Complaint Review: Angie's List - Indianapolis Indiana
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- Author Confirmed
- Angie's List 1030 E. Washington Street Indianapolis, Indiana U.S.A.
- Phone: 888-888-LIST
- Web:
- Category: Consumer Services
Angie's List Angie's List Beware Indianapolis Indiana
*Consumer Comment: Beentheredonethat
*Consumer Suggestion: Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
*Consumer Suggestion: Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
*Consumer Suggestion: Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
*Consumer Comment: "Rippedoff2manyx" is absolutely correct (almost)
*Consumer Comment: I HEAR ADS FOR ANGIES' LIST ON OUR LOCAL RADIO STATION AND I WONDERED
*UPDATE Employee: Angie's List Response
*UPDATE Employee: Angie's List Response
*UPDATE Employee: Angie's List Response
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Angie's List is an invaluable resource for us in selecting contractors. Before they came along we were much less satisfied with contractors we'd hired, largely on recommendations from family, friends and coworkers who typically had based their judgments on only one job.
But AL is not a silver bullet. We learned that last summer when we contracted for a high-dollar-value home repair with a contractor who was a Super Service Award recipient for that year. After giving them thousands in down payment we struggled for months to get them to do the work they had promised. Along the way we found out they had outright lied to us about their qualifications, they "forgot" to do several things they had promised, and when we finally got the work done, it wasn't complete nor was the quality to our satisfaction. We exited the process a half a year after they had promised to finish, exhausted, disillusioned and grateful we hadn't lost our shirts, as it had appeared we would numerous times.
Throughout this harrowing experience we marveled that this contractor, who had only the most rudimentary business skills and a shocking inability to interact effectively with customers (or his own workers), even had decent Angie's List grades, much less a Super Service Award. But as the weeks wore on and we learned more about this guy we started to understand why his ratings weren't worse. We asked for our money back after he was three months late on his start date. He told us we'd get a refund only if we signed an agreement not to file an AL report. We were willing to do this, but he wasn't able to come up with our full deposit in the four weeks he'd allowed, so the cancellation fell through.
When the contract finally was finished, we filed an AL report that was fair (maybe "charitable" is a better description, as we didn't want to post anything that we couldn't document, even though a lot of things happened in phone conversations, etc, that were fairly blood-curdling) and gave them a "D" rating. Within a few days he sent word he was planning to sue us and he challenged our report with Angie's List, succeeding in having some crucial verbiage removed from our report. Angie's List did not even call us to try to verify his claim. AL based their redaction on some documentation the contractor provided that didn't prove the intended point. Angie's List didn't even examine the document--the redaction went in immediately and only then did AL contact us to inform us of the change. Within a day we rebuffed this effort with our own carefully kept documentation. Angie's List took many days to consider this, agreed the contractor's documentation was non-sequitur, and then took longer to retract the correction to our report.
Next we received a letter from the contractor's attorney threatening to sue us over our report. We reported this to the AL customer service staff, which offered to remove our report if we wanted, but provided no other relief. We held to our guns, knowing our report was fully documented. So far nothing has come of it, and our counsel has said that at least we would be entitled to recover our cost of defending such a suit. But AL has offered no assurances at all as to whether or how they would back us up.
Finally, the contractor posted a response to our report that attempted to undermine our report by a combination of confused reasoning, mis-stated information (like dates), irrelevant near-truths and outright false claims. The response, we felt, largely reinforced our original report. Several facts could easily be verified by a reader (such as licensing dates), some statements were clearly inconsistent and the response had an overall adversarial tone. But there were two statements that we felt represented a legal exposure for us, so we provided AL with a rebuttal and the relevant proof from our records. Again, it took AL weeks to verify our claims where it had taken them only a day or two to respond to the contractor. AL stated the delay was to give the contractor a chance to rebutt our evidence. Yet we were never given a similar chance to rebutt the contractor's "proof" earlier.
We felt that this, together with Angie's List's unsupportive attitude regarding the contractor's documented lawsuit threats and attempts to induce us not to file a report, showed a bias by AL in favor of the contractor in disputed reports. We also suspect a pattern by the contractor of intimidating or inducing dissatisfied clients not to file negative AL reports. This pattern was evidenced by statements the contractor made directly to us. In addition, a careful examination of previous responses showed that the contractor responded vociferously and with adversarial language to even the slightest negative rating--in one case making an angry response to a customer who rated him with all As except for one "B" for punctuality!
