Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/08) */ Thank you for reaching out to us about thisWe know that when you're running a business every dollar counts I'm glad I was able to talk to you over the phone about this situationIt's great that one of our representatives was able to work with you and refund the credits you used for this quoteIt's important to us that professional's credits are well spent If you ever come across a similar situation, please feel free to reach out to usYour success is important to us and we're here to help
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to help answer your questions and concerns I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionalsWe do not create fake leads and only send real customer job requestsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe 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 I looked into your Thumbtack account was able to find your bidding historyI understand your concern in not hearing back from these customers, however please note that even our most successful service professionals do not hear back from some of their customer leads as wellAlthough we are working hard to improve customer communication through product updates and adding new features, it is ultimately up to the customer as to whether or not they would like to send a responseWe acknowledge this issue and hope you'll stick with us as we work to improve customer non-responsiveness Furthermore, I noticed that you do not have any reviews on your profileService professionals with at least review are 400% more likely to hear back and get hired on ThumbtackWe've made it easy for new Thumbtack pros to add reviews - simply send the 'Review URL' to your past clients and they'll have the option to leave a review on your Thumbtack profileIf you're interested in using Thumbtack in the future, I recommend visiting the link below, which contains a list of best known practices on how to submit a winning bidThese tips include how to build a winning profile, getting reviews, and much more: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/how-thumbtack-works#get-hired I understand that you've had a frustrating experience with our 'Suggested Questions' forum and how aggravating it must be to have a question deleted when you simply would like more information before submitting a quoteThe guidelines for suggested questions have not changed since their inceptionThat being said, they have been applied inconsistently by our customer service agents who monitor the questionsThe guidelines are not pointed enough for our agents to be able to apply them uniformlyTherefore, we recently revamped our guidelines so that they can be implemented more reliablyWe appreciate your patience as we are working hard to fine-tune this processFor more information about 'Suggested Questions', please visit the following link: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/how-to-suggest-a-question Thank you so much, again, for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, however, sometimes we do not get it rightIf you'd like to continue using our services, please let me know and I'd be happy to apply a few complimentary credits to your accountPlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns Sincerely, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/23) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns and for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to get your email removed from our system as you requested We know that with any website, there can be glitches, and things like this can sometimes happenWe encourage any professional or customer to please contact us directly if they are experiencing account trouble, such as receiving too many emails, and are having difficulty correcting these troubles on their ownWe will quickly look into the issues and sort them out If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our customer support at XXX-XXX-XXXX or via email at [redacted] @thumbtack.comWe are here to help Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @Thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday
I lost a lot of money to Thumbtack by purchasing bids that never amounted to any jobs To test if they were a scam business, I even paid for bids and offered free photography services and received real customer...who turned out to be the most difficult person I've had to deal with I don't think Thumbtack is 100% a scam...maybe 50% scam, but they need a better customer screening system or a better overall system
This website is getting greedy and they keep changing their credit/leadIt was a flat credit lead, then they started increasing the credit/lead require for the high demand leads and now they started increasing the credit / lead by LocationIt's like any other lead service, they start small and then they shift increasing using their own methods
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/09/30) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns, and thank you for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to come to a resolution that you were happy withI would also like to address your concerns here We do not fabricate requests or allow fake requests on thumbtack and have a request verification system that is both automated and manualHowever, if a professional sees a requests they feel is suspicious, we ask that they report it to usWe will investigate it as we take these types of requests very seriously I understand that it can be very frustrating when customers do not respond to professionals' quotesAt Thumbtack, our goal is to introduce professionals to the customers they have chosen to quote toWhen professionals send quotes to customers, we want to ensure that those quotes are seenIf a customer does not view a quote within hours, we refund the professional who quoted We want our professionals to be successful and have provided some great tools for them to implement and increase their chances of getting hiredWe have knowledgable customer support agents who are always willing to help as well as some articles in our Pro Center which can be viewed here: https://www.thumbtack.com/pros/ Please let us know if you have any questionsWe are always here to help and love to see our professionals succeed Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/10/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Literally the first quote (for real estate photography) that I sent to a customer through Thumbtack after they spoke to me about my Revdex.com complaint turned out to be another real estate photographer in my market [redacted] (https://fstoppers.com/profile/ [redacted] ) was presumably gauging what other pros were chargingI found out he was a competitor after just two minutes of searching Google Thumbtack's claim that it verifies leads are a jokeThough the company will sometimes refund money paid for a lead like this one, it's not guaranteed and they'll fight pros [redacted] it if the person submitting a lead looked at the pro's quoteUntil the company starts performing the verification it says it provides, the claims on its website (and on its emails and here) are advertising Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2015/10/07) */ Hello ***, Thank you again for reaching out to us with your concerns through the Revdex.com and through emailI wanted to address these additional concerns here as well We do not allow fake requests or competitor request on ThumbtackEach request goes through a verification process that is both manual and automatedIn this case, this request was caught by our system, deleted, and the professionals who quoted on it were refundedWe are currently working on making this verification process faster and do understand that it is not perfectThis is why we encourage each professional to let us know if they see any requests that seem suspiciousWe take them very seriously and take action when they are brought to our attention Thank you again for reaching out to usPlease let us know if you have any further questions or concerns Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @Thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 12, 2015/10/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I've shown how Thumbtack fails to verify many of its leadsThe fact that I can figure out that people putting bids on the site are competitors or submitting under identities with only a first and last name and the company can't do it with an email and IP addresses seems to indicate it isn't interested in actually verifying leads Airbnb, Tinder and Uber all provide models for better verificationUntil Thumbtack makes an effort, starting with verifying emails, it shouldn't be able to say it provides verified leads
