Angie's List Contractors should stay away from Angie's List Internet

My husband owns a small home improvement company that has been in business for nearly 2 decades.  About 3 years ago one of our customers posted a positive review about our company which got us listed on Angie's List.  We were delighted.  Shortly thereafter, Angie's List began relentlessly contacting us in order to get us listed in a more prominent position which would supposedly be great advertising.  In order to do this, a company must pay to have advertising on Angie's List.  So, do not believe the commercials when they say businesses cannot pay to be on Angie's List.  They can and they do... we paid $275 per month which is more than $3,000 per year.

Angie's List then began trying to push us to offer a "Big Deal" special to our customers, where we would offer 4 hours worth of labor for 1/2 price, which is $199.  This was the worst campaign imaginable for a home improvement contractor as we are accustomed to doing large projects with a signed contract in-hand, not handyman services for a fixed price.  However, being new to Angie's List and not understanding fully how this works, we agreed to try it. 

First, I have to say that most of the customers were very pleased with our work and posted nice reviews.  However, there were several who had nothing better to do than to post very petty complaints which had nothing to do with our quality of work.  They complained about the fact that the project that they had chosen couldn't be completed for $199 and they didn't want to pay more.  These folks literally want something for practically nothing.  For example, who can reasonably expect kitchen cabinets (purchased from IKEA) to be assembled and installed in their entire kitchen for $199 within 4 hours?  No contractor can perform a miracle like this, but at the end of the day, the cabinets were hung beautifully, level and plumb with no damage to the cheap veneer which covered them.  The customer was informed beforehand that this would cost more than $199 which she agreed to, but became enraged when she was asked to pay more (additional 4 hours of labor) for a job that should have cost a few thousand dollars.  A year later, she posted a nasty review.

We have also been accused of being racist because an Angie's List customer who we never even met lived too far outside of our service area, and have also been accused of casing someone's property after she gave permission for us to measure her house for gutters and downspouts.

I am posting this as a warning to other contractors:  DO NOT ADVERTISE WITH ANGIE'S LIST.  You will end up paying a lot more than the members who are able to post whatever they want whether it is true or not.  AND, you cannot get off of Angie's List because the members (customers) "own" the reviews that they post about you so Angie's List will not remove your profile.  Many Angie's List customers are complainers which is why they sign up in the first place.  They are not looking for good contractors to do serious work; they are looking for a bargain.  They will not pick up the phone and let you know that they are displeased with anything, which would give you an opportunity to fix it.  They will post a nasty review whether it is true or not, and Angie's List gains because as long a members are posting reviews, they are still paying for their membership.  If you love your business and want to protect its reputation, stay away from Angie's List!