A few days after our objection to their response had been cleared and their response corrected accordingly, Angie's List awarded the contractor a Super Service Award for the previous season.
During this process we learned a couple of facts that might not be intuitive to the AL user:
1) When a subscriber files an arbitration request (AL calls it a CRP--an unfortunate acronym that we hope doesn't reflect their attitude about the process!), if the contractor and customer come to a satisfactory resolution of the dispute, the dispute AND THE ORIGINAL REPORT are taken out of the AL database leaving no record whatsoever of a highly dissatisfied customer's feedback. We think a shrewd contractor will intentionally "hold back" something in order to force a CRP, knowing that they need only satisfy their own contract (or less!) in order to have a negative report on them deleted.
2) Although Angie's List claims companies cannot buy their way onto the list, AL aggressively markets advertising (listing enhancements like coupons, etc) to companies with A or B ratings. AL is decidedly NOT entirely member supported. These advertising fees can be well over $1000 according to some contractors we've spoken with. At least one contractor we spoke with had been left with the (perhaps faulty) impression that he needed to pay in order to maintain visibility on the list. That myth is probably perpetuated by Angie's List using the term "Member Contractor" to describe contractors who have paid for advertising. Furthermore, any company that wishes to use the Angie's List SSA logo for any purpose must license the logo each year s/he wins it. And there are other ways Angie's list gets income from contractors.
We believe that such a situation, necessary though it may be to support the AL business model, will lead to some conflict of interest, and is probably at least partly to blame for the apparent contractor bias noted above. Clearly, AL will want to keep A and B contractors in the A/B category and paying SSA logo users winning SSAs to avoid undercutting income and alienating income sources. We think that just the business benefits of being listed with AL should be enough reward for a highly-rated contractor and that no compensation should come from contractors for ANY contractor-page content. Two contractors we spoke with said that Angie's List has driven their revenue so hard that they are deciding whether to expand significantly or find other ways of throttling demand. This leads us to believe that paying for advertising shouldn't be necessary for contractors to benefit from the system. The question is whether Angie's List can thrive without this income stream. At least Angie's List is credible as a rating service, unlike some competitors such as Merchant Circle.
Having said all of that, I have to reiterate that despite its imperfection we find Angie's List to be a very useful and worthwhile service and have spent literally hours writing reviews on contractors we've hired--most of them highly positive.
Still, after our recent experience we now realize more than ever that Angie's List needs to be the "cereal" part of a balanced breakfast--supported by numerous other sources of information on a contractor before signing happens. Some other suggested sources are the state licensing department, state and local consumer protection departments and organizations, state court records (many of which are now available free-of-charge on the Web), credit rating agencies, the Better Business Bureau, local contractor associations, municipal building inspector's office, local building material supply companies where the contractor would be most likely to have accounts and even the contractor's bank.
Contractor-provided references should be considered, but not for positive information as the contractor is certain to provide only references for his/her most successful jobs. One contractor sent us to four references, each of which was a family member or former employee!
Finally, I should note that the way Angie's List's database is constructed may tend to inadvertently conceal information about contractors. It is difficult (or impossible?) to get a single list of all reports for a contractor in every category in which he/she has done work. (AL, please read this sentence carefully again before you rebut.) Consequently, as we followed up our recent bad experience by digging deeper into Angie's List reports on the contractor, we discovered (in other categories) numerous bad ratings and contractor responses that would have given us pause had we discovered them before we hired the contractor. These included a relatively recent unresolved dispute that involved quite a large value.
When you examine an AL listing, it's important to look into EVERY category the contractor does work in, even if it's not the category you intend to hire. What you're looking for is the contractor's business sense, not just their craftsmanship. Also, go back more than the two years AL uses to determine the contractor's rating. Two or three "bad" reports in two years may not seem like much, but a dozen or more in four or five years may be a different matter, especially where the contractor's response has been adversarial rather than solution-oriented. As we learned, it is possible for a contractor with very poor business skills (or perhaps one that's teetering financially) to eke out a Super Service Award, especially if the contractor is especially aggressive about fighting or eliminating poor reports.
To Angie's List, we have a number of suggestions, some of which may, we know, be incompatible with your business model and the need to continue a service that is basically working.
1) Sanction so-called "Member Contractors" and Service Award contractors who "go after" unsatisfied customers by inducing or intimidating them not to write reports or who use the CRP process to have reports excised. I'd suggest immediately revoking the Member Contractor's advertising privileges for the next 12 months with no refund to the contractor or with advertising fees pro-rated to period following the 12-month sanction. In our view, trying to side-step the process in this way automatically says a contractor isn't providing "Super Service." So the latest SSA should be revoked summarily and the bullying contractor should not be allowed to state that he/she has ever received the award for that year.
