DesignQuote

I had a very bad experience with Design Quote as well. 90% of the time their "verified" leads are not actually serious people, or people who already have a provider and just need to get a few throw-away quotes.

Sometimes the leads never respond to you, despite multiple attempts to follow up via phone and email. Design Quote support is non existing, they just ignore your requests for a refund for the bogus lead.

Strongly advise against using this company.

The idea of designquote is good but just like other platforms its open and obviously used by lots of scams that pretend to know what they are doing, wheel you in to pay them half and then not deliver you anything you could possibly use. My experience was terrible and i would not recommend anybody to use this platform since there is no rating for the participating so-called designers. And after the fact designquote does not care about your satisfaction. I got burned i would never use them again.

I have used DQ and spent a few hundred dollars to buy their BOGUS leads hoping to find a decent customer one day. Well, a few years back I did find a delightful client whom I worked with and she was very happy with our work. Other than that, I have never been able to gain a single client through DQ's bogus leads.
Either the customer will never reply after acknowledging the intent-to-bid or they will not reply to the professionally written proposal sent to them or they will close projects abruptly, or they will not answer their phones or all of the above. But, after spending several hundred dollars hoping to land one good job, I have not gained anything but loss. Thus, I write this to help all the other professional fellow designers and developers to help them from experiencing this type of a loss in their future.
I have noticed that after my negative review of DQ, at least 6 new reviews have been added, ironically, all with perfect 5 stars(wink). Upon reading them, I've felt that they were less than perfectly honest so that's why I am adding the following to my review:
The customer service at DQ is almost non-existent, they have never answered any of my calls and or returned my calls since the last time I have tried to contact them. I have also sent them requests for a legitimate refund but that was also completely ignored. I would understand their refusal to issue the refund based on one of their policies that they have not had posted(wink again) but not replying to my emails right before or after I quit using them wasn't reasonable.
If this type of a service deserves 5 stars then I guess I am not from this era :)

Designquote.net sounds like a good idea, but there are two major problems:
1. Most of the "clients" are unsophisticated, don't know what they need or it's value (monetarily or intrinsically), and appear to want something for next to nothing.
2. The designquote management cannot screen out the bad apples, so all I have is a basket of bad apples. I have 12 leads still awaiting results, all from 2 to 6 months old!

Of the three projects I bid on which did close, two went to someone in-house, not to a designquote bidder. This lesson cost me over 300 dollars.

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8 months later:
Regarding some of the positive reviews, keep in mind that there will always be those who have a good experience with even the worst company. My warning is for those designers who expect transparency, good communication, a proper functioning website, diligent screening, and careful followup from Designquote. They're lacking in each of these areas.

It's not all their fault, I admit. The very process of seeking design talent anonymously from a website, is flawed from the start. The design process should be personal, and websites are impersonal, as we all know. Designquote enables anyone to request a quote for free, with no obligation to respond or follow though. It would probably change everything if those requesting quotes were charged a small fee upfront. The fee would be refunded when the job was awarded to a Designquote designer. Anything to encourage genuine requests for services.

In any case, I'm happy for those who've found good clients on the site, suspicious of some positive reviews, and concerned for the designer who thinks this will automatically be a good source of work. If you must pay Designquote money, go in with your eyes open.

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15 months later:
Ive spent over a year buying leads and sending out thoughtful, reasonably-priced proposals, with nothing to show for it. Usually, when you send out a proposal, you hear something from the prospective client. Even when you arent awarded the project, you get a rejection, a thank you, or at least an acknowledgment that they received your proposal.

The way designquote has set things up, the one seeking services pays nothing and so has invested practically nothing in the process. They feel no obligation to respond, and seldom do. That is why, in over 15 months, I never heard from over a dozen leads to whom I sent inquiries or proposals. Not one word.

And in the very few cases where the prospect did update designquote on the status of the project, it was almost always to say they had found local service providers, instead of designquote members.

All in all, an expensive learning experience. So, as of yesterday, I have purchased my last credit and written my last designquote proposal.

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In response to a few reviews in praise of designquote.net:

1. Bo L. (1/26/16)
Bo says he can determine "within the first 10 seconds of reading a lead description whether it is a serious lead or not." This may be true for weeding out the obvious bogus leads, but there are plenty of genuine leads by clients who only want to see what the market charges for a project like theirs. Then they use the info, but not a designquote designer.

2. Mia L. (6/20/16)
Mia says: "don't purchase from them if your process includes spending hours on a proposal before you speak directly to the client." Sometimes the lead doesnt contain a phone number, only an email address. And often you cant get through to the potential client, have to leave a message, and get no return call. And if you do speak to them, they dont always know what they want. And even when they do, your well-crafted, reasonably-priced proposal still may not even be acknowledged, much less accepted.

3. Anant B. (12/12/16)
What does "I've used DesignQuote for over 2 years but I recently joined them after setting up my own company" mean? You cant use them without joining, so your review is confusing.

4. umair a. (4/19/17)
Your review says "they should improve their method to check bogus leads." And yet, you continue to use designquote, and give them 4 stars. Not the most informative review.

I have worked with this site and just want to warn others after having a horrible experience there. The job/bidding process is a mess and they do not do refunds once you have sent them your money. I would be very careful before working with these guys.

I had a business idea and wanted to get a website created and have some software designed and i found this website on google and it looked as if i could get some good quotes on my project so i decided to try it, i had many bids and hired the winning bidder to do my project.

Then things got ugly, the guy who i hired from this site took my $2300. 00 and never gave me anything for my money, and if thats not bad enough he stole all my business ideas and opened up a business using even my domain names.

When i contacted www.designquote.net and told them what happen they never even bothered to respond back, i tried calling them sending them emails and never once did i get a responce.

In conclusion DO NOT use www.designquote.com the people who bid the projects are crooks, since i have been ripped off 3 other people using the same web guy through design quote have been ripped off as well, it seems they use this designquote website as a front to swindle people out of there hard earned money.

ADVISE - Do not pay anyone through paypal for ANY webdesign work, paypal.com will not guarantee this as they deem it a intangible item, these people are getting away with fraud stay far away.