Thumbtack, Inc.

Thank you for reaching out to us through the [redacted] about your concerns. I would like to address...

these concerns here.
A review will not be deleted on Thumbtack unless it is out of compliance with our Content Policy, which can be seen here: [redacted].
Maintaining these standards is what gives legitimacy to our entire review system, including positive reviews.
At Thumbtack, we want to be transparent with both our customers and professionals and any decisions made are for the purpose of benefitting  both parties. If you or any professional or customer has questions or concerns regarding reviews, our customer support team would be happy to help and may be reached by phone at [redacted] or email at [redacted].
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Thumbtack Support
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS
Contact Email: [redacted]@thumbtack.com
Hi [redacted],
I am writing to you in response to your complaint to the Revdex.com against Thumbtack. I apologize for the poor experience you had contacting our customer...

service team and hope that I am able to resolve all your issues and concerns.
Regarding your background check purchase, we have processed the refund and the funds will post to your account within a few days. Your personal data is no longer being stored or collected by our company since you deleted your account.
I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experience. Our email and phone teams were not properly equipped to handle the spike in ticket volume that stemmed from our company's significant growth in the past few months. Again, I am sorry that our customer support team did not respond to your email in a timely manner. We are actively hiring and building out this team in order to prevent this from happening in the future. Our goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack.
Lastly, I'd like to encourage you to try Thumbtack for yourself. We actively strive to provide a great experience for every service professional and customer, and hope that you will give us a shot even after reading those negative reviews. I'd like to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionals. Not only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective either. Our goal is to be the online marketplace for local services. We can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionals. Spending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategy. We spend a lot of time talking to service professionals who have seen a lot of success on Thumbtack - we're proud of them and you can see some of their stories here:
http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/stories.
Thank you so much, again, for your feedback. We are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, however, sometimes we do not get it right. If you'd like to try Thumbtack for yourself, I'd be more than happy to add complimentary credits to your account in order to bid on customer leads for free. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2014/03/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
The company processed a refund and assured me that my information was no longer stored due to account deletion.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/10/02) */
Dear [redacted],
I am writing in response to your Revdex.com complaint against Thumbtack. It is disappointing to hear that you had such a difficult and frustrating experience with the business planner you hired. I am glad that we have been able to...

resolve your concerns over the phone. However, I'll also respond to them below.
Thumbtack takes complaints from customers about professionals very seriously. After receiving a complaint, we make every effort to reach out to both parties to gain a clear understanding of the dispute. In most cases, the professional is given an opportunity to resolve the complaint with the customer first. We consider the manner in which professionals handle complaints very important, as it speaks to the quality of service they provide. We expect professionals to handle such complaints in a friendly and courteous manner, and failure to do so prompts a review of their account status with Thumbtack, as we only want quality-service professionals on our website. We will continue to investigate to determine what further action needs to be taken in regards to the professional and their standing with Thumbtack.
I would also like to apologize if your initial contact with our support team was not positive. Thumbtack cares very much about the satisfaction of our customers and it appears we missed that goal in your first interaction with our support team.
I appreciate your patience in giving us the opportunity to resolve this situation. If there is anything further we can do to help, please let me know.
Sincerely,
[redacted] S.

We had our family and our son's senior pics taken in Hawaii. [redacted] did a great job. She was so easy to work with and our session was really fun! The pictures turned out great!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2014/05/22) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS
Contact Email: [redacted]@thumbtack.com
Dear *. [redacted],
I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against Thumbtack. I apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack, and...

