STUCCO NEWS.NET

Chapter 13: Pay per lead services: A huge scam

Angi and Home Advisor fined $ 7,200,000 by the Federal Trade Commission:

Dimitri from Roofing Insights explains the FTC fine against home advisor.

Service Magic changed it's name to Home Advisor after it had a terrible reputation as a scam. The parent company that owns Home Advisor bought Angie's List, which changed it's name to Angi.

Angie's List at one time was a member driven consumer site. Members gave reviews to businesses and was a free source of work for contractors. At one time, 40 % of my work came from Angie's List. Later, Angie's list sold advertising, so business were recommended by the amount of advertising they paid for. The consumer recommended businesses pretty much disappeared.

Other sites that became pay per lead services are Yelp and Houzz. You also may have seen other pay per leads like Porch, and Thumbtack.

On a pay per lead service a contractor pays for web search generated leads, usually over $ 40 for a house and about $ 20 for a repair.

These services claim that these contractors are screened, meaning they are experienced and qualified to do the work. The truth is they only screening is if they pay for leads or not.

Where do all these inexperienced stucco contractors come from ?

Pay per lead services that recommend inexperienced contractors cost the public untold millions in poor quality work. Apart from the consumer, they steal millions from legitimate contractors like me in unfair competition. Of course, tearing out and redoing bad work creates work for us, but it is a drain on the economy to do unnecessary work, and costs the consumer more than double for the same product.

You probably have read what I said about Home Advisor, formerly known as Service Magic. Here's what I wrote in the past:  Home Advisor-Another Service Magic scam.

I just went to look at a job the other day which is typical of what I see. A 2006 stucco installation is already failing. The new addition is leaking and rotting inside. The stucco is less than 3/8" thick, and is just grey portland floated and painted. The flashing over the trim is angled backwards deflecting water into the wall. There are gaps under the stucco where there is no flashing over the brick you can stick your fingers in. Every time it rains water runs into the basement.

Where did these inexperienced people come from ? There is a consensus that day laborers or handy andys can stucco a house after watching a Youtube video. Anyone that lives in that reality doesn't deserve better either.

I have written about pay per lead services before, and now they are everywhere. The claim of pre screened contractors is bogus. The only screening is if someone can pay for the lead.

Some remember Service Magic. Service magic morphed into Home Advisor. After horrible Better business bureau ratings, service magic became Home Advisor, then the company that owns Home Advisor bought Angi.

Angi, formerly known as Angie's list, Is racking up bad reviews with the Better Business Bureau.

I requested estimates for stucco work, requesting addresses of stucco projects the contractor has done so I can see their work. Of course, I didn't get any addresses.

I got a lot of results for potential stucco contractors. With names like so and so painting and handyman, I don't think these people are legitimate stucco contractors.

I researched the web sites of these people, and didn't find any stucco.

Here are a couple contractors I thought I would interview for my stucco project.

Here's a deal where I can pay for a discount.

Wifredo called me. Gee, he does house cleaning roofing, etc. and still works in a skilled building trade like stucco.

The first thing Wilfredo told me is he has a Virginia contractor's license. I could find him online under any variation of the name Jaldin. Angi claims all of their contractors have licenses, another malicious lie.

I requested a quote from Gramajo Painting.

I didn't see the word stucco on their sign. I don't think I trust him.

I contacted Houzz for quotes for my stucco project, with the same conditions of addreses of stucco jobs that I never got.

None of these people do stucco work. I looked up their websites.

I contact Houzz, Angi, Home Advisor all the time for quotes. I give the phone number of my spare phone that I never answer. I just laugh to think these people are paying over $ 40 for my phone number.

Thanks so much dear readers, for reading all these years, and for all the comments.