2) Change the CRP process to ensure that the original bad feedback about the contractor must necessarily remain, but supplement the bad report with an update on how the contractor successfully resovled the situation, should it be resolved. We think a contractor who truly cares about customer service will see this as an opportunity to demonstrate to potential customers how well she or he can work to resolve customer dissatisfaction. We think Angie's List subscribers are smart enough to consider a well-resolved complaint as a positive comment on the contractor, as long as a pattern hasn't developed. Also consider whether it would make sense to allow the subscriber to post an update on the contractor after complaint resolution has occurred. This would be a chance for a newly-satisfied customer to praise a contractor who worked positively to resolve the complaint.
3) Reconsider whether contractors should be allowed to contribute income to Angie's List under any circumstances (including SSA logo licensing). Perhaps Angie's List is now so popular (in some cities, at least) that this contractor inducement can now be eliminated wihout affecting the positive image of Angie's List among contractors. At the least, the terminology "Member Contractor" should be rethought--it should be made crystal clear to everyone that contractors truly don't buy their way onto the list.
4) Make the reporting process consistent to ensure objections by both contractors and AL subscibers are given at least equal attention and verification, and that updates are posted only after both sides have had a chance to comment. We think this will reduce the amount of time Angie's List help desk personnel have to spend mediating updates or dealing with unsatisfied subscribers or contractors.
5) Perhaps a minor complaint, but the CRP acronym should be eliminated. Perhaps the process could be renamed Complaint Arbitration Process (CAP), Resolution Mediation Process (RMP certainly isn't as bad as CRP) or even something corny like "Win/Win Mediation," WWM.
Rippedoff2manyx
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/04/2009 09:37 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/angies-list/indianapolis-indiana-46202/angies-list-angies-list-beware-indianapolis-indiana-430932. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#9 Consumer Comment
Beentheredonethat
AUTHOR: Beentheredonethat - (USA)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, August 06, 2011
Had the same issue with AL.
All reports need verification reviewed. Otherwise the business or contractor can deny & it's a stale mate. You've just wasted time which would have been better spent on this site or Fed. Trade Commission.
#8 Consumer Suggestion
Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
AUTHOR: Houston1978 - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, June 09, 2009
In the past whenever I had a complaint against a business I went to the right source. Not the BBB or Angie's List, but straight to the Federal Trade Commission or
if you were scammed by an online company, the FBI has a joint force with other agencies devoted to investigating Internet Crimes. Both sites are good places to start. Also, try to find local government help from your City Police, Government or the State website. Not to mention contact your bank or credit union if you have a fraudulent charges on your account. Be prepared to file a report and make a police statement. My credit union did this and I got my money back in days.
Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm
FBI Internet Crimes: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
#7 Consumer Suggestion
Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
AUTHOR: Houston1978 - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, June 09, 2009
In the past whenever I had a complaint against a business I went to the right source. Not the BBB or Angie's List, but straight to the Federal Trade Commission or
if you were scammed by an online company, the FBI has a joint force with other agencies devoted to investigating Internet Crimes. Both sites are good places to start. Also, try to find local government help from your City Police, Government or the State website. Not to mention contact your bank or credit union if you have a fraudulent charges on your account. Be prepared to file a report and make a police statement. My credit union did this and I got my money back in days.
Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm
FBI Internet Crimes: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
#6 Consumer Suggestion
Report Your Business Complaints To The Agencies Listed Here
AUTHOR: Houston1978 - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, June 09, 2009
In the past whenever I had a complaint against a business I went to the right source. Not the BBB or Angie's List, but straight to the Federal Trade Commission or
if you were scammed by an online company, the FBI has a joint force with other agencies devoted to investigating Internet Crimes. Both sites are good places to start. Also, try to find local government help from your City Police, Government or the State website. Not to mention contact your bank or credit union if you have a fraudulent charges on your account. Be prepared to file a report and make a police statement. My credit union did this and I got my money back in days.
Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm
FBI Internet Crimes: http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
#5 Consumer Comment
"Rippedoff2manyx" is absolutely correct (almost)
AUTHOR: Moxie - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Friday, May 22, 2009
I, too, am an Angie's List member of several years and can attest that the points made by 'Rippedoff2manyx' are absolutely right on, and I would agree with his/her recommendations to Angie's List regarding changes in policies and practices.
