Robert S.

My name is Robert, and I have been using Thumbtack.com for leads in the home improvement industry. I have been using them for about 3 months now, and I have had no return on my lead investments. I have a good profile built there, according to their standards, and the correspondence from potential customers is extremely low. There is zero accountability for the customer to commit. Up to 5 service pros at a time send bids to potential customers. The leads are very vague, and customers appear to be "kicking tires" most of the time, instead of looking for a service they will actually use. There are those that have had a very good experience through Thumbtack, and good for them. I, unfortunately am not one of the privileged in that category. I have spent about $300 in 3 months, and have not landed a single job from them. I do not think it is a scam, but I also think that there is absolutely no qualifying to the type of lead I pay for. I recommend that Thumbtack refund any leads that are not hired out. That would at least keep money in the bid pool for the actual true lead that seems to come 1 out of 50.

8/13/15 - I would like to make an amendment to my previous comments about Thumbtack.com. As with alot of things in business, success takes time. My opinion of Thumbtack has changed to the degree that I would like to move my rating from 2 stars to 3 stars. Although there is still alot of potential customers that simply want a big something for nothing, there are also more true leads present than I first had estimated. Perhaps the time of year, the type of lead, or simply coincidence led me to a negative experience when first using Thumbtack. I have landed a number of jobs, collected 9 reviews, and have replaced my lead money and pulled a profit. Although Thumbtack services to the potential customer, and the service professional pays the price, time has proven to make Thumbtack.com a useful tool for "fill in" jobs between my larger contracts. If you are planning to use Thumbtack.com as advertisement, and for new job leads as a service professional, then let me give one piece of advice. Only spend on leads what you can afford to lose with no expectation of a return. Eventually a job will land and a review will be placed. Do not compromise your integrity by trying to lowball to get the job, as that process has proven to be ineffective. It just takes time for that one job to land to get the ball rolling, and many months later I am categorized by Thumbtack as the 3rd best contractor in the greater Bessemer, AL area. So if you choose to go the way of Thumbtack, or a similar lead based site, be prepared for it to take time to get established, and be familiar to it's users.