Hello ***,Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concernsI would like to touch on them hereAt Thumbtack, we allow professionals to be in complete control over how their money is spent with usProfessionals are charged when they choose to submit a quote to a customer or purchase credits with usEach quote costs a certain number of credits and credits may be purchased quote by quote or in packagesProfessionals must approve each of these purchasesWe also have what we call profile pointsThese points are awarded for things like profile completion and do not cost any moneyOnce a professional has a certain number of these points, they are awarded a badge on their profile with us that lets customers know they have either a bronze, silver, or gold profile with usWe use this small feature on professionals' profiles to encourage them to finish their profiles and thus have better chances of getting hired on our site.Each request submitted to Thumbtack goes through a verification process that is both manual and automatedWith that being said, we encourage all professionals to report anything that looks suspiciousWe will look into the situation carefully as we respect the professionals who use our siteWe also encourage any professional who is not finding success on Thumbtack to reach out to us or look into our research based articles on our websiteThey are designed to help professionals make the most of Thumbtack and may be found in our Pro Center: [redacted] If any professional has questions reguarding payment or finding success through Thumbtack, they may reach out to us at [redacted] or [redacted] We are here and willing to helpSincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Suppot [redacted]
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/02/21) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your complaint to the Revdex.com against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope I am able to clarify our business modelWe are not in the business of scamming our users and try our best to provide a great experience for all of our customersPlease note that I've processed your refund request and the funds will post to your credit card account within a few days I appreciate your feedback regarding the quoting process on ThumbtackWe currently only provide our service pros with the contact information that the customer is comfortable with sharing; we have implemented this process due to privacy and security reasonsWith that being said, some our customers do provide phone numbers in the request and prefer to be contacted by phoneFurthermore, we encourage our pros to utilize our public questions forum in order to acquire the necessary information that is required to submit a quoteSome of our most successful pros recommend this process in order to test the communication from each of their leadsIf you'd like more information about how to make a winning quote, please visit the link below: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/winning-quotes I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionalsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe 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 We are a small company with a big missionWe 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 canI 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 Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 11, 2014/03/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Issue resolvedThumbtack refunded balance Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2014/02/27) */ Hi ***, I'm really sorry my previous response appeared to be cannedNonetheless, I want to assure you that I responded to your Revdex.com complaint based completely on your individual experience You mentioned in your response that we did not offer you a rebate or refund - I'd like to clarify that Thumbtack has processed your refund for $on February 21, Please let me know if there are any issues regarding this refund and I'd be happy to look into this further I truly appreciate your feedback regarding our business modelI am more than willing to speak with you on the phone if you'd like to further discuss your experiencePlease feel free to give us a call at (XXX) XXX-XXXX Sincerely, [redacted] CRS
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/01/05) */ Hi ***, Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns about ThumbtackWe appreciate you speaking with us over the phone about this matterI would like to take the time to address your concerns here as well By using an extensive verification process, we do our best to only send professionals real, serious customersWe understand that every system has it's imperfections, therefore we are constantly improvingUnfortunately there are rare incidents where questionable requests get throughWe urge our professionals to contact us when this happens so we can refund their creditsI am glad that we were able to come to a positive resolution over the phone in regards to the remaining credits on your account We are devoted to the safety of our customers; if we are made aware of a possible criminal record we require that professional to take a background checkOnce this background check is completed and passed, we will refund them the amount they were charged to take itIf a professional refuses to take this background check, we will have to delete their account until they complyWe want to help every professional on our site grow their business, and we hate to delete any accountsNone the less, we care greatly about our customers and must take this stance when it comes to criminal allegations [redacted] Thumbtack Support Team Phone (XXX) XXX-XXXX E-mail [redacted] @Thumbtack.com www.thumbtack.com
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/08/20) */ Hi [redacted] , I am sorry to hear that you have not found success on ThumbtackWe work really hard to introduce you to interested clients, and encourage our customers to respond to each quoteI have gone ahead and refunded all the money you have spent with Thumbtack I understand that it can be frustrating not hearing back from customersI looked at your profile and noticed that you do not have a profile photo nor any reviewsA clear photo that shows your face increases your chances of being hired by 40%Further, Customers are 400% more likely to choose you to perform the service when you have reviewsI strongly encourage you to ask some of your previous clients to write a review on ThumbtackI believe that you can be successful on Thumbtack if you put more into your profile to really showcase your and your firm's strengths You did not receive any quotes for your request for legal services because our request verification team flagged it as a test requestAt Thumbtack we recognize that we can only be successful if we are connecting real, serious Customers with real, quality ProfessionalsWe invest significant resources (time, effort, and funds) to screen our requests for signs that they are not legitimate requestsThumbtack uses both automated and manual steps in an attempt to make sure our requests are being generated by legitimate individuals looking for appropriate services, and that these requests contain the necessary information for Professionals to craft a quote for the requestThe request verification process begins with all requests initially being reviewed by a computer algorithm, which flags requests based on criteria we think signifies an illegitimate requestThen, a specialized request verification team personally reviews these flagged requestsOne of the criteria that we flag for is when a service professional places a request for the same service he or she offers on ThumbtackThis type of request signals to us that the pro is potentially testing our system, so we don't send that request to other pros, because we don't want our pros to pay for requests that are not from serious customers Our mission is to be THE online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service prosSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategy Sincerely, [redacted] Marketplace Integrity Manager
We contacted [redacted] , Etcthru Thumbtack, Incto clean out our rain gutters They came exactly when they agreed to come, came with all necessary equipment They did an excellent job, cleaned up after themselves and were reasonably priced I would recommend them
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/08/20) */ Dear ***, I am writing in response to your BBB 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. I would like to first apologize if your first experience with Thumbtack Support was not positive. We are obsessed about the satisfaction of our customers, and we failed to meet that goal in your initial contact with our support team. We love helping our customers find professionals who can complete their personal projects. Thumbtack's role is to introduce customers to professionals; we do not vet or endorse any particular professional on our site. We believe that the customer knows their needs best and is, therefore, the best individual to decide which professional is right for their project. We take your concerns about safety on Thumbtack very seriously. When a professional signs up on Thumbtack, we review their profile, verify their email, and check their name and address against the National Sex Offender's database. Once a professional is approved, we give them the tools to demonstrate their professionalism and expertise. Each professional has a profile that includes not only a description of their services but also reviews, credentials, photos of their work, and licenses. All of these help customers like you to better understand the quality and trustworthiness of each professional. That said, we take complaints from customers about professionals very seriously. Introducing customers to quality professionals is our goal. If a dispute between a customer and professional on Thumbtack arises, we reach out to both parties to investigate the situation, and encourage both parties to communicate in order to reach a resolution together. I apologize for the poor experience you had with 44 Flagstone and the hassle you experienced. I am, however, very glad that we were able to find a resolution to your situation, and that you will now be able to complete your landscaping project. I appreciate you contacting me so that we could resolve your concerns and, most importantly, help you in the process of completing your landscaping project. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have any other questions or concerns. Sincerely, ***