When a report is filed on Angie's List, the service provider is given a copy of the report and the name of the member who filed it. There is nothing standing in the way of a service provider who chooses to retaliate against an Angie's List member who files a negative report. I think retaliation is probably rare, but it does happen.
Because this is always a possible outcome, how can I know a report is complete and honest, and that the member did not 'pull punches'? Because I am not sure how far to trust the reviews, the List loses utility.
Now that I learn that negative reports with subsequent resolutions are deleted, I am even less trusting of what I see there. 'Rippedoff2manyx' is, again, absolutely right on in recommending that these reports be retained, with a description of the outcome added. Only that approach will provide complete information to members.
Thanks to 'Rippedoff2manyx' for relating your experience and what you learned as a result. The AL staff's reply is consistent with those I have seen in other discussion boards: mostly PR and expectations management, but little real satisfaction for the members. I hope they are able to assist with your situation.
#4 Consumer Comment
I HEAR ADS FOR ANGIES' LIST ON OUR LOCAL RADIO STATION AND I WONDERED
AUTHOR: Joe - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Saturday, March 28, 2009
I AM NOT SURE IF I GOT IT RIGHT OR NOT BUT IT SEEMS THAT THE RADIO STATIONS WOULD GIVE YOU A PASSWORD TO GET YOU ONTO THIS SITE AND YOU COULD REVIEW JUST THE NAMES OF LOCAL PROFESSIONALS, BUSINESSES, ETC. WHO HAD BEEN RATED (BUT NOT THE RATINGS)--WHICH I THOUGHT WAS A GREAT IDEA.
BUT THIS ARE THE SAME RADIO STATIONS WHICH PRESENTED US WITH THE SAME ADS CONCERNING THE INFAMOUS TAHITI VILLAGE SCAM ( WARNINGS ABOUT THIS TO BE FOUND IN THE RIP OFF REPORT -it is a timeshare scam to be found in Las Vegas!) SO I AM PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION AS THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR LOCAL ADVERTISERS ARE HONEST!
I REMEMBER GOING AND CHECKING OUT ANGIE'S LIST AND I DO NOT RECALL HAVING ACCESS TO THE LOCAL LISTINGS. ALL I SAW WAS A GENERIC OVERVIEW OF WHAT KINDS OF BUSINESSES WERE LISTED THERE AND THEN I LEARNED THAT I WOULD HAVE TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD OR PAYPAL TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE FULL LOCAL LISTINGS, I WAS HOPING TO SCAN AND FIND OUT WHICH LOCAL LISTINGS WERE AVAILABLE AND MAYBE NOTHING I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN SUCH AS ATTORNEYS, DENTISTS, ROOFERS,CHIROPRACTORS, ETC. WOULD BE THERE SO WHY PAY FOR SOMETHING YOU CAN'T USE? IT SOUNDS LIKE A RIP OFF TO ME.
IT SEEMED TO ME LIKE,"YA PAYS YA MONEY AND TAKES YOUR CHANCES" AND MAYBE, JUST MAYBE,THIS LIST WOULD ONLY CONTAIN SERVICES OF VALUE TO YUPPIES ONLY.
I DO NOT HAVE A LOT OF MONEY.
BECAUSE I SAW SO MANY SCAMS, CONS, RIP OFF ARTISTS AND OTHER DISHONEST THINGS, I DO NOT PUT MY FINANCIAL INFORMATION ONLINE.
I AM NOT SAYING THAT THESE PEOPLE OF ANGIE'S LIST ARE DISHONEST BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW THEM AND I ONLY HAVE A GENERAL IDEA OF THE SERVICE THEY PROVIDE --FOR A COST THAT MAY BE MORE THAN I AM ABLE TO PAY. CERTAINLY I WILL NOT PUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION ON LINE TO BE HACKED OR OTHERWISE PUT AT RISK.
I AM SAYING I DO NOT TRUST DOING BUSINESS IN CYBERSPACE.
MY POSTS ON THE RIP OFF REPORT ARE HONEST AND PEOPLE CAN ACCESS THEM FOR FREE.
I HAVE FOUND THAT THE RIP OFF REPORT POSTINGS ABOUT LOCAL GOODS AND SERVICES IN THE AUSTIN,TEXAS AREA HAVE BEEN RIGHT ON --UNLESS IT IS ABOUT EXES AND PERSONAL ISSUES AND A JILTED PERSON WILL SAY ANYTHING...
