Thumbtack

I signed up with thumbtack to grow my small business that I have had for a few years. I have done well on referrals but Was hoping thumbtack could help me reach that next level. I was hired by a customer who was a total night mare and scammer. I have dealt with harassment and threats. Very unfortunate because when I was hired on thumbtack for the first time I was so excited. However, my first and only time using it will be my last because it was horrible. You can get hired but be careful with who is hiring you because I learned the hard way.

Was quoted $40 hour to put together a book case and printer stand. I knew there was a minimum of 3hours. When billed after he slowly put his abundant amount of tools slowly back into his car and said his prayers, he charged me for 6 hours because he drove 2 hours. I could have put both of them together in 2 hours or less and I am a senior citizen. So I was billed $40X6 hours $240 plus another $128.88 for I do not even know what. It was total of $368,88 to put together 2 pieces of furniture I bought for $270.

Thumbtack will charge you whether you accept a lead or not. So in my case, I paint murals and do illustration gigs. I thought Thumbtack would be a good place to find more business. I accepted that you will be charged for contacted clients, whether you land the gig or not. That made sense. But then I started getting charged for getting contacted by clients, even when I didn't respond. They say since the client saw my profile on their website and reached out to me, they have the right to charge me. That doesn't make any sense. If it wasn't for that practice I would still use Thumbtack, but I don't want to be charged for some random person sending me an email if I do not respond.

I paid off my account but my girlfriend still owed for job leads on hers. My account was deactivated and I was told it was a because a card linked to my account was also linked to a banned user. Girlfriend didn't know she was banned from the site. They won't say why and won't let me remove the card from my account and use different cards. Basically, girlfriend was "banned" (although when she tries to get her account activated, all they say is she owes money yet won't let her login to pay) and because we have a card we share, I am also banned from the site. What a joke. They are and always have been the biggest pain to deal with. Mind you, I used this site for a year, earned a high rating for my Services, and never had a complaint.

I hired marcos reyes construction charged $1,100 pain and put up Dryealll. Forgot the insulation said it be extra was in the contract. I wanted the bedroom closet painted he left the closet doors not painted I asked him numerous times was he going to paint them yes. Left door trim unpainted was in contract and window trim. I was charged an extra $100. For what I don't know. Now I left painting the doors. I have a lung disease I can inhale the paint

Ihave been with Thumbtack for several years (over 5). They always had a way of doing business. We were guaranteed that only 5 pros would be able to bid on a job and we could actually see how many bid for any one request. Unbeknown to us, the pros, they changed the way they do business now and they will let extreme multiple people bid for the information. I just spoke with a woman who said she has received too many calls to keep. The only people making money is Thumbtack. If you change the way you do business, then we should be notified. I just canceled.
Despicable!

I've been on Thumbtack since 2012. Thumbtack originally was allies with my Company, but they have slowly become my absolute Enemy. They refuse ALL refund request no matter how bogus the lead is, if a crazy person that was never a Customer of mine post a negative review of me Thumbtack protects the person posting the false statements then tells me to go pound sand, when I call to speak to a supervisor I'm always told there is never any supervisors available... I could give Many more examples, but the easiest way to explain it is that Thumbtack is my Enemy.

When you join they ask for your credit card. They email leads that look good and when you open the email they charge you? Then when charge a monthly fee without explaining the process. They have a 800 number that they never answer so you want even speak to a human, it just goes around in circles until you finally hang up. It's a scam

These people are hard to work with if you are a Pro. You cannot speak to anyone and refunds for bad leads are very hard to get. Even if it goes along their refund policy they will tell you no and then cut you off.

I noticed when I would 'hide my account' on days that I don't need leads coming through, I would get fake leads when I'm back online. These fake leads don't respond, and don't even look at my response. The call back numbers and names are fake. Usually these fake leads will cost at least $50. I feel like these are automatic robotic charges to make up the money I was spending on their platform. Furthermore, there's not filter to these leads. Clients have no idea what they're asking for. But my account gets charged anyways. I get ridiculous requests to renovate a entire bathroom for $3k. My small business suffered and I was paying more for leads than I could make from it. For the most part if you even got a job it's from stingy cheap folks where not wanting to pay for what the job is worth.

I am contractor and I used thumbtack for extra work for the last 2 years. I had a good experience at first but then I my account was frozen for a month because they needed to run a background check. I couldn't bid or get into my account to retrieve my customers information. I called customer service numerous times to find out why they froze my account only to never get an answer and to be hung up on several times with no call back. After they finally reactivated my account, they then deacctivated it again 6 months later to do the same thing. I have tried to get a manager on the phone several times but I all I get when I ask is chuckles like their is something funny about asking for a manager. Im starting to think thumbtack is run by a couple kids out of their basement. Contractors, don't put to many eggs in the thumbtack basket cause they don't care about you or your business. Which is odd because they are always asking me to refer contractors for free bids?

I have been with thumbtack for 4 years. When I first started it was great. I got charged $3 to $8 if I emailed a potenical client and they reached back out to me and we made a connection. I had no problem doing that. I got to pick what parties I wanted to bid on and it didn't put a hole in my pocket.
Now they completely rip you off! They want me to pay $75.00 to them, just so they can tell me someone is interested in my catering business and if the client doesn't get back to me then I am out the $75. WTF! Not sure why or how they feel they have earned $75.00 for telling me I have an interested client?
Then I was supposed to get a call from my profile manager or promotion person to answer the questions I had on why charging so much, let's just say that phone call never happened.
It is a royal pin in the $#*! to contact them, there is no phone number to call. This company has really gone to $#*!!

I spent lots of money sending quotes to customers and got nothing back. Lots of people use this platform to get quotes only. Thumbtack should only charge you if you get hired, otherwise is a waste of money, not effective at all. Also their messaging app is bad, i had issues trying to communicate with a someone i tried to hire. App keeps shutting down and new messages only shows when app rebooted. Its a great concept but its to pricey and it has lots of flaws. I will stay as a cutomer but took my business somewhere else.

If you are a professional never ever put your company on this platform.
They will charge you for " perfect match" that are not a perfect match and never give your money back.
They will give you back a "credit " towards more fake leads.
Shame on them, total scam just like home advisor.

Imagine using a site that says it will give you soft leads on quotes for people who you only have a first name and last name initial. You have no phone number email address no concrete proof that the quotes are from real people and not computer generated.

What is for certain is that you will be charged for a bulk of credits. Sometimes the quote will cost 2 credits other times 11 credits. You will find yourself spending up your credits on no time with "zero" results.

Now you're probably thinking, what if someone is getting the gig? Well I am a DJ who has a big name in radio. Whoever I apply for gigs outside of thumbstack I have a 75% success rate. Not to mention I've even lowered my fee on thumbstack below industry standard and still no response.

Did I mention my work region is withing a very small area, which makes this even more suspect.

In conclusion, you should just find another means to find work. Thumbstack is a rip off