hope I'm able to address all of your concerns. I spoke with [redacted] who took your call this afternoon; I fully aware of the issues that were addressed in that conversation.
I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experience. As mentioned by [redacted], we are building out our support team in [redacted] and currently experiencing some 'growing pains', which is expected. With that being said, we're actively hiring more staff members and updating our call center tools in order to prevent this from happening in the future. In regards to your account, I'd like to personally apologize for the difficulties you had in setting up multiple profiles over the phone - these issues are being addressed with proactive coaching and quality assurance audits. Our goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack. Our goal is to improve each and every day in order to provide super-helpful customer support.
Thank you for providing us with such high quality feedback suggestions. Please note that we have recently implemented a new feedback process which allows agents to submit "suggestions" that are analyzed by our product team on a regular basis. I apologize if this phrasing offended you in anyway - the agents were simply trying to be as helpful in possible and followed the guidelines that are currently set in place. Our company takes these suggestions very seriously and actively reviews this feedback.
The biography field is limited by a character count on purpose. This limitation allows Thumbtack to rank higher in search results, which is ultimately to the benefit of our professionals, like yourself. We've performed extensive research and have optimized our marketing platform to drive as much search traffic to our professional accounts. Remember, this is for your benefit and note that you are free to fill out your service description in as much detail as you'd like.
At this time, we are not able to validate a licenses that is not state issued. Thumbtack is unique in that we offer a wide range of professional services on our site, and are therefore unable to verify every type of license that exists. We made a business decision to only validate state licenses, but hope to offer these verification across other licenses in the future. Please note that your Thumbtack competitors do not have this ability as well, and therefore does not put you at a disadvantage when the customer evaluates your quote. Our suggestion is to scan your license documentation and upload this to the media section of your profile. You're more than welcome to highlight this licensing in the quote message as well.
I'm sorry that our five-quote limit on customer job requests is causing you trouble - I understand how frustrating it can be to click on a work request after you receive it, only to find that it's already reached its quote limit. We're here to help you get more business, so we take your feedback very seriously. The main reason we instituted this cap was to help reduce competition and improve your chances of winning a job when you submit a quote. We run a lot of surveys and focus groups with both our service pros and customers. Both professionals and customers have overwhelmingly supported a shift to the 5-quote maximum, rather than 10, but we do understand that there is some variation in sentiment. Consumers have long told us that for popular work requests, they feel inundated with quotes, and simply do not like receiving and sifting through up to 10 options - some of which may arrive after they've already made their decision. Most have indicated that they are unlikely to choose quotes that arrive after the first 5. Instituting the cap was a way to help make the process easier for consumers while also preventing our pros from spending time on quotes with which consumers are far less likely to engage. With that being said, I really like your suggestion to allow the customer to choose the limit for themselves. I've personally passed this feedback to our product team who may run this as a beta test in the future. Again, our Thumbtack Credits program was designed to create a process that is transparent and fair to all of our pros while retaining ease of use for consumers. Our initial tests of the program showed that it helped to alleviate the 5-quote cap issues some pros were facing.
Furthermore, we've decided to stick with a pay-per-lead model after experimenting with many different payment structures. With our current business model, we give you the control over what you pay for and when - it is free to create a profile and to receive customer requests relevant to what you do. You choose who you'd like to respond to and you only pay when you choose to quote. There's never any obligation to respond to the customer requests we send you. There are no annual fees or minimum payments - our professionals have expressed overwhelming support for this model since it allows them to quote when it feels comfortable and only pay for customer job requests that are a good fit.
We are a small company with a big mission. We are actively refining and improving our process of connecting service professionals and consumers, as it's important to us that we create as many great customer experiences as we can. I hope we were able to resolve your issues, and please do not hesitate to reach out directly if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
[redacted] CRS
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 10, 2014/05/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Because they still maintain their "model" is appropriate. It isn't. I first connected with the site as a consumer looking for web design specialists for my HOA. I got five referrals. One was out of our area, another didn't respond to my request for a bid based on our needs. Another, kept sending me a contract to sign even after he was advised that (1) I was not the decision-maker and (2) his "package" included services we did not need or want. He did not address our specifications four times. One doesn't seem all that qualified. The remaining one does. So that's five referrals, one good candidate, and one extremely marginal candidate. If need to move forward with four candidates. So what do I do? I was incensed that the five candidates I received made the cut because they were the first five to respond. Give me twenty referrals so I can get the best candidate. Speaking as a professional marketing my business I can't sit in from of my email, waiting for referrals so I can guarantee that I end up in the first five. I have clients to service. I would think that customers would prefer to consider a professional who is actually busy, i.e. has business, rather than someone waiting by the phone. Thumbtack promises me that by using their service, I'll get more business then prevent me from selling myself (see below). Now, some believe many of the referrals are fraudulent. The fact is the five referral limit is designed to hide the fact that they don't have a lot of qualified professionals and that they wouldn't know how to serve them if they did.
Being a professional, I decided to give it a try myself. I have cataloged my experiences in amendments to my original complaint. My final assessment is that they have a lot of "professionals" whose quality cannot be assessed because the state doesn't license them - which is the case for most professionals. You want an accountant; the state licenses accountants. Want a bookkeeper? No license. So a bookkeeper could be a Certified Quickbooks Pro-Advisor, critical skills for a bookkeeper, but since it's not a state-issued license, this cannot be posted as part of their profile. Same goes for land use planners (AICP), site designers (LEED Green Building Council), public participation practitioners (IAP2), informed consent specialists (SDIC), microsoft network administrators (MSCE, Microsoft), wetlands biologists (PWS, Society of Wetland Scientists ), arborists (ISA, International Association of Aboriculture), economists, business plan consultants, geographic information systems specialists (GISP, URISA), etc., etc., etc. So exactly what professional credentials do states license? Not many, really. I have 35 years experience as a land use planner I have Bachelor's degrees in political science and economics and a Master's in Community and Regional Planning. I am a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and have five other certifications in public participation, informed consent, and charette planning and management. Of that information, none of that will show up under credentials.
