Bark

I have used Bark for over a year now and can say with 100% certainty it takes money and does not do what it says on the tin - to provide a chance to get the clients lead for a fee. I have paid over Ł 800 trying and have not had any serious responses. I run an award-winning architectural office and through Bark have had people (while Bark diligently charges you a fee to respond to them) providing fake emails, phone numbers, people shouting at me, not showing up at meeting, etc. Bark invests zero times in checking the credibility of these ads while charging a hefty amount for them. Furthermore, the description of requested services is vague, i. E. someone will put a large-scale project (that will cost more to respond) yet all they want is a dormer extension. Bark does not demand a more detailed description of the works/services needed, so there is a lot of money spent without knowing who you contact and what exactly is the project enquiry. It is a bad practice and I shall spend time leaving my money elsewhere as it is pointless for any serious business.

I used Bark to receive leads as a personal trainer. I brought 3 sets of credits in total - really should have listened to my internal alarm bells after the first 2 sets.

Had plenty of leads sent my way, but only had two responses.

After the second response I contacted the client to ask if her request for PT services was legit as in her reply to me she said that she had other things to deal with at the moment. This seemed really odd as her lead was less than one day old.

She told me she had never heard of Bark, had advertised requesting PT services elsewhere and had a recent bereavement so no way was she looking nor had been looking for a while.

Long and short of this is, that Bark are obviously finding requests elsewhere and then using them to create leads on their own site. So, these leads are not legit, not current and in my eyes fraudulent.

Am trying to get some of my money back at least. The last set I paid for on a credit card, so I should be able to retrieve that.

Please spread far and wide that this is a fraudulent company.

But not who you keep pushing forward. They are starting next Monday. So we will see how they perform. Lady who came to the house, sounded very efficient, very pleasant as well!

The worse ever service for trade guys it's a scam the contact are set up by bark so you use credits with there fake contact dont water your time, very unprofessional the lady i was talking to call * was one of the rudest customer service I have ever spoken to Very and helpful and unprofessional never be using their service again as a tradesperson it is a scam they have stolen my money any response from them I will not be getting it back even verified phone numbers are fake leads

*Personal information redacted by admin

I recently connected with an Accountant through bark, Mark Undis. This was my first time having a business conversation with an Accountant about my own business and I must say i'm quite impressed with the professionalism, courtesiesness, understanding, patience, and knowledge Mark Undis displayed and shared with me. I highly recommend bark, and Mark Undis specifically if you need accounting help or professional accounting advice, you will get your moneys worth and then some!

I never got hired using these guys and I politely asked for a refund for my unused credits because my business was forced to close during COVID-19. Their response was 'no, we don't offer refunds on credits" and when I told her my business was forced to close due to COVID-19 I was told there is zero help they can offer me and they sent an article on 'How to get hired" that was undoubtedly sent to me as a canned response.

These guys send dubious leads at best and then if you're shut down due to COVID-19, there's no actual human decency over there to make an exception to their refund policy for a once in a lifetime pandemic.

Stay far, far away.

I have been attempting to use Bark for over 8 months now with my consulting firm. In the third month or so I began to suspect that all the leads were not kosher as I had so many bad phone numbers.

I also have a catering company registered with them under a different email address and have gotten only three referrals for but all three were humans who wanted my services so I persevered.

The long short of it is, three weeks ago, I was referred to myself as Katie states my name as Kat) from my own catering company to me as Kat at my coaching company. I know this because I purchased the referral and moments later found myself leaving a message for myself on my other business line.

Bark has yet to respond to a single request for credit or refund and I have no choice but to cancel and slither away and complain to you. VERY DISHEARTENING AND EXPENSIVE.

I had initially purchased the 200 credits for $264.00. After they were used up with zero contacts responding, I emailed and requested the guaranteed refund of the 200 credits had I not been contacted by any leads. I received those credits. Since then, the balance of the credits have been used up contacting leads. Only 1 lead responded to ask questions never to be heard from again. So, had I actually purchased all of those credits, I would be out $528.00 without one dollar in return. I also noticed that many leads received just sit there. Most leads are listed at high credits, so your going to be charged $30-$40 per lead. Very pricey for no one ever contacting you, even with one or two questions. Most of the time you get an email a week or two later mentioning the lead is still looking for a pro. That in itself speaks volumes. Wherever these so-called leads come from, there is no detail of what they are looking for. Commercial, not sure, dont know, etc. etc. Save your money and avoid these people at all cost.

This to take into account as a service provider before paying for leads on Bark.com

You will receive an endless array of job opportunities for your services these opportunities cost in the region of £10-£30.

As a service provider you will be open to having your jobs reviewed by your clients which isn't a bad thing at all but as a customer there will be no review or rank system.

Anyone can post a job and 5 people can pay for the lead to the Job. Barks requirements for customers are that the have a phone number that rings, it doesn't have to be there's and there is no verification procedure.

I have spent in the region of £250-£300 on false leads where no one answers your call, text or email, bark are only to helpful in generically sending you there T&C'S back when the leads amount to nothing.

I have paid for jobs where a customer needs the work the next day and have called them off the back off the notification only to amount to nothing.

I have tried every possible scenario in chasing leads but I would say 1 in 20 pay off and by paying off I mean actual contact.

Look for work elsewhere this website is solely concentrated on protecting the profit margin they have absolutely no regard for the independent/small business owners at all.

Bark advertised that they would be able to get clients for my business, and also had a 'Get Hired' guarantee. Once the initial credits you buy for the leads you get are exhausted and you get no clients, they then re-issue those leads - so you can have a second chance, and they give you some tips on how to get these customers (like responding earlier to ads etc...) Although this was helpful, and also their customer service is 24/7 - unfortunately, everything else, including the quality of the leads themselves is poor. Speculative requests for services and many, tyre-kickers is what I came across. So the leads are unqualified. They still pass them on to you regardless that of course cost you credits. But that's not the main problem - biggest issue for me was these leads get passed on to many, many vendors. Sometimes the leads you call tell me they have had up to 50 calls on their ad - and are fed up and frustrated at Bark doing this. It's a bit of scam, as on the platform, Bark states how many providers have responded, and then 'close' it once it gets to max of 5 responders. Not true. These leads seem to be passed on to hundreds of businesses, even outside the UK (at least in my industry, web development) as these potential clients tell me they have been receiving calls from other countries like India etc... I called Bark about this and they 'assured' me that they only put these UK leads out to UK based businesses - again, not true, as the people who placed their ad with Bark tell me they to get overseas calls...so I think I would tend to believe them, and not Bark. So basically in the end you're dealing with already pissed-off people, no wonder I didn't get any clients. In short, I would advise anyone to stay away from Bark.

The Technician phoned and came the same day to fix my leaking tap. He was very courteous and professional. Exemplary service. Thank you. Highly recommend.

Got a roofer name LEE COATES, I paid him £700 to replace the felt, brick work and gutters on my flat roof and all he did was put Roof Resin on my roof, NOTHING ELSE.
My roof is left in puddles due to the resin over old FELT. Am so disappointed in his work, all he did was rip me off. Don't use this man under any circumstance, he seem to know what he is doing BUT ITS A CON, he will pretend to be religious and a decent person but it's part of the CON he is a thief.

HE NEVER DID THE FELT OR BRICK WORK

Stay away from this site go to trust a trader who verified their tradesmen.