SO I HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING IF THE ANGIE'S LIST POSTINGS ARE TRUE AND ACCURATE AND I AM NOT SURE I WANT TO CHANCE MY MONEY TO FIND OUT IF THEY EVEN COVER AREAS OF INTEREST TO ME.
#3 UPDATE Employee
Angie's List Response
AUTHOR: Cheryl From Angie's List - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Friday, March 27, 2009
Dear Rippedoff2manyx,
Thanks for a very detailed and thoughtful post. You make a number of good points, most of which are under active discussion right now. I'll respond to each, and if you'd like to talk further, please contact me at cherylr@angieslist.com
1)Angie's List absolutely does not condone threats or mistreatment of customers by service companies. If we are made aware of an occasion where an incident has occurred, we will actively intervene. We are extremely sorry about your experience with us. Please send me an email identifying yourself and we'll look into it more closely. We are a vigilant protector of free speech and oppose any effort by any service company or other professional to place a gag order on customers. We have and will continue to ban both members and professionals from the List when we find them to be willfully violating our policies.
2) We've given a lot of thought to the Complaint Resolution Process (yeah, we need to look at that acronym...) and we believe that if professionals make good faith efforts to redeem themselves, that they should get credit for that. Part of the incentive for service and health professionals to rectify a complaint is the removal of a negative grade upon a satisfactory resolution. Members may choose to delete the original report, but they may also modify the report to reflect the new situation for exactly the reasons you spell out.
3) I want to be crystal clear about this: No company, person, organization or other entity rated on Angie's List can buy themselves onto the List. Only our members can submit reports. We allow service and health professionals that have earned and maintain at least a B overall score to advertise their services to our members, and we do not plan to change that. This is an opportunity, not a requirement, and thousands of professionals with longstanding and high ratings have never advertised on Angie's List. We require service professionals that choose to advertise to give our members discounts, and many of our members like to receive those cost savings. Members can currently choose to prioritize search results by grade, number of miles from their home, or discounts and will soon have other options as well. Re: the Super Service Award (SSA). This is an honor that fewer than 5 percent of the professionals rated on the List are eligible for. Those that earn it are welcome (free of charge) to place the SSA logo on business cards, invoices, press release, etc. and are identified as SSA winners on Angie's List. Additional displays of the logo carry a cost, in part, due to the costs to us in developing a yearly-specific award. There is a value to being an SSA winner, and we do not think it unreasonable to charge a licensing fee that includes the use of our logo. It helps us protect the use of our brand, as well. That said, we continually review our guidelines for that award, and you have made excellent suggestions that are under active discussion.
4) Angie's List has invested a great deal in making its reporting process fair, and asks an independent auditor to review our operations to ensure we're keeping up with that. We encourage service and health professionals to respond, and we hold members as accountable for their comments as we do the rated professionals. We're not perfect but we are sincere in the effort and we hope to review your case. We notify service and health professionals the first time they are added to the List and give them (free of charge) an easy way to track future reports as well as an easy (free of charge) way to respond to reports. Our members are best served by seeing both sides of the story and we encourage service and health professionals to participate in that dialogue.
5) See above. We'll get back to you on the new name when we come up with it.
#2 UPDATE Employee
Angie's List Response
AUTHOR: Cheryl From Angie's List - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Friday, March 27, 2009
Dear Rippedoff2manyx,
Thanks for a very detailed and thoughtful post. You make a number of good points, most of which are under active discussion right now. I'll respond to each, and if you'd like to talk further, please contact me at cherylr@angieslist.com
1)Angie's List absolutely does not condone threats or mistreatment of customers by service companies. If we are made aware of an occasion where an incident has occurred, we will actively intervene. We are extremely sorry about your experience with us. Please send me an email identifying yourself and we'll look into it more closely. We are a vigilant protector of free speech and oppose any effort by any service company or other professional to place a gag order on customers. We have and will continue to ban both members and professionals from the List when we find them to be willfully violating our policies.
2) We've given a lot of thought to the Complaint Resolution Process (yeah, we need to look at that acronym...) and we believe that if professionals make good faith efforts to redeem themselves, that they should get credit for that. Part of the incentive for service and health professionals to rectify a complaint is the removal of a negative grade upon a satisfactory resolution. Members may choose to delete the original report, but they may also modify the report to reflect the new situation for exactly the reasons you spell out.