They have a section of questions you can answer to give a potential customer valuable information about you. Like, "What do you like about your job?" For some reason Thumbtack thinks that professionals are selected on the basis of answers given to questions asked in a fast food restaurant interview. Every client who has hired me want to know what I can do, how fast I can do it, and the expected outcome not, if I like traipsing around in the field rather that selling their project to the planning commission.
Add to this that when categorizing my land use planning business their learned "professionals" placed me in accounting, writing and editing and ... with respect to my writing and editing business ... had me listed as a ... wait for it ... search engine optimization specialist.
Their response is full of "proprietary" research that has told them that their model is appropriate. Go tell that to any college business administration program, trade organizations, professional societies, and the Small Business Administration you'll get laughed out the door.
So, no, there is no compromise position because they would require me to pay for a service that is so fundamentally flawed that I will get no new business.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 12, 2014/05/30) */
Dear *. [redacted],
I'm sorry if my previous response did not satisfactorily address all of your concerns. [redacted] and I have spoken to you about the Thumbtack business model and the reasoning behind our current quoting guidelines and how they relate to the overall customer experience.
Again, I'm sorry that our five-quote limit on work requests has caused you trouble. The main reason we instituted this cap was to help reduce competition and improve your chances of winning a job when you submit a quote. Both professionals and customers have overwhelmingly supported a shift to the 5-quote maximum, rather than 10, but we do understand that there is some variation in sentiment. Customers have long told us that for popular work requests, they feel inundated with quotes, and simply do not like receiving and sifting through up to 10 options - some of which may arrive after they've already made their decision. Most have indicated that they are unlikely to choose quotes that arrive after the first 5. Instituting the cap was a way to help make the process easier for customers while also preventing our professionals from spending time on quotes with which customers are far less likely to engage. Remember, both parties are not obligated in any way to the services provided by Thumbtack - professionals like yourself willingly submit quotes for attractive customer job requests and customers are under no obligation to hire any of professionals that submit quotes. With that being said, serious customers use Thumbtack because they are able to connect with qualified professionals in less than 24 hours.
I'd like to point out that we've built a large network of professionals in an attempt to provide multiple quotes for every customer job request. I looked at your last customer job invite - this request was sent to 136 other professionals that offer a similar service. We've spent a lot of time (and money) inviting professionals to Thumbtack and enjoy sharing their success stories.
I'd like to reiterate that we are not able to validate a licenses that is not state issued. Thumbtack is unique in that we offer a wide range of professional services on our site, and are therefore unable to verify every type of license that exists. At this time, we've made a business decision to only validate state licenses, but hope to offer these verification across other licenses in the future. Remember, your competitors on Thumbtack do not have this ability as well, and does not put you at a disadvantage when the customer evaluates your quote. Our suggestion is to scan your license documentation (and other certifications) and upload this to the media section of your profile. You're more than welcome to highlight this licensing in the quote message as well. Customers are responsive to these credentials, which is likely to put you at an advantage in the quoting process.
In regards to the questions section on your profile, this is simply just a list of questions that are recommended by Thumbtack. You are more than welcome to create custom questions and respond accordingly.
I'm sorry that you were listed under search engine optimization on your profile. We serve over a thousand different request categories and therefore must categorize professionals into different, yet organized service groupings, with all request categories whitelisted by default. Please note that these service categories have sub-categories, and you are able to edit these settings in your profile at anytime. [redacted] went ahead and deselected this request category from your account when discussing these concerns on the phone with you.
We are a small company with a big mission. We are actively refining and improving our process of connecting service professionals and consumers, as it's important to us that we create as many great customer experiences as we can. I'm sorry that our platform is not a fit for your professional services, and encourage you to stay updated with Thumbtack since we are constantly making improvements to our product.
Sincerely,
[redacted] CRS
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 14, 2014/06/03) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Their refusal to allow me to list certifications from professional organizations, i.e. non-state issued licenses, compromises, severely, my ability to market my services through them. What it does serve is Thumbtack's marketing strategy, i.e. to be able to brag about all of the professionals they've signed up. However, failure to address the certification issue means that their database of professionals is littered with individuals and firms who are not qualified to perform the services they offer. Listing certifications issued by professional organizations would expose eighty (80) percent to evaluations of their qualifications which would eliminate them from further consideration through a competitive bidding process. In addition, the five (5) referral limit requires Thumbtack's "professionals" to sit by their computers and concentrate on responding to referrals promptly rather than doing actual client business: failure to respond promptly as occurred in my case eliminates many professionals from consideration.
Their professional groupings is absurd: listing me as an SEO professional when my qualifications don't permit me too provide those services, confuses potential customers AND has me reviewing invitations to bid for jobs for which I have no services to offer.
I believe that Thumbtack's Business Model is designed (1) to inflate the number of "professionals" in their database so as to enable them to advertise large numbers of professionals regardless of their quality or competence; and (2) hide the fact that many of their "professionals" lack the requisite experience and skills by controlling the amount of information available to those searching for professional services. They do not allow professionals to list professional credentials (college degrees or professional certifications), categorize their services, or prepare and offer FAQs about their services Thumbtack's standard questions are not relevant to professional marketing and are the types of questions which would be asked of individuals applying to jobs in the fast food industry. Everything is standardized and controlled to the nth degree.
Thumbtack's Business Model reflects the fact (my opinion) that their employees have a stunning lack of understanding about the vast number of service categories offered by their members, do not understand how and why professionals are hired and have no clue as to how small businesses operate.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/21) */
Dear [redacted],
Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com. I appreciate you allowing me to discuss your concerns over the phone the other day; I am glad we were able to answer your questions and reach a positive resolution. I...