Thumbtack is a SCAM companyBEWARE!!! They have fake leads they send professionals that have NO phone numbers or contact information and they do not provide a way to credit you back when you know they are FAKE job requests.......You will spend money on fake leads just to pay the salaries of the year olds running this scam company
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/06/17) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Dear ***, I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questionsI understand that you spoke with ***, one of our customer service agents and that he was able to address all of your concernsWe have issued you a refund and closed your account upon your request I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our professionalsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe spend a lot of time talking to 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 One of the reasons customers use Thumbtack is because we value their privacy and security when they submit a job requestCustomers come back to our service because they are able to receive up to five quotes from qualified professionals without exposing their personal information before hiring a professional for the jobAs you discussed with [redacted] on the phone, we use a point checklist to validate each request that is submitted before inviting our professionals to send a quote and introduction Thank you so much, again, for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our professionals and customers, however, sometimes we do not get it rightPlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/02) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us Through the Revdex.com and for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to speak and come to a resolution that you were happy withI would also like to address your concerns here I can understand your concerns and want to assure you that all requests submitted through Thumbtack go through a verification process that is both automated and manualWe do not allow fake requests on Thumbtack, and if such a request is found, it is deleted and any professionals who may have quoted on that request are refundedThough we have this verification process, we encourage all professionals to report any requests that seem suspicious and our team will look into them carefully If you or any other Thumbtack professionals have questions, I encourage you to reach out to our customer support team who is trained to be very helpfulYou may reach them by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX or email at [redacted] @Thumbtack.comThank you again for reaching out to us I wish you the best of luck with your business Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support XXX-XXX-XXXX [redacted] @Thumbtack.com Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/11/03) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) [redacted] is a great asset to ThumbtackI appreciate her dealing with me in a positive mannerI consider the case closed
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your complaint to the Revdex.com against ThumbtackI am sorry for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to help answer your questions and concernsPlease note that your complaints and feedback have been heard and our request form team will implement a few of your suggestions within the next week I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experienceOur 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 monthsWe are actively hiring and building out our customer support team in order to prevent this from happening in the futureOur goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack As you may know, we allow our service professionals to ask their customers a free 'Suggested Question' before paying to submit a quoteAlthough we ask clients about their needs in the job request flow, we may have missed asking an important question, especially if their request is uniqueIf a client's request is missing details you need to know if you are a good fit for the job, suggest a question to ask the clientI noticed that you emailed our customer support team about a particular deleted question in which you were asking how many rooms needed to be cleaned; this question was deleted because another service professional had already asked that same question, however it was still in a 'pending approval' status and therefore not posted at the timeI completely understand that this is a frustrating experience since you aren't able to view pending questions, however we will not ask a customer the same question twice I am sorry that your feedback has not been implemented in the last few yearsWe truly appreciate your suggestions and please rest assured that it has been passed on to our request form teamI have personally forwarded your recent suggestions regarding the number of rooms to our request form manager who is actively updating these forms on a daily basisPlease note that she has agreed to update the carpet cleaning form within the next weekOur team agrees that this information is an integral factor in determining the an accurate quote to provide the customer I'd like to clarify that our customer support and 'Suggested Questions' agents are located in the Philippines, however our request form team is located in our San Francisco officeThere is absolutely no english language barrier and are working feverishly to update our job request formsPlease also note that they are also researching our 'Suggested Questions' history in order to understand what questions are necessary across all Thumbtack service categories We are a small company with a big missionWe 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 canAs a token of appreciation, I've gone ahead and credited your account with a few complimentary Thumbtack creditsI 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 / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2014/03/12) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have read the response and I do not "totally" disregard the entire response, they seem to have address "some" of the issues This company stated that vendors are able to ask/suggest questions to prospective customers without being chargedThis is not entirely trueONLY when a vendor asks a question viz computer is this an option where the vendor is not chargedWhen a vendor is in the field and must use smart phones or tablets (as nearly all vendors in today's world are), we ARE required to pay to simply ask for additional information This company has gotten multiple questions to prospects from me which were totally disregarded (and not previously aasked)I forwarded these instances to the the company in a response to their email While I do believe this company has a service model that "could" benefit greatly customers and vendors, they are NOT acting on complaints or issues brought to their attentionThey state they are a small company so it should not take years to make corrections as has been my experieince with them I would ask they make ALL necessary corrections before they offer a partially correct response (i.emake sure that we are NOT charged on any form of media for asking questions, etc.) Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2014/03/23) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your responseI am sorry that my response did not address all of your concerns - I have personally responded to your emails and was able to implement your specific feedback into our request formsI am personally forwarding your emails to our request form manager who has agreed to expedite these particular issuesAs always, please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns I'd like to clarify that our suggested questions forum is available on mobileI sent you an email and would love to help you find this feature on your mobile deviceThe pricing and feature availability are identical on mobile and computerPlease note that we are about to release an iPhone application for our service professionals in a few months! We take complaints very seriously at ThumbtackWe are currently experiencing a tremendous amount of growth and have built our customer service and operation teams accordinglyWe've grown from to employees in the past few months; we acknowledge that we haven't acted on this feedback in an efficient manner and now have enough staff to process and implement feedback from service professionals like yourselfJust to let you know, we receive feedback and complaints across all of our service categories and have updated nearly request forms in the past two weeksWe are working hard and encourage you to keep sending any feedback Best regards, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/04/02) */ 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 ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questions