Thumbtack.com Thumbtack ripoff Internet

Thumbtack sucks. People put in a request for a job.  They get 3 or more contractors who contact the customer vie email within Thumbtack. 99% of the customers do not provide a phone number nor any other way of contacting them except via Thumbtack.  


I was with Thumbtack for a long time.   I gave them a fair shot.  Out of all the customers I responded to, many times being the first contractor to respond, and despite having a 5 star rating, I would say that less than 10% responded to my contact.  Even after 3 or 4 times of contacting people, they still didn't respond.  Out of the ones who did respond, I'd say maybe - MAYBE I got 1 or 2 jobs, small jobs. Not worth the money.  Avoid them.


A lot of contractors complain.  Customers don't respond.  People leave fraudulent feedback from outside of Thumbtack and from within Thumbtack - people who were never hired by a contractor that is.  There's a lot of problems with them.  You'd be a lot better off advertising locally or finding some other way.  There's dozens of lead chaser companies that are better and more dependable with legitimate leads.  With Thumbtack, you have no way of knowing if the leads are legitimate.  Thumbtack could be posting jobs to get your money, which might explain why most prospects you reply to - even if you're the first contractor to reply and even if you have a 5 star rating, they don't ever reply.  Another BIG PROBLEM is that you're at the mercy of the customer.  There is NO WAY to contact the customer by phone 99% of the time because they don't provide their phone numbers.  That's another reason to believe Thumbtack is providing leads that they post themselves.  The bottom line: I think Thumbtack is shady, and I suspect them of being full of crap.  They're not worthy of your money.  That's my opinion from my own experiences with them for over a year.

maxpowermarketing.com/thumbtack-new-way-to-get-leads/?doing_wp_cron=1394381298.8484110832214355468750

visualpeople.com/blog/does-thumbtack-work-for-getting-new-leads

dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-discussion/507294-might-worth-being-careful-thumbtack-com.html

While the original report is correct, the rebuttle that followed is the owner's usual MO when being called out about using false "leads" to get contractors to make NON REFUNDABLE bids on them. They entice people to fill out a "free profile" and you are not told about the "credits" until you recieve one of your false "leads" who appear to be an interested customer but you are "out of credits" so you cannot communicate with them until you pay for them. You will likely get flooded with people who are "interested" but never hear of them again if you "bid" on them. If you complain, you will get a mechanical response from "Luke" prattling on about Thumbtack's "algorithm"  thgat is too complicated to explain but then encloses a link that sends you to his lame recomendations section and to sum it up, "If you want more people to sign up, you need to purchase their "resume enhancements." I could tell there was something wrong when, after 35 years of REAL customers, his bogus customers sounded like drunken illiterates. Very telling of how he percieves of potential customers. It is NOT an exhaggeration to describe this company as a scam since they are using mistatements of material fact, FRAUD. They are no different than those fake dating sites that somehow have all of these models who are really into you and if you pay now, you can hook up. Online refferrals for music lessons are scams in general. As bad as this site is, it isn't as bad as takelessons.com who bait-and-switches you with kids at Best Buy while claiming they are sending you to "safe and certified professionals" and charge you the hightest price. Taylor Robinson does the same think without sending you to Taylor Robinson.

I have used Thumbtack myself since about 12/1/13.  In just two months I have gained 38 new clients.  Thumbtack is definitaly not a scam.  However they are a VERY small company experiencing rapid growth. With that rapid growth there are going to be issues.  I for one am confident that Thumbtack will resolve them. Once thing they could immediately do is REQUIRE potential clients privde a contact phone number.  That would certainly take care of the negative comments because service providers could then actually call the potential client after submitting their quote.