also wanted to take the time to acknowledge your concerns here as well.
Our goal at Thumbtack is to help professionals connect with new customers as often as possible, which helps them grow their business. We succeed when our pros succeed, so we work hard to help our professionals get hired as often as possible. We have customer support specialists whose specific job is to work with professionals and help them best use their profiles and quotes. There are online resources as well, such as https://www.thumbtack.com/pros/, that offer helpful tips for professionals to increase their chances of being hired.
While we work hard to have a great site, we also recognize there is always room for improvement. We regularly reach out to professionals and customers to get feedback on how we are doing and what we could do better. We are constantly making adjustments to both our request and quoting processes, specifically directed at increasing the frequency professionals get hired.
The quality of the requests we get is very important to us. We have created a verification system that reviews each request through our site. This helps ensure that only quality requests are being passed ** to our professionals. This system isn't perfect, so we encourage professionals to reach out to us if they feel they have received a questionable request so we can investigate further. If we find that there is an issue, we refund the credits that were spent on those requests. We then take the information from our investigation and use it to improve our verification process.
Thank you again for reaching out to us. I am happy that we were able to address your concerns and if you have any other questions, please let us know.
[redacted]
Thumbtack Support Team
Phone (XXX) XXX-XXXX
E-mail [redacted]@Thumbtack.com
www.thumbtack.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/11/10) */
Dear [redacted],
I am writing in response to your Revdex.com complaint with Thumbtack. I appreciate the opportunity you've given us to resolve your situation. I know that we have already resolved your concerns over the phone. However, to ensure that...