and concernsWe take security very seriously here at Thumbtack I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experienceOur 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 monthsWe are actively hiring and building out our customer support team in order to prevent this from happening in the futureOur goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack Thumbtack does not encourage or indicate that our service professionals should send or forward leadsThese leads are personally matched to your account based on location, service category, and other request form criteriaTherefore, if you forward a lead to another service professional (Thumbtack pro or not), the pro will not be able to submit a quote for that jobThumbtack invites all qualified Thumbtack pros to bid on a job, and the first pros to respond will have their quote submitted for the customer's reviewIf you send a lead to someone that's more qualified for the job, they will not have the ability to submit a quoteIf the "more qualified pro" is a Thumbtack pro and was coincidentally matched to this lead as well, then perhaps this method of communication will workThis unlikely scenario is not recommended because the pro will be automatically logged into your account by simply clicking on any link in the forwarded emailEvery Thumbtack professional should handle their own leads and account; there is absolutely no benefit in forwarding a lead email to a third party With that being said, I understand the idea of sharing a lead with another service professional, however you would have to submit a quote on that pro's behalfThat quote would be extremely confusing to the customer because you would need to mention that you are not the service professional that would be performing the job! Furthermore, you would be responsible for the cost of that quoteAs you can see, this scenario is very messy and not in the customer's best interest Regarding the security concern, I'd like to inform you that Thumbtack does not store credit card information on our siteIf a potential "hacker" was to gain access to your account, they would not be able to view your entire credit card numberThis information is stored with a third party intermediary service that Thumbtack utilizes for paymentTherefore, your credit card information is safe and securely storedYou'll notice that we only display the last digits of your credit card information when viewing your account settings on Thumbtack.comI understand your concern in displaying these digits as a potential security flaw, however these digits are printed on nearly every purchase you make across all industries, whether it's a physical receipt from Starbucks or an email receipt from Amazon This is not a true security breach because you are essentially giving another service pro permission to enter your account when you forward a lead emailIt's the responsibility of the service professional to not forward leads to anyone they don't trust in their accountThe leads we send you are personalized and matched exactly to your profile, albeit not always perfectI believe that staying connected and sharing leads with other service professionals is a great way to do businessHowever, when using an online marketplace such as Thumbtack, this practice is not recommended the customer leads are directly matched to your accountIf another service professional is a better fit for the job, I recommend telling him or her to sign up on Thumbtack! That's the easiest, safest, and most efficient way to ensure that they are receiving the leads that you may want to share with them We appreciate your concern and will continue to monitor this potential issue as we growIn the meantime, we recommend that service pros do not forward their Thumbtack emailsI 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, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/04/17) */ 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 ThumbtackMy name is [redacted] and I've previously communicated with you through Thumbtack support in the pastI apologize for the poor experience you had with Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questions and concernsPlease note that I've reached out to multiple departments within our company, including the engineering, marketing, and operation teamsI've gathered detailed information about our landing pages and hope I am able to address all of your concerns Thumbtack is free to signup and you do not have to pay to be listed on the Thumbtack "Top Professionals" listSeveral customers on this page have been listed on our site for years and have never been a paying client The Thumbtack business listing works in a similar to the way Google organically ranks websites for the keyword "dog training in [redacted] "Google ranks sites based upon hundreds or variables and one of them is locationThe dog trainers don't necessarily have to be in the city or zip code, rather they are able to service customers in that particular locationIt is a reasonable expectation that dog trainers, dog walkers, plumbers, contractors and other service professionals are willing to travelThe number one ranked site on Google for "dog training in [redacted] " does not have a business address in the city, but they are willing to travel to the customer to train the pet Here's some more information about how business listings in search and landing pages: Google likes to give it's users options to decide which dog trainer will suit their needs the bestRather than show only a few dog trainers that may have a narrower range of skills or prices in [redacted] it will show 20-dog trainers willing to travel to the city with a broader range of skills and prices The business owner's website still ranks very high for a broad range of dog trainer keywords in the [redacted] area You mentioned that our listed services contain fraudulent and unverified reviewsWe take reviews very seriously here at Thumbtack, and only allow reviews that are submitted by actual Thumbtack customers who were introduced to the professional in reviewAdditionally, Thumbtack professionals have the ability to send a unique 'review url' to their past clients which helps build up their reputation when they initially join ThumbtackThis tool helps is beneficial for Thumbtack professionals since our customers value reviews when determining which professional they would like to hireI encourage you to utilize this feature if you decide to use Thumbtack in the future Thank you so much for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, as well as create a fair marketplacePlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns Sincerely, ***, CRS Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (4200, 12, 2014/04/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) A resolution requires that both parties compromiseThe response of Thumbtack offers nonePer the Revdex.com guidelines,deceptive advertising by it's members is not allowedThumbtack has failed to address why it should be allowed to publish falsehoods that damage my business and deceive consumersThey cite Google guidelines and their reading of the laws regarding libel as their justification for stating falsehoodsI contend that Revdex.com members, as I am, are held to an overriding ethical standard which makes their argument both irrelevant, evasive and patently bogusAccordingly, under the rules of Revdex.com membership I would ask that either Thumbtack cease their deceptive advertising or agree to binding arbitration as set forth in the rules of membership of the Revdex.comShould they fail to agree to binding arbitration, I seek that their membership in the Revdex.com be revoked and their Revdex.com rating be revised to a "F" to accurately warn others that Thumbtack wantonly engages in unethical and deceptive business practices Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 15, 2014/05/01) */ Hi [redacted] , I'm sorry that you feel our response was not adequateWe've provided an explanation of our SEO listings and are unable to further elaborate on the exact methodology that is used in determining these rankingsAgain, please note that we are well within Google's guidelines of non-deceptive SEO language, and we post these listings in order to attract customers to ThumbtackThis is healthy competition, and our end goal is to help our professionals get hired on Thumbtack At this point, I do not think there any further information we can provide to alleviate your concernsWe are incredibly sorry that you've experienced so much frustration with ThumbtackWe appreciate your passion [redacted] your profession and wish you much success in your business Sincerely, ***
Thumbtack customer service is horribleI had a big issue with one of the service guy I hired through ThumbtackIt cost me big money because of the poor service provided by himThumbtack customer service was very unhelpful and it was never ending wait time on call to talk to a representativeI will never recommend Thumbtack to anyone
thanks for helping organizing
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/08) */ Thank you for reaching out to us about thisWe know that when you're running a business every dollar counts I'm glad I was able to talk to you over the phone about this situationIt's great that one of our representatives was able to work with you and refund the credits you used for this quoteIt's important to us that professional's credits are well spent If you ever come across a similar situation, please feel free to reach out to usYour success is important to us and we're here to help
