Thumbtack: Home Service Pros Negative Reviews

Thumbtack: Home Service Pros App Complaints & User Negative Comments 2024

Thumbtack: Home Service Pros app received 37 complaints, negative comments and reviews by users. Have you ever had a bad experience using Thumbtack: Home Service Pros? Can you share your negative thoughts about thumbtack: home service pros?

Thumbtack: Home Service Pros for Negative User Reviews

✓ Not transparentIf you are using Thumbtack to hire a professional, please know that Thumbtack passed is the cost on to the professional. If the amount they charged with ethical, this wouldn’t be such an issue. It’s understandable that there would be some cost because they are feeding the professionals jobs. The other day, a woman reached out to find a photographer for her daughters birthday. As a professional, I have my settings said to not receive birthday quotes. I do to a technical error, she reached out to myself into other professionals. We don’t have any creative control over who reaches out to us other than what we put in our settings. The three of us were charged $170 a piece. Thumbtack made $510 off of three professionals that were reached out to regarding a job that had a budget ranging from under 250 to 1500. Let’s say for argument purposes, her budget ended up being smack dab in the middle (750). After the professional pays the $170 charge, Thumbtack profited 100%. And that’s only if someone was hired because nobody can get hired and they will still charge us. My profile has been hidden to potential customers until I pay the $170 fee for the job I never wanted. So if you are shopping on Thumbtack, please shop carefully because the professionals are paying more and more for you contacting us, as we continue to lose creative control. It’s pretty sad..MacfalkenbertVersion: 285.0

✓ Good app but issuesI’m glad I found this app because the lady that’s helping me is super nice, but the app has issues. First, it takes too long to open the app up. Like if I’m quickly messaging one of the pros and close out the app, I have to wait instead of being able to reply right away. I know that sounds stupid but it’s just tedious. Second, when I’m messaging a pro and she messaged me back, I couldn’t even see her message. I know she sent one because I saw it in my notifications, but it won’t show up in chat. Lastly, Thumbtack sent me and email saying that I got a pro and I should confirm it. Sure I’ll press yes. I press yes and it brings me to a site to leave a review. I decided from the beginning that I was not going to review her until I got product. Apparently if you click a star and click out of it without hitting post it will post it anyways. It wasn’t even the review I wanted to give her. Until these things are fixed I’d rather just use the website..AlexbrockstarVersion: 61.0

✓ Unable to seek out bids or report contractorsUnable to seek out bids— I have used the Thumbtack app for over three years for all sorts of projects—new flooring/trim, pond repair, kitchen painting, tile work, and holiday light installation/takedown. The process of receiving bids was usually great, though I did hate the canned responses that you would allow to come through immediately, I have no clue why that’d be helpful for somebody seeking a bid on a specific project. In any case, I can’t even review bids anymore unless I seek people out individually, which defeats the entire purpose of how I expect to use this app. Unable to report contractors— I worked through a contractor through Thumbtack in December for the second time to have Christmas lights taken up, but they have evaded all communication for the last three weeks to come and take them down. There is no section on Thumbtack to report a contractor from what I can see, and I can’t add a new review because I already gave them a positive review for work they did in 2017..MichellesaidVersion: 88.0

✓ Personal Information Spread without ConsentIn the initial signing up for an account and/or to request quotes from companies, the app/site clearly states that phone numbers will not be given out unless you have selected the professional. Unfortunately, my phone number was given to multiple companies including ones I hadn’t asked for quotes. Not happy that my information was given out without my consent. Update in Response to Developer Response: I do not doubt that is true about the terms stating such, however, since that is the case, you should not include a statement that pops up saying “your number will not be given out….” Furthermore, as stated in my original review, my number was given to MORE than just the pros I picked to reach out to. So with the addition of the statement that popped up saying that would not happen, as opposed to being spelled out as that it would, being contacted by random companies that I had not chosen to reach out to felt like a breach of my privacy. That is my biggest concern..Gabi CorleyVersion: 298.0

✓ Costly and RiskyThe only reason I’m giving this App 2 stars is because it’s a decent idea and it functions properly. Unfortunately that’s where my luck ran out. I hired three different “pros” and every one of them were a complete nightmare. The carpet cleaning guys took an exceptionally long time, leaving an actual puddle in my hallway which took hours to dry and now looks awful, $150 service. The house cleaning went two hours over their original estimate of 3 hours. My house is 1100 sqft, 3 bedroom 1 bathroom, it’s not a mansion. The actual cleaning was ok, but I had to point out several things that were overlooked and thankfully I did that while they were cleaning because they just ran out the door when they were done without me getting a chance to glance at anything. That service was $265. Worst of all was the lawn care men who charged us $200 to slaughter my rose bush with a hedge trimmer and ran over EVERY flower in my garden with a lawnmower. All of these professionals had all positive reviews on the app. I just don’t understand how I managed to spend over $600 and everything be THAT bad at the end of the two days. Please, be careful who you hire..Tabicat39Version: 229.0

✓ Needs a rollback after a recent updateI’ve used Thumbtack for a handful of handyman-type projects. Some turned out great, and I continue to use those contacts, others not so much, and I won’t hold the app accountable for those situations. However, I will say that’s it’s become more confusing to use the app lately. After entering two details about your project, you are returned a list of pros who might match up. If you use that list to contact someone, your message to that one pro is now your overall project description. I was told that even though I’ve reached out to one person directly, the project is still available for others to give a bid “in the event the pro I contacted doesn’t work out.” Sorry, I reached out to one person, but it went to everyone?! I’m not a fan of that; it’s shady and super deceptive. Plus, you can’t change your job description unless you completely cancel it and redo it. This is a prime way for projects to get miscommunicated and the scope of work inaccurately quoted. Even more, it groups old projects of a similar nature with new ones. Very confusing. I’ll go back to using Yelp as it seems there is just a more solid base of reviews and contractors available..Ashbash_05Version: 82.1