we addressed each of your concerns, I will respond to them below.
First and foremost, I apologize for the negative experience you had with the customer who hired you on Thumbtack. I had called and left a voicemail on October 28th and followed that up with an email asking you to contact me so that we could resolve this for both parties. We take customer complaints on Thumbtack very seriously, but also understand there are two sides to every story. It is clearly imperative that we speak to both parties so that we can make the most accurate and holistic decision possible.
I emailed you again on November 5th, which you stated you also did not receive. This email was again asking you to contact me directly within 72 business hours so that we can get the customer complaint resolved.

It was only after not hearing from you, which I can completely understand if you didn't receive the messages, that I was forced to close your account. After I spoke to you today, we resolved the situation and immediately re-opened your account. Your account has been reinstated exactly as it was minus the credits on the account, as those had already been refunded.
I appreciate you contacting me so that we could resolve your concerns and, most importantly, help you in the growth of your business. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2014/11/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Issue was resolved over the phone .

Awesome site, but you need to research the individuals that reach out to you to complete the service/event/specifics you inquire about. I used a dj service and photographer that I received quotes from through Thumbtack. Both were outstanding. I had several individuals reach out but after doing my own research, I chose accordingly. Both extremely positive experiences. I love thumbtack.

They won't stop spamming my cell phone!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't even know who they are.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/22) */
Dear [redacted],
I am writing in response to your Revdex.com complaint with Thumbtack. I appreciate the opportunity you've given us to discuss your concerns and resolve them. I know that we have already resolved your concerns over the phone....

However, I'll respond to them below as well.
I apologize for any potential delay in receiving requests from customers through Thumbtack. We love helping our professionals grow their businesses, and we recognize that to be competitive, you need to be able to receive and respond to customer requests quickly. I want to assure you that our system is designed to send customer request information to all potential professionals at the same time. Each request is sent via email or text message, depending on each professional's preferences. All requests are also available on the professional's dashboard.
When we spoke on the phone, we did some troubleshooting and found that you were currently receiving requests at the same time as other professionals. All of our customer requests go through a request verification process before they are published to our professionals. We can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality pros. We spend time, effort, and funds on a request verification process to flag suspicious requests. We then go in and manually check those that have been flagged as suspicious. Only requests that are cleared by these processes are forwarded to our professionals.
One other thing to keep in mind, which we talked about on the phone, is that we only send text messages between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:00 pm of your local time zone. However, we send emails and update your request dashboard as soon as the request is published. I really appreciate your help in gathering data for our technical team in case you find any other issues. We will take your feedback and improve by it.
I appreciate you contacting me so that we could resolve your concerns and, most importantly, help you in the process of growing your cleaning business. Based on your concerns and to help build your faith in Thumbtack, I also refunded a total of $151.58 to your card on file. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS
Contact Email: [redacted]@thumbtack.com
Hi [redacted],
I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against Thumbtack. I apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I...

am able to help answer your questions and concerns. I am so sorry if it appears that we haven't delivered on our advertised value. Please note that I've processed your credit purchases, which brings your total refund to $6.66. These funds will post to your bank account within a few business days.
We ask our customers a variety of questions and are only able to display the job details that they are willing to provide. It is completely up to the customer as to how much information they would like to fill out when navigating through the job request flow on our homepage. We understand that some job requests may lack the necessary information in order to provide an accurate quote and therefore do not force our pros to quote on every customer lead. It is entirely your choice as to whether or not you would like to spend your credits on a particular customer lead. With that being said, we encourage our service professionals to utilize our 'Suggested Questions' forum in order to suggest a question to ask the client. If your question meets our guidelines, we will contact the client with your question and share their response with you and other interested service pros. For more information about 'Suggested Questions', please visit the following link:
http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/how-to-suggest-a-question
In regards to the customer lead example you provided in your Revdex.com complaint, the leads we send you are generated by customers who fill out request forms with drop-down answer options. Therefore, the requests will look similar and have the same "uniquely worded responses." We realize this can look a fishy, so we are starting to require customers to write a little something in a free-form text box on the request forms - just to show you that these responses are from real customers looking for really great service pros, like yourself. This feature change will be applied in the near future. Furthermore, due to privacy and security concerns, we do not provide our customers' contact information unless they willingly share this information when submitting the request.
I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionals. Not only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective either. Our goal is to be the online marketplace for local services. We can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionals. Spending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategy. We spend a lot of time talking to service professionals who have seen a lot of success on Thumbtack - we're proud of them and you can see some of their stories here:
http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/stories.
Thank you so much, again, for your feedback. We are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, however, sometimes we do not get it right. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/04/23) */
Dear [redacted],
We appreciate you reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns. One of Thumbtack's core values is to always be improving. We openly accept feedback from our professionals and use many of those suggestions to make...