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to help answer your questions and concerns I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionalsWe do not create fake leads and only send real customer job requestsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe 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 I looked into your Thumbtack account was able to find your bidding historyI understand your concern in not hearing back from these customers, however please note that even our most successful service professionals do not hear back from some of their customer leads as wellAlthough we are working hard to improve customer communication through product updates and adding new features, it is ultimately up to the customer as to whether or not they would like to send a responseWe acknowledge this issue and hope you'll stick with us as we work to improve customer non-responsiveness Furthermore, I noticed that you do not have any reviews on your profileService professionals with at least review are 400% more likely to hear back and get hired on ThumbtackWe've made it easy for new Thumbtack pros to add reviews - simply send the 'Review URL' to your past clients and they'll have the option to leave a review on your Thumbtack profileIf you're interested in using Thumbtack in the future, I recommend visiting the link below, which contains a list of best known practices on how to submit a winning bidThese tips include how to build a winning profile, getting reviews, and much more: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/how-thumbtack-works#get-hired I understand that you've had a frustrating experience with our 'Suggested Questions' forum and how aggravating it must be to have a question deleted when you simply would like more information before submitting a quoteThe guidelines for suggested questions have not changed since their inceptionThat being said, they have been applied inconsistently by our customer service agents who monitor the questionsThe guidelines are not pointed enough for our agents to be able to apply them uniformlyTherefore, we recently revamped our guidelines so that they can be implemented more reliablyWe appreciate your patience as we are working hard to fine-tune this processFor more information about 'Suggested Questions', please visit the following link: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/how-to-suggest-a-question Thank you so much, again, for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, however, sometimes we do not get it rightIf you'd like to continue using our services, please let me know and I'd be happy to apply a few complimentary credits to your accountPlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns Sincerely, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/23) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns and for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to get your email removed from our system as you requested We know that with any website, there can be glitches, and things like this can sometimes happenWe encourage any professional or customer to please contact us directly if they are experiencing account trouble, such as receiving too many emails, and are having difficulty correcting these troubles on their ownWe will quickly look into the issues and sort them out If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our customer support at XXX-XXX-XXXX or via email at [redacted] @thumbtack.comWe are here to help Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @Thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday
I lost a lot of money to Thumbtack by purchasing bids that never amounted to any jobs To test if they were a scam business, I even paid for bids and offered free photography services and received real customer...who turned out to be the most difficult person I've had to deal with I don't think Thumbtack is 100% a scam...maybe 50% scam, but they need a better customer screening system or a better overall system
This website is getting greedy and they keep changing their credit/leadIt was a flat credit lead, then they started increasing the credit/lead require for the high demand leads and now they started increasing the credit / lead by LocationIt's like any other lead service, they start small and then they shift increasing using their own methods
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/09/30) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concerns, and thank you for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to come to a resolution that you were happy withI would also like to address your concerns here We do not fabricate requests or allow fake requests on thumbtack and have a request verification system that is both automated and manualHowever, if a professional sees a requests they feel is suspicious, we ask that they report it to usWe will investigate it as we take these types of requests very seriously I understand that it can be very frustrating when customers do not respond to professionals' quotesAt Thumbtack, our goal is to introduce professionals to the customers they have chosen to quote toWhen professionals send quotes to customers, we want to ensure that those quotes are seenIf a customer does not view a quote within hours, we refund the professional who quoted We want our professionals to be successful and have provided some great tools for them to implement and increase their chances of getting hiredWe have knowledgable customer support agents who are always willing to help as well as some articles in our Pro Center which can be viewed here: https://www.thumbtack.com/pros/ Please let us know if you have any questionsWe are always here to help and love to see our professionals succeed Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/10/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Literally the first quote (for real estate photography) that I sent to a customer through Thumbtack after they spoke to me about my Revdex.com complaint turned out to be another real estate photographer in my market [redacted] (https://fstoppers.com/profile/ [redacted] ) was presumably gauging what other pros were chargingI found out he was a competitor after just two minutes of searching Google Thumbtack's claim that it verifies leads are a jokeThough the company will sometimes refund money paid for a lead like this one, it's not guaranteed and they'll fight pros [redacted] it if the person submitting a lead looked at the pro's quoteUntil the company starts performing the verification it says it provides, the claims on its website (and on its emails and here) are advertising Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2015/10/07) */ Hello ***, Thank you again for reaching out to us with your concerns through the Revdex.com and through emailI wanted to address these additional concerns here as well We do not allow fake requests or competitor request on ThumbtackEach request goes through a verification process that is both manual and automatedIn this case, this request was caught by our system, deleted, and the professionals who quoted on it were refundedWe are currently working on making this verification process faster and do understand that it is not perfectThis is why we encourage each professional to let us know if they see any requests that seem suspiciousWe take them very seriously and take action when they are brought to our attention Thank you again for reaching out to usPlease let us know if you have any further questions or concerns Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support [redacted] @Thumbtack.com XXX-XXX-XXXX Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 12, 2015/10/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I've shown how Thumbtack fails to verify many of its leadsThe fact that I can figure out that people putting bids on the site are competitors or submitting under identities with only a first and last name and the company can't do it with an email and IP addresses seems to indicate it isn't interested in actually verifying leads Airbnb, Tinder and Uber all provide models for better verificationUntil Thumbtack makes an effort, starting with verifying emails, it shouldn't be able to say it provides verified leads
Hello ***,Thank you for reaching out to us through the Revdex.com about your concernsI would like to touch on them hereAt Thumbtack, we allow professionals to be in complete control over how their money is spent with usProfessionals are charged when they choose to submit a quote to a customer or purchase credits with usEach quote costs a certain number of credits and credits may be purchased quote by quote or in packagesProfessionals must approve each of these purchasesWe also have what we call profile pointsThese points are awarded for things like profile completion and do not cost any moneyOnce a professional has a certain number of these points, they are awarded a badge on their profile with us that lets customers know they have either a bronze, silver, or gold profile with usWe use this small feature on professionals' profiles to encourage them to finish their profiles and thus have better chances of getting hired on our site.Each request submitted to Thumbtack goes through a verification process that is both manual and automatedWith that being said, we encourage all professionals to report anything that looks suspiciousWe will look into the situation carefully as we respect the professionals who use our siteWe also encourage any professional who is not finding success on Thumbtack to reach out to us or look into our research based articles on our websiteThey are designed to help professionals make the most of Thumbtack and may be found in our Pro Center: [redacted] If any professional has questions reguarding payment or finding success through Thumbtack, they may reach out to us at [redacted] or [redacted] We are here and willing to helpSincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Suppot [redacted]
