Chris W.

I wanted to warn you about a terrible experience I had with Thumbtack. Ive used them before and found a great moving company that moved us across the country. Therefore, when we were wanting a custom bookshelf made for our living room, I was excited because I thought I found a great carpenter on their site. He had almost perfect, verified reviews. He came to our house, created a prototype for our bookshelf, and we were excited to hear we would have a bookshelf made in 4 weeks. We signed a contract where we paid 70% upfront. After paying the carpenter, he stopped responding to our calls/texts/emails. We were really worried because we had paid close to $5000 and didnt know what was going on. We spoke to Thumbtack, and they told us not to worry and that 9/10 times they were able to resolve things. Thumbtack had his credit card on file and tried charging him for the full amount but could only get half of it cleared. They mailed us a check for around $2400. At this point, we heard back from the contractor and he apologized saying he had health issues. We went to his shop and saw the wood he had purchased. He assured us that it would take two weeks or so to finish it up. Afterwards we didnt hear from him again for a couple weeks and then we got a text from him saying he that he cant finish the project because his health is too bad and he would repay us the balance. After trying to get a hold of him again, we heard nothing. In the meantime, the contractor posted pictures on social media of him making a table with the wood that we presumed he purchased to make our shelves. We ceased contacting him further because he was tweeting messages that were satanic and made us feel uncomfortable. Furthermore, we saw online that he has a criminal background. We contacted Thumbtack again for their assistance, and after our case was escalated to a manager, they advised there was nothing else they could do to help. They said that its now between us and the contractor and they have no additional responsibility to us. When I asked Thumbtack does background checks, they say they ALLOW the vendor to complete one. This experience has been ridiculous and we feel beyond disappointed. We are out $2400 because we trusted Thumbtack to vet their vendors. Instead, they put a criminal on their platform and refused to take responsibility. STAY AWAY FROM THUMBTACK so you dont find yourself in a similar situation!