positive changes to our platform.
We recognize and understand your desire for a budget related question on the request forms related to your professional category. We have found that in some professional categories, providing a budget option leaves some customers confused about what price is acceptable to pay for those services. They may then choose a lower amount than what they are budgeting for so they are not overcharged. By doing this, professionals pass ** that request due to the budget they have selected, which causes a disservice to both our customers and professionals. We have an entire team analysing and improving this process with feedback from customers and professionals.
We are grateful for all feedback provided, as it guides our focus and research for improvements to our site. We will continue to evaluate all of our processes and seek out ways to create a more comprehensive request and quoting process. Though the suggestions you have made may not have been implemented at this time, they may be if we find them to be beneficial in the future. It is our goal to be the premier service for introducing customers to the right professionals to complete the projects most important to them. We believe that requires constant growth and innovation, and the feedback given by those that use our service is the best source to determine which changes will be most effective.
Whenever a concern is brought to our attention, we strive to provide a positive solution for all parties involved. As we continue to grow as a business, the safety of our customers and employees is of the utmost importance. We take concerns of abuse and harassment very seriously, and it is our desire to be as helpful as possible in our attempts to ensure a quality experience for both customers and professionals. Unfortunately, despite our efforts to assist with your suggestions, the interactions became abusive towards our representatives. Though it is always our goal to provide assistance, even in the most difficult of situations, there is a level of professionalism that must be adhered to. While we admire your skill as a professional, we have decided to no longer list your services on Thumbtack. We greatly appreciate the time and feedback you have given us as we continue to grow and improve.
Samantha
Thumbtack Support Team
Phone (XXX) XXX-XXXX
E-mail [redacted]@Thumbtack.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/26) */
Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns. I can understand how frustrating it is not to hear back from customers, especially when you've invested precious time and money. It matters to us that customer requests turn into real...

work for our professionals, and we're here to help them find the success they're looking for.
We strive to introduce our professionals to customers who are ready to hire. Thumbtack uses both automated and manual steps to make sure requests are coming from real and interested people, and that these requests contain the information professionals need to decide whether or not they are a good fit for the job. Requests go through a 9 step verification system before they are sent to professionals. If any professional has concerns about a specific request, they can report it to us and we will look into the situation for them.There's also never any obligation to respond to the requests we send, so professionals know they're only quoting on jobs that are right for them.
Since our professionals do pay to quote, we want to help them find a strategy that works for their business, and offer coaching to ensure they make the most of our site. We have many informative articles on our blog and Pro Center which can give professionals an idea for what customers look for.
We are here to help you grow your business and connect with new customers. If you'd like to give us a call to talk more about your concerns, you can reach us at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Your success is important to us, and we would love to help if you need more information or have any questions.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/30) */
Hello [redacted],
Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns. I would like to address these concerns here.
We understand it can be very frustrating for our professionals to receive negative...