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/02/21) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your complaint to the Revdex.com against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope I am able to clarify our business modelWe are not in the business of scamming our users and try our best to provide a great experience for all of our customersPlease note that I've processed your refund request and the funds will post to your credit card account within a few days I appreciate your feedback regarding the quoting process on ThumbtackWe currently only provide our service pros with the contact information that the customer is comfortable with sharing; we have implemented this process due to privacy and security reasonsWith that being said, some our customers do provide phone numbers in the request and prefer to be contacted by phoneFurthermore, we encourage our pros to utilize our public questions forum in order to acquire the necessary information that is required to submit a quoteSome of our most successful pros recommend this process in order to test the communication from each of their leadsIf you'd like more information about how to make a winning quote, please visit the link below: http://www.thumbtack.com/pros/winning-quotes I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our service professionalsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe 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 We are a small company with a big missionWe 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 canI 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 Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 11, 2014/03/01) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Issue resolvedThumbtack refunded balance Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2014/02/27) */ Hi ***, I'm really sorry my previous response appeared to be cannedNonetheless, I want to assure you that I responded to your Revdex.com complaint based completely on your individual experience You mentioned in your response that we did not offer you a rebate or refund - I'd like to clarify that Thumbtack has processed your refund for $on February 21, Please let me know if there are any issues regarding this refund and I'd be happy to look into this further I truly appreciate your feedback regarding our business modelI am more than willing to speak with you on the phone if you'd like to further discuss your experiencePlease feel free to give us a call at (XXX) XXX-XXXX Sincerely, [redacted] CRS
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/01/05) */ Hi ***, Thank you for reaching out to us with your concerns about ThumbtackWe appreciate you speaking with us over the phone about this matterI would like to take the time to address your concerns here as well By using an extensive verification process, we do our best to only send professionals real, serious customersWe understand that every system has it's imperfections, therefore we are constantly improvingUnfortunately there are rare incidents where questionable requests get throughWe urge our professionals to contact us when this happens so we can refund their creditsI am glad that we were able to come to a positive resolution over the phone in regards to the remaining credits on your account We are devoted to the safety of our customers; if we are made aware of a possible criminal record we require that professional to take a background checkOnce this background check is completed and passed, we will refund them the amount they were charged to take itIf a professional refuses to take this background check, we will have to delete their account until they complyWe want to help every professional on our site grow their business, and we hate to delete any accountsNone the less, we care greatly about our customers and must take this stance when it comes to criminal allegations [redacted] Thumbtack Support Team Phone (XXX) XXX-XXXX E-mail [redacted] @Thumbtack.com www.thumbtack.com
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/08/20) */ Hi [redacted] , I am sorry to hear that you have not found success on ThumbtackWe work really hard to introduce you to interested clients, and encourage our customers to respond to each quoteI have gone ahead and refunded all the money you have spent with Thumbtack I understand that it can be frustrating not hearing back from customersI looked at your profile and noticed that you do not have a profile photo nor any reviewsA clear photo that shows your face increases your chances of being hired by 40%Further, Customers are 400% more likely to choose you to perform the service when you have reviewsI strongly encourage you to ask some of your previous clients to write a review on ThumbtackI believe that you can be successful on Thumbtack if you put more into your profile to really showcase your and your firm's strengths You did not receive any quotes for your request for legal services because our request verification team flagged it as a test requestAt Thumbtack we recognize that we can only be successful if we are connecting real, serious Customers with real, quality ProfessionalsWe invest significant resources (time, effort, and funds) to screen our requests for signs that they are not legitimate requestsThumbtack uses both automated and manual steps in an attempt to make sure our requests are being generated by legitimate individuals looking for appropriate services, and that these requests contain the necessary information for Professionals to craft a quote for the requestThe request verification process begins with all requests initially being reviewed by a computer algorithm, which flags requests based on criteria we think signifies an illegitimate requestThen, a specialized request verification team personally reviews these flagged requestsOne of the criteria that we flag for is when a service professional places a request for the same service he or she offers on ThumbtackThis type of request signals to us that the pro is potentially testing our system, so we don't send that request to other pros, because we don't want our pros to pay for requests that are not from serious customers Our mission is to be THE online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality service prosSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategy Sincerely, [redacted] Marketplace Integrity Manager
We contacted [redacted] , Etcthru Thumbtack, Incto clean out our rain gutters They came exactly when they agreed to come, came with all necessary equipment They did an excellent job, cleaned up after themselves and were reasonably priced I would recommend them
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/08/20) */ Dear ***, I am writing in response to your BBB 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. I would like to first apologize if your first experience with Thumbtack Support was not positive. We are obsessed about the satisfaction of our customers, and we failed to meet that goal in your initial contact with our support team. We love helping our customers find professionals who can complete their personal projects. Thumbtack's role is to introduce customers to professionals; we do not vet or endorse any particular professional on our site. We believe that the customer knows their needs best and is, therefore, the best individual to decide which professional is right for their project. We take your concerns about safety on Thumbtack very seriously. When a professional signs up on Thumbtack, we review their profile, verify their email, and check their name and address against the National Sex Offender's database. Once a professional is approved, we give them the tools to demonstrate their professionalism and expertise. Each professional has a profile that includes not only a description of their services but also reviews, credentials, photos of their work, and licenses. All of these help customers like you to better understand the quality and trustworthiness of each professional. That said, we take complaints from customers about professionals very seriously. Introducing customers to quality professionals is our goal. If a dispute between a customer and professional on Thumbtack arises, we reach out to both parties to investigate the situation, and encourage both parties to communicate in order to reach a resolution together. I apologize for the poor experience you had with 44 Flagstone and the hassle you experienced. I am, however, very glad that we were able to find a resolution to your situation, and that you will now be able to complete your landscaping project. I appreciate you contacting me so that we could resolve your concerns and, most importantly, help you in the process of completing your landscaping project. Please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you have any other questions or concerns. Sincerely, ***