3) I want to be crystal clear about this: No company, person, organization or other entity rated on Angie's List can buy themselves onto the List. Only our members can submit reports. We allow service and health professionals that have earned and maintain at least a B overall score to advertise their services to our members, and we do not plan to change that. This is an opportunity, not a requirement, and thousands of professionals with longstanding and high ratings have never advertised on Angie's List. We require service professionals that choose to advertise to give our members discounts, and many of our members like to receive those cost savings. Members can currently choose to prioritize search results by grade, number of miles from their home, or discounts and will soon have other options as well. Re: the Super Service Award (SSA). This is an honor that fewer than 5 percent of the professionals rated on the List are eligible for. Those that earn it are welcome (free of charge) to place the SSA logo on business cards, invoices, press release, etc. and are identified as SSA winners on Angie's List. Additional displays of the logo carry a cost, in part, due to the costs to us in developing a yearly-specific award. There is a value to being an SSA winner, and we do not think it unreasonable to charge a licensing fee that includes the use of our logo. It helps us protect the use of our brand, as well. That said, we continually review our guidelines for that award, and you have made excellent suggestions that are under active discussion.
4) Angie's List has invested a great deal in making its reporting process fair, and asks an independent auditor to review our operations to ensure we're keeping up with that. We encourage service and health professionals to respond, and we hold members as accountable for their comments as we do the rated professionals. We're not perfect but we are sincere in the effort and we hope to review your case. We notify service and health professionals the first time they are added to the List and give them (free of charge) an easy way to track future reports as well as an easy (free of charge) way to respond to reports. Our members are best served by seeing both sides of the story and we encourage service and health professionals to participate in that dialogue.
5) See above. We'll get back to you on the new name when we come up with it.
#1 UPDATE Employee
Angie's List Response
AUTHOR: Cheryl From Angie's List - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Friday, March 27, 2009
Dear Rippedoff2manyx,
Thanks for a very detailed and thoughtful post. You make a number of good points, most of which are under active discussion right now. I'll respond to each, and if you'd like to talk further, please contact me at cherylr@angieslist.com
1)Angie's List absolutely does not condone threats or mistreatment of customers by service companies. If we are made aware of an occasion where an incident has occurred, we will actively intervene. We are extremely sorry about your experience with us. Please send me an email identifying yourself and we'll look into it more closely. We are a vigilant protector of free speech and oppose any effort by any service company or other professional to place a gag order on customers. We have and will continue to ban both members and professionals from the List when we find them to be willfully violating our policies.
2) We've given a lot of thought to the Complaint Resolution Process (yeah, we need to look at that acronym...) and we believe that if professionals make good faith efforts to redeem themselves, that they should get credit for that. Part of the incentive for service and health professionals to rectify a complaint is the removal of a negative grade upon a satisfactory resolution. Members may choose to delete the original report, but they may also modify the report to reflect the new situation for exactly the reasons you spell out.
3) I want to be crystal clear about this: No company, person, organization or other entity rated on Angie's List can buy themselves onto the List. Only our members can submit reports. We allow service and health professionals that have earned and maintain at least a B overall score to advertise their services to our members, and we do not plan to change that. This is an opportunity, not a requirement, and thousands of professionals with longstanding and high ratings have never advertised on Angie's List. We require service professionals that choose to advertise to give our members discounts, and many of our members like to receive those cost savings. Members can currently choose to prioritize search results by grade, number of miles from their home, or discounts and will soon have other options as well. Re: the Super Service Award (SSA). This is an honor that fewer than 5 percent of the professionals rated on the List are eligible for. Those that earn it are welcome (free of charge) to place the SSA logo on business cards, invoices, press release, etc. and are identified as SSA winners on Angie's List. Additional displays of the logo carry a cost, in part, due to the costs to us in developing a yearly-specific award. There is a value to being an SSA winner, and we do not think it unreasonable to charge a licensing fee that includes the use of our logo. It helps us protect the use of our brand, as well. That said, we continually review our guidelines for that award, and you have made excellent suggestions that are under active discussion.
4) Angie's List has invested a great deal in making its reporting process fair, and asks an independent auditor to review our operations to ensure we're keeping up with that. We encourage service and health professionals to respond, and we hold members as accountable for their comments as we do the rated professionals. We're not perfect but we are sincere in the effort and we hope to review your case. We notify service and health professionals the first time they are added to the List and give them (free of charge) an easy way to track future reports as well as an easy (free of charge) way to respond to reports. Our members are best served by seeing both sides of the story and we encourage service and health professionals to participate in that dialogue.
5) See above. We'll get back to you on the new name when we come up with it.
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