not in the budget.
I tried Service Magic again a few weeks ago and found someone we liked and the price was right. After meeting a few others we called him last week and left a message to say we'd like to award him the job. I could not believe this was the same guy who came to our house.
Here is what I wrote on the Service Magic feedback form:
We did not book the job with XXX-XXXXXX Construction for four major reasons:
1. Three weeks after receiving our original quote the owner was unable to recall any of the information he gave us in his proposal. Having taken two days to respond to our call awarding him the work he seemed to try and bluff his way through the entire conversation.
2. He was unable to provide a committed start and finish date for the job. He basically gave a vague answer saying sometime next week, but he'd let us know on Friday about working next week. Given our schedule it is next to impossible to arrange to have this kind of work done in our home without a committed start date with at least 1 weeks notice.
3. He finally admitted that he did not know how long the job would take and how many workers were required. For a professional contractor, we could not give work to someone who could not accurately estimate a very simple job.
4. Rather than apologize for not having notes or not being able to recall the details of the job, he adopted a "take it or leave it" approach and blamed us for taking three weeks to make a decision. This attitude in the end made us conclude we did not want to work with XXX-XXXXX Construction. Surely it wouldn't have hurt him to ask for a follow up visit to refresh his memory of the work rather than trying to guess?
This Joker basically called us without any notes on the quote. He didn't even remember how much he'd quoted us. When he was here he told us it would take 3 days and 1-2 workers depending on the day. He knew everything that needed to be done then... but because he seems to have no record keeping methods whatsoever he has now lost the work. We might not have been so aggravated if he had just said, sorry I lost my paperwork on the job, can I come back out and have a look the job again. That we could have accepted. We will not accept him blaming us for taking 3wks to make a decision. Like everyone just decides to spend $$$$$ just like that.
Today we were expecting yet another jackass to come and quote the job. Guess what??? HE NEVER SHOWED UP. It's Sunday afternoon and we sat around waiting for another contractor to show up. He didn't even Bother to call. I'm guessing these guys must be raking in a fortune and can afford to treat potential customers like crap. What is the world coming to???
6 comments:
I can shed some light on Service Magic....could be part of the problem.
ALL CONTRACTORS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS - Service magic scams contractors into paying for "qualified leads" and sells them to several contractors at once .....they are raking in fees while contractors get screwed, with leads that are often bogus.
Steve
That does make sense, Steve? as the post you replied to was infact a potential client for the Contractor? hmmm, weird! As for ServiceMagic being a scam... I do believe everything the Contractor pays for is in the term and conditions of the agreement, and is also explained to them that they are paying for leads, not gaurenteed jobs, also on that note it is explained to the contractor that ServiceMagic limits the competition to no more than 4 contractors maximum. I believe we are all adults and can make our own decisions based on our own opinions, however, people will hear what they want to hear.
I have used ServiceMagic multiple times for numerous projects, not once have I had a problem. Sure, occasionally you get a contractor that doesn't quite understand the nature of business, They are proffesionals in a trade that, since now, has not required business ethics.
If you want you can open up the phone book, close your eyes, press your finger to the page, and dial a number, if that's the kind of business your are looking for.
Contractors in the phone books, are not pre-screend, could be potential rapist, murderers, con artist. ServiceMagic runs public criminal background checks on all of the contractors, if something pops up, denied!
The service if tried and true, will it work for everyone, probably not! You are naive to think that there is a service out there that stands anywhere near perfect!
Service magic is definitely a scam and their screening process is a joke, I own Archangel Roofing in Charlotte n.c. And a week doesn't go by that I don't get calls or emails from them trying to sell me leads, they care nothing for the customers or the contractors and play both sides of the fence with their only objective is to make money for their site. I get my leads the legitimate way by dong great work and by my customers reviews and word of mouth, Service magic is nothing but a vulture of a company and I'm sorry that their bottom li e is only the all mighty dollar. We are a god fearing company and work very hard and have to deal with the stigma of bad contractors already but they're company has also made it a practice to pray on good contractors as well as the populace, shame on them,
God bless everyone and good luck with your businesses
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