reviews. This is especially true for professionals who work hard to maintain good reviews on their profile. At Thumbtack, we believe customers should have the right to leave reviews for professionals not just services provided, but for the overall experience with a professional. This is why we allow customers to leave reviews once a quote has been sent to them from the professional. A review will not be deleted on Thumbtack unless it is in direct defiance of our Content Policy, which can be seen here: https://help.thumbtack.com/?data=BAh7CjoHaWRpBF8otAw6CXR5cGVJIgxhcnRpY2xlBjoGRVQ...⇄
We know that there are a number of reasons why customers leave the reviews they do. We also care about the reputations of our professionals, which is why we allow our professionals to respond to all reviews submitted on their profiles. When a professional receives a negative review from a customer, we highly encourage them to respond to the review in a helpful, courteous, professional manner. This type of response shows potential customers that the professional is willing to work with all customers, and make things right when a customer feels they have been wronged. It also gives the professional an opportunity to share their story as these responses are public facing.
At Thumbtack, we want to be transparent with both our customers and professionals and make decisions for the good of both parties. If you or any professional or customer has questions or concerns regarding reviews, our customer support team would be happy to help and may be reached by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX or email at [redacted]@thumbtack.com.
We are always here to help.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Thumbtack Support
[redacted]@Thumbtack.com
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2016/01/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thumbtack allowed the customer to leave a Negative/Inflammatory review yet I had absolutely no contact whatsoever with the customer other than quoting a fee in response to a Thumbtack notification. I did not speak with the customer. I did not message the customer. I did not email the customer. I did not perform any service for the customer. I was not hired by the customer. The customer's service date has not even occurred yet. I continue to request that the False/Reputation Tainting review be deleted. Thumbtack has the ability to do this; however, they will not comply.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2016/01/07) */
Hello [redacted],
Thank you for your response. We understand that negative reviews are difficult for any business, and we know it can be frustrating for a professional to receive reviews from customers with whom they have had very little contact. As we have stated before, we want our professionals to be rated for overall experience. This is similar to a customer having the right to review a restuarant that they have entered, but not eaten at. Their experience may still be remarked on even though they have not partaken in the services provided by the business. If we have documented that a professional has sent a quote to a customer through Thumbtack, the customer is then allowed to leave a review. Unless this review is in direct violation of our content policy, this review will remain on the professionals profile. This is to ensure that we have continuity accrosss our site and can be transparent with all professionals and customers.
We want our customers to be heard, but we also want our professionals to be well represented. When professionals receive negative reviews, the best thing they can do is respond to the review. These responses will also be displayed on their profile and can be seen by other potential customers. You can learn how to respond to reviews by going to our Help Center at this link: https://help.thumbtack.com?ar=kA1iXXXXXXXJm9Q. We are happy to work with any professional to help them to write a quality response as we want our professional's reputations to be upheld.
We encourage any professional seeking help in this matter to contact us by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX or via email at [redacted]@thumbtack.com. Our highly trained support team will gladly help.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Thumbtack Support
[redacted]@Thumbtack.com
XXX-XXX-XXXX
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2016/01/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thumbtack continues to skirt the issue at hand and continues to reiterate the same redundant response. The Review was unfounded and inflammatory. Thumbtack has the ability to remove the the Review in question but refuses to do so. I continue to request that the Review in question be removed as it is defamatory to my reputation which is impeccable as indicated by the other 8 raving reviews I received on the Thumbtack site.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/27) */
Dear [redacted],
I am writing in response to your Revdex.com complaint against Thumbtack. I have attempted to contact you directly to address these concerns, but we have been unable to connect. I appreciate you bringing your concerns to our...

attention so that we can address them.
Thumbtack can only be successful if our professionals are successful - that's why we always work hard to help our professionals get hired as often as possible. We can only grow by connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service pros. We spend time, effort, and funds on a request verification process to flag suspicious requests. We then manually check those flagged as suspicious. Only requests that clear these processes are forwarded to our professionals. During the request verification process, we also remove duplicate requests (from the same customer regarding the same service) made within 72 hours of each other. If a duplicate request somehow gets through the request verification process, a professional can contact our support team and request a refund. Duplicate requests are not supposed to get through, but if they do, we gladly refund the professional.
In your email, you mentioned receiving an increase in customer requests only after you began submitting quotes again. When a professional's account becomes less active or dormant, our system is designed to lower the number of customer requests published to those professionals until they become active again. We do this in order to avoid spamming professionals who are not engaged in using the site. Placing a new quote will remove the limiter completely, and clicking on requests will increase the limit.
Based on your concerns, and to help build your faith in Thumbtack, I have refunded 20 separate credit purchases, a total refund of $79.96, through PayPal.
I appreciate you reaching out to clarify your concerns. Thumbtack is dedicated to becoming THE online marketplace for local services. Your feedback, along with all of the feedback from other Thumbtack professionals and customers, helps us improve. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2014/08/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I haven't received any phones messages from your company. I appreciate the response and when should I get a complete refund from your company? I will need to investigate and research more your company before I can trust your business in the future.

