Chuck D.

Thumbtack

Past-
1. Treated Pros great because they needed to do so in order for us to help build their brand through credibility.
2. They had a 5 bid limit.
3. They sold us their leads for a fair and reasonable fee.
4. Top Pros were doing great by using TT to build their business at the same time as TT. We were in this together.

FAST FORWARD

Present-
1. They have had hundreds and hundreds of Pro complaints about the exact same issues for well over a year, and yet have not changed the system back. Why? Because it's working for them. If it wasn't, they would have changed it back ASAP. TT as we know, likes to make changes.
2. They tripled the bid limit for contractors. Why? Because it increases their profits per lead. It's just that simple.
3. They tripled the cost of selling their leads to Pros. Why? Because it increases their profits per lead. It's just that simple.
4. Previous TT Pros have expressed their frustration and concerns over and over, but yet no change back to the previous model. Why? Because the new model benefits TT by allowing new Pros to participate. TT has a better retention of new Pros because they are willing to pay TT $ for leads up front in order to "skip the line" in front of older Pros that used to land most of the work due to their built up profiles that TT constantly encouraged in the past.

Bottom line-

TT is an for profit business, and will therefore do that which increase their profits. Nothing wrong with that. BUT, the aggressive increase in the cost of leads, the aggressive increase in bidding limits, the aggressive promote and instant match to sell their leads to Pros has obviously had a negative effect to the long term Pros that have been around for years. We've expressed our concerns over and over, to only be responded to with scripted replies that TT cares about its Pros and wants/likes the feedback. Well, so far, it appears the feedback is being met with strong resistance. Why? Again, it's because they found a formula that is beneficial to them in terms of profits.

I honestly believe that TT profits were being held back by the old Pros. Why? Because they had great profiles and ratings which held back new Pros from landing the jobs. The new Pros would become discouraged and go elsewhere. Now, with the Promote and Instant match they can, and do, have an equal playing field if they are willing to pay triple the cost for the leads upfront. IF old Pros pause the "promote" feature, then they will still be charged for the "instant match" feature if that day is open on your calendar. I have considered filling up my calendar just to prevent being charged up front for a lead that I haven't even had the chance to evaluate. If you pause your services, and eliminate your budget you will still get leads, but they are worthless in my experience. As you stop spending money with TT, and not respond to the few leads you do get, your ratings will begin to drop along with the leads you recieve. Bottom line, it's become a pay up front lead generation service as opposed to pay once you've received the lead and can decide to pay or not pay.

If I had a large demographic of customers that were all voicing their concerns about the same issues I would be in trouble... unless I was wanting to get rid of those customers for newer, higher paying customers that were beating down my door. How do I deal with the older customers that are all singing the same tune? I respond with concern and pleasant replies while knowing they will eventually go elsewhere and my reputation/ratings won't be negatively impacted.

That's my take... Cue the Admin mods to respond that they are glad I shared my view, they are sorry for my situation, and they will pass on my concerns to management that has heard the concerns over and over again for far too long.

It's really simple... TT is aggressive with changes without notifying the Pros. Why not change the system back to what it was for 30-90 days and see what the Pro responses are? It's because the old system wasn't nearly as profitable, and the old Pros are being replaced by new blood. The new Pros will eventually realize it's not cost effective even though they are finally landing some of the jobs. Just a matter of time. TT, you pulled the rug out from under your old Pros that helped you build your business. If you woke up one day and your business expenses tripled, you'd know exactly how we feel.

Feel free to copy and past this post.