Thumbtack is a SCAM companyBEWARE!!! They have fake leads they send professionals that have NO phone numbers or contact information and they do not provide a way to credit you back when you know they are FAKE job requests.......You will spend money on fake leads just to pay the salaries of the year olds running this scam company
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/06/17) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Dear ***, I am writing to you in response to your Revdex.com complaint against ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questionsI understand that you spoke with ***, one of our customer service agents and that he was able to address all of your concernsWe have issued you a refund and closed your account upon your request I do want to strongly convey that we are not in the business of scamming our professionalsNot only is it fundamentally against what we stand for here at Thumbtack, it wouldn't make sense from a business perspective eitherOur goal is to be the online marketplace for local servicesWe can only grow if we are connecting real, serious customers with real, quality professionalsSpending time, effort, and funds on creating fake leads simply isn't a winning strategyWe spend a lot of time talking to 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 One of the reasons customers use Thumbtack is because we value their privacy and security when they submit a job requestCustomers come back to our service because they are able to receive up to five quotes from qualified professionals without exposing their personal information before hiring a professional for the jobAs you discussed with [redacted] on the phone, we use a point checklist to validate each request that is submitted before inviting our professionals to send a quote and introduction Thank you so much, again, for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our professionals and customers, however, sometimes we do not get it rightPlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/11/02) */ Hello ***, Thank you for reaching out to us Through the Revdex.com and for speaking with me over the phone as wellI am glad we were able to speak and come to a resolution that you were happy withI would also like to address your concerns here I can understand your concerns and want to assure you that all requests submitted through Thumbtack go through a verification process that is both automated and manualWe do not allow fake requests on Thumbtack, and if such a request is found, it is deleted and any professionals who may have quoted on that request are refundedThough we have this verification process, we encourage all professionals to report any requests that seem suspicious and our team will look into them carefully If you or any other Thumbtack professionals have questions, I encourage you to reach out to our customer support team who is trained to be very helpfulYou may reach them by phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX or email at [redacted] @Thumbtack.comThank you again for reaching out to us I wish you the best of luck with your business Sincerely, [redacted] Thumbtack Support XXX-XXX-XXXX [redacted] @Thumbtack.com Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/11/03) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) [redacted] is a great asset to ThumbtackI appreciate her dealing with me in a positive mannerI consider the case closed
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/03/05) */ Contact Name and Title: [redacted] CRS Contact Email: [redacted] @thumbtack.com Hi ***, I am writing to you in response to your complaint to the Revdex.com against ThumbtackI am sorry for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to help answer your questions and concernsPlease note that your complaints and feedback have been heard and our request form team will implement a few of your suggestions within the next week I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experienceOur 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 monthsWe are actively hiring and building out our customer support team in order to prevent this from happening in the futureOur goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack As you may know, we allow our service professionals to ask their customers a free 'Suggested Question' before paying to submit a quoteAlthough we ask clients about their needs in the job request flow, we may have missed asking an important question, especially if their request is uniqueIf a client's request is missing details you need to know if you are a good fit for the job, suggest a question to ask the clientI noticed that you emailed our customer support team about a particular deleted question in which you were asking how many rooms needed to be cleaned; this question was deleted because another service professional had already asked that same question, however it was still in a 'pending approval' status and therefore not posted at the timeI completely understand that this is a frustrating experience since you aren't able to view pending questions, however we will not ask a customer the same question twice I am sorry that your feedback has not been implemented in the last few yearsWe truly appreciate your suggestions and please rest assured that it has been passed on to our request form teamI have personally forwarded your recent suggestions regarding the number of rooms to our request form manager who is actively updating these forms on a daily basisPlease note that she has agreed to update the carpet cleaning form within the next weekOur team agrees that this information is an integral factor in determining the an accurate quote to provide the customer I'd like to clarify that our customer support and 'Suggested Questions' agents are located in the Philippines, however our request form team is located in our San Francisco officeThere is absolutely no english language barrier and are working feverishly to update our job request formsPlease also note that they are also researching our 'Suggested Questions' history in order to understand what questions are necessary across all Thumbtack service categories We are a small company with a big missionWe 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 canAs a token of appreciation, I've gone ahead and credited your account with a few complimentary Thumbtack creditsI 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 / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2014/03/12) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have read the response and I do not "totally" disregard the entire response, they seem to have address "some" of the issues This company stated that vendors are able to ask/suggest questions to prospective customers without being chargedThis is not entirely trueONLY when a vendor asks a question viz computer is this an option where the vendor is not chargedWhen a vendor is in the field and must use smart phones or tablets (as nearly all vendors in today's world are), we ARE required to pay to simply ask for additional information This company has gotten multiple questions to prospects from me which were totally disregarded (and not previously aasked)I forwarded these instances to the the company in a response to their email While I do believe this company has a service model that "could" benefit greatly customers and vendors, they are NOT acting on complaints or issues brought to their attentionThey state they are a small company so it should not take years to make corrections as has been my experieince with them I would ask they make ALL necessary corrections before they offer a partially correct response (i.emake sure that we are NOT charged on any form of media for asking questions, etc.) Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2014/03/23) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your responseI am sorry that my response did not address all of your concerns - I have personally responded to your emails and was able to implement your specific feedback into our request formsI am personally forwarding your emails to our request form manager who has agreed to expedite these particular issuesAs always, please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns I'd like to clarify that our suggested questions forum is available on mobileI sent you an email and would love to help you find this feature on your mobile deviceThe pricing and feature availability are identical on mobile and computerPlease note that we are about to release an iPhone application for our service professionals in a few months! We take complaints very seriously at ThumbtackWe are currently experiencing a tremendous amount of growth and have built our customer service and operation teams accordinglyWe've grown from to employees in the past few months; we acknowledge that we haven't acted on this feedback in an efficient manner and now have enough staff to process and implement feedback from service professionals like yourselfJust to let you know, we receive feedback and complaints across all of our service categories and have updated nearly request forms in the past two weeksWe are working hard and encourage you