I am submitting a review since [redacted] is handling the actual dispute. It is my firm belief that this company is a scam. I have been trying to get them to refund my money for almost a week now and I have gotten no where. I have been told flat out they will not refund my money. Then they wanted to see my bank statement! No company with any morals should be demanding to see bank statements! I provided proof from [redacted] stating that [redacted] themselves acknowledged sending the money to Thumbtack but they just wanted to see bank statements. (Makes you wonder why) This has been the worst experience I have ever had dealing with a company. They treat their customers horribly. I complained and they deleted it and blocked me from posting on their [redacted] page. I hope one day this so called company will be put out of business. Be very careful when dealing with this company. They will take your money and not admit to any wrongdoing even when you have proof.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
You are contradicting yourself. I read your policies and it states the review has to reflect the actual experience. I am telling you It is not my actual experience and it was a lie because I worked out an arrangement with the "thumbtack pro" and youre telling me you have to maintain integrity. You have no integrity l. I have text message proof it was an arrangement and you still say it is real. You are in violation of your own policy. I feel like Im talking to lobotomized ape right now. You people are insane, its a simple and reasonable request. Your company has ulterior motives that do not include any ethical actionsSincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/12/03) */
Dear [redacted],
I am following up on your recent Revdex.com complaint against Thumbtack. I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me today so we could discuss this situation. It is very unfortunate you've had this experience with a...

professional on Thumbtack. We want to be sure we are doing all we can to protect the trust and safety of our customers and professionals.
We have taken several steps to prevent this professional from operating on Thumbtack. We have closed all known accounts of theirs due to reports of fraudulent activity. Here in the Marketplace Integrity Department, we have begun searching daily for any new accounts the professional may create. Any accounts found are closed immediately.

After many attempts, we have finally been able to speak with the professional directly. We have requested they cease all activity on Thumbtack, as they will not be allowed to operate on our service. We have made it very clear we will continue to seek out any accounts associated with his service, and close them once discovered.
We are a growing company, and are continuing to review our procedures to seek out ways to prevent activity such as this. It is our goal to create a safe marketplace for our customers and professionals. We appreciate you bringing this account to our attention so we could take the proper actions. Any further feedback you have is always welcome as we continue to grow and improve.
If there is anything more I can help with please let me know.
Sincerely,
[redacted] S
Thumbtack Support
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2014/12/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Thank you for taking the appropriate steps to stop the illegal and fraudulent activities of [redacted] and [redacted]

Hello [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
As Thumbtack works as a marketing channel, it is important to note that Thumbtack does not employ or endorse the professionals that choose to use our platform. Again, it is up to each professional to determine what licenses are necessary and follow their state and federal laws. With that being said, we do care about the safety of our customers and encourage them to consider all credentials and information professionals present, and use their best judgement when choosing who to hire. These encouragements and guidelines can be seen in this article on our website: [redacted]
We also reserve the right to remove any professional at our descretion due to information presented to us from Thumbtack customers. Disputes between customers and professionals on Thumbtack are rare, but when they do happen, our Marketplace Integirty team is here to help both parties come to a resolution.  
We encourage any customer or professional with questions to contact us at [redacted] or [redacted].
Thumbtack Support
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/22) */
Hello [redacted],
I appreciate your feedback about our review system. Reviews are an important part of your Thumbtack account and I can understand your frustration with the review you received in this situation.

Reviews are an essential...

part of a professional's business because they advertise the quality of the professional's service and give customers insight into what kind of experience they can expect to have with the professional. We work very hard to make sure that customers get an accurate representation of the professionals they are considering. Once an introduction has been made, a customer can post a review in regards to their experience.
Having said that, we also recognize that there are two sides to every story and that a review may not always reflect the whole situation. This is why we encourage professionals to post replies to the reviews they receive. We want both parties to share their side of the story so anyone reviewing the information can make a determination based off of what both sides have to say.
In cases where a bad review has been left, we also encourage professionals to reach out to the customer directly and work with them to address the situation. If a customer has their concerns resolved, they can contact us and request that the review be removed or updated to reflect the new situation.
If for whatever reason, the customer's concerns can't be resolved or the review isn't going to be changed, posting a well written, professional response is a great way to demonstrate to your potential customers how you handle problems when they happen.
I know you are concerned with customers being able to leave reviews before work has been done. Even though you were never officially hired in this situation, the interactions that you have during the hiring process are also important to customers. Reviews set the expectations of what kind of experience they are going to have. For that reason, customers can leave reviews detailing any part of their experience.
I understand that you aren't satisfied with having this review on your account. I would be more than happy to discuss these options directly. Please feel free to reach out to me.
[redacted]
Thumbtack Support Team
XXX-XXX-XXXX
[redacted]@thumbtack.com