to keep sending any feedback Best regards, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/04/02) */ 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 ThumbtackI apologize for the poor experience you had using Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questions and concernsWe take security very seriously here at Thumbtack I would like to first apologize for failing to provide you with a great customer service experienceOur 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 monthsWe are actively hiring and building out our customer support team in order to prevent this from happening in the futureOur goal is to provide a fantastic customer service experience each and every time you contact Thumbtack Thumbtack does not encourage or indicate that our service professionals should send or forward leadsThese leads are personally matched to your account based on location, service category, and other request form criteriaTherefore, if you forward a lead to another service professional (Thumbtack pro or not), the pro will not be able to submit a quote for that jobThumbtack invites all qualified Thumbtack pros to bid on a job, and the first pros to respond will have their quote submitted for the customer's reviewIf you send a lead to someone that's more qualified for the job, they will not have the ability to submit a quoteIf the "more qualified pro" is a Thumbtack pro and was coincidentally matched to this lead as well, then perhaps this method of communication will workThis unlikely scenario is not recommended because the pro will be automatically logged into your account by simply clicking on any link in the forwarded emailEvery Thumbtack professional should handle their own leads and account; there is absolutely no benefit in forwarding a lead email to a third party With that being said, I understand the idea of sharing a lead with another service professional, however you would have to submit a quote on that pro's behalfThat quote would be extremely confusing to the customer because you would need to mention that you are not the service professional that would be performing the job! Furthermore, you would be responsible for the cost of that quoteAs you can see, this scenario is very messy and not in the customer's best interest Regarding the security concern, I'd like to inform you that Thumbtack does not store credit card information on our siteIf a potential "hacker" was to gain access to your account, they would not be able to view your entire credit card numberThis information is stored with a third party intermediary service that Thumbtack utilizes for paymentTherefore, your credit card information is safe and securely storedYou'll notice that we only display the last digits of your credit card information when viewing your account settings on Thumbtack.comI understand your concern in displaying these digits as a potential security flaw, however these digits are printed on nearly every purchase you make across all industries, whether it's a physical receipt from Starbucks or an email receipt from Amazon This is not a true security breach because you are essentially giving another service pro permission to enter your account when you forward a lead emailIt's the responsibility of the service professional to not forward leads to anyone they don't trust in their accountThe leads we send you are personalized and matched exactly to your profile, albeit not always perfectI believe that staying connected and sharing leads with other service professionals is a great way to do businessHowever, when using an online marketplace such as Thumbtack, this practice is not recommended the customer leads are directly matched to your accountIf another service professional is a better fit for the job, I recommend telling him or her to sign up on Thumbtack! That's the easiest, safest, and most efficient way to ensure that they are receiving the leads that you may want to share with them We appreciate your concern and will continue to monitor this potential issue as we growIn the meantime, we recommend that service pros do not forward their Thumbtack emailsI 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, ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/04/17) */ 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 ThumbtackMy name is [redacted] and I've previously communicated with you through Thumbtack support in the pastI apologize for the poor experience you had with Thumbtack and hope that I am able to address all of your questions and concernsPlease note that I've reached out to multiple departments within our company, including the engineering, marketing, and operation teamsI've gathered detailed information about our landing pages and hope I am able to address all of your concerns Thumbtack is free to signup and you do not have to pay to be listed on the Thumbtack "Top Professionals" listSeveral customers on this page have been listed on our site for years and have never been a paying client The Thumbtack business listing works in a similar to the way Google organically ranks websites for the keyword "dog training in [redacted] "Google ranks sites based upon hundreds or variables and one of them is locationThe dog trainers don't necessarily have to be in the city or zip code, rather they are able to service customers in that particular locationIt is a reasonable expectation that dog trainers, dog walkers, plumbers, contractors and other service professionals are willing to travelThe number one ranked site on Google for "dog training in [redacted] " does not have a business address in the city, but they are willing to travel to the customer to train the pet Here's some more information about how business listings in search and landing pages: Google likes to give it's users options to decide which dog trainer will suit their needs the bestRather than show only a few dog trainers that may have a narrower range of skills or prices in [redacted] it will show 20-dog trainers willing to travel to the city with a broader range of skills and prices The business owner's website still ranks very high for a broad range of dog trainer keywords in the [redacted] area You mentioned that our listed services contain fraudulent and unverified reviewsWe take reviews very seriously here at Thumbtack, and only allow reviews that are submitted by actual Thumbtack customers who were introduced to the professional in reviewAdditionally, Thumbtack professionals have the ability to send a unique 'review url' to their past clients which helps build up their reputation when they initially join ThumbtackThis tool helps is beneficial for Thumbtack professionals since our customers value reviews when determining which professional they would like to hireI encourage you to utilize this feature if you decide to use Thumbtack in the future Thank you so much for your feedbackWe are working hard to create a great experience for both our service professionals and consumers, as well as create a fair marketplacePlease let me know if you have any other questions or concerns Sincerely, ***, CRS Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (4200, 12, 2014/04/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) A resolution requires that both parties compromiseThe response of Thumbtack offers nonePer the Revdex.com guidelines,deceptive advertising by it's members is not allowedThumbtack has failed to address why it should be allowed to publish falsehoods that damage my business and deceive consumersThey cite Google guidelines and their reading of the laws regarding libel as their justification for stating falsehoodsI contend that Revdex.com members, as I am, are held to an overriding ethical standard which makes their argument both irrelevant, evasive and patently bogusAccordingly, under the rules of Revdex.com membership I would ask that either Thumbtack cease their deceptive advertising or agree to binding arbitration as set forth in the rules of membership of the Revdex.comShould they fail to agree to binding arbitration, I seek that their membership in the Revdex.com be revoked and their Revdex.com rating be revised to a "F" to accurately warn others that Thumbtack wantonly engages in unethical and deceptive business practices Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 15, 2014/05/01) */ Hi [redacted] , I'm sorry that you feel our response was not adequateWe've provided an explanation of our SEO listings and are unable to further elaborate on the exact methodology that is used in determining these rankingsAgain, please note that we are well within Google's guidelines of non-deceptive SEO language, and we post these listings in order to attract customers to ThumbtackThis is healthy competition, and our end goal is to help our professionals get hired on Thumbtack At this point, I do not think there any further information we can provide to alleviate your concernsWe are incredibly sorry that you've experienced so much frustration with ThumbtackWe appreciate your passion [redacted] your profession and wish you much success in your business Sincerely, ***
Thumbtack customer service is horribleI had a big issue with one of the service guy I hired through ThumbtackIt cost me big money because of the poor service provided by himThumbtack customer service was very unhelpful and it was never ending wait time on call to talk to a representativeI will never recommend Thumbtack to anyone