✓ Scammers on this appThe concept of Thumbtack seems great, but I’ve learned my lesson, and will only hire people who are recommended to me by friends or coworkers rather than look for them on this app. I hired a contracting company via Thumbtack to remodel my shower, and they ended up being a total scam. They destroyed my shower and I have now lost $3,000 and will have to go to small claims court, in addition to having a new company re-do the entire job. I let Thumbtack know of my experience and that they have scammers on their app, and they acted super concerned but the company is still on there, ready to scam the next inexperienced young homeowner. Many of the companies on Thumbtack hardly have websites outside of the app, which I have now learned is probably because they had so many one star reviews on google and yelp, that Thumbtack was the last place to go. While it seemed super convenient at first, Thumbtack is no more reputable than Craigslist. I gave two stars instead of one, because they were at least responsive and friendly when I made a complaint, even if they did absolutely nothing about it..Scolbs12345Version: 155.0

✓ Would not recommend this business modelTaskrabbit’s app isn’t very business friendly. You are charged for a potential customer reaching out to you. Most customers reach out to between 3-4 pros per job. That means you and 2-3 vendors are paying taskrabbit just for that potential customer. Meaning if you aren’t selected you paid anywhere between $15-$60 for a customer to message you. Often times customers don’t provide enough information for you to accurately quote a customer as pictures, descriptions, and customer knowledge is lacking. So if you reach out to a customer to quote and need more information you just paid Taskrabbit to get more information. It would be nice to only pay if your accept a customers message request. But Taskrabbit is instead incentivizing customers to reach out to up to 5 vendors. Meaning each vendor would pay $25 dollars each. Taskrabbit just made $125 dollars off the vendors and only 1 of you will be selected. Meaning everyone else is out $25. Taskrabbit should allow vendors to read the description and accept or decline the customer before the vendor has to pay. Taskrabbit should require more information from the customer before allowing them to reach out. Customers also sometimes select the wrong categories meaning the job appears bigger than it is and Taskrabbit will charge more. Now you must get the job to even have an opportunity to break even..High I.QVersion: 317.0

✓ Nice app not sure of its actual value in assistanceAfter reviewing repair people on yelp and contacting 4 and only having one return a message and actually give a quote within 3 days I turned to Thumbtack to get more quotes and even purchased the upgraded Thumbtack membership for $49. I contacted 3 ‘pros’ all three quickly responded and 2 actually did come and give estimates. Their estimates were double the cost that my original person gave for the same work that I found on yelp. I logged in today for another job and now my ‘member’ status has disappeared and I’m being pinged to by the upgraded membership. There is no way to contact Thumbtack account support- only technical issues about the app. So yes the search for local pros up to 50 miles away and their initial contact to give a quote is good. Double the cost of other person I contacted and have hired was ridiculous-these quotes were even double what Thumbtack indicated the cost would be. So…….MarjalaVersion: 276.0

✓ Guessing the 4.9 stars was before the outrageous costs for a lead.I’ve been hesitant on fully setting up our pro profile, because I’m not OK with paying an outrageous amount in the upwards of almost $100 to speak with one customer who may or may not even go with us. I was on the phone calling into Thumbtack to understand how their system works and to ask questions before setting up our pro profile. I called midday, during the week and got a computerized voice message saying that they were closed, even though their hours showed they should be open; Also through text messages that wasted a half an hour of my time going back-and-forth with some auto responses telling me that they’ll get a representative and no representative ever coming to the chat. If their lead amounts were more reasonable, I would give it a shot but as of right now I’m not going to throw a bunch of money at some thing to learn and then realize it’s not worth it. They should consider offering a trial so we. An see if it’s a value and really being a business. For now I’ll keep on advertising with creative means with reasonable costs..Lc CaliforniaVersion: 331.0

✓ ZERO STARSUPDATE 1/21: contacted as they suggested in their response, still no help. I wish I could share screenshots of their crappy assistance. Thumbtack support does not have your back and their guarantee is an absolute joke. Had a contractor severely delay our bathroom renovation and when reaching out to thumbtack for help their solution was talking to the contractor and basically acting as a mediator rather than providing any actual help. The contractor has blocked us and has NOT completed the work after it has been 3 and a half months since they started. We are left with an incomplete guest bathroom and the work that was done looks like crap. Now we have lost our money and have no bathroom for our guests to use and still no support from thumbtack other than them telling us to talk to the contractor who has blocked our phone numbers. I have tons of screenshots, text messages, emails from both the contractor and thumbtack to show their horrible service. Now we have to spend additional money to make our bathroom usable for our guest. Very disappointed and frustrated with this whole situation. I wish we had never trusted thumbtack to help us find contractors to work in our home..Clarr22Version: 238.0

✓ Loose Middle Man with no accountability**The company responded to this post saying i should reach back out to the person assisting. I will update this to let you know if they stand by what they claim. Use the app to hire movers. Long story short movers did not honor time to arrive nor did they honor their guarantee to protect or repair damage they caused. The most unprofessional movers I’ve ever used. Once I got thumbtack involved they acted as if they cared and would honor some type of warranty. I followed all the steps. Weeks go by and hear nothing back. I follow up with thumbtack and they say it’s too late the time expired. I asked I don’t understand I filled out all the paperwork and they said well the time lapse and I should’ve filled out something else which they never sent me. I asked them the last time they communicated with me and they told me a certain date. I showed them that before that date I responded with signatures and required documents and they told me they will not respond to me about anything related to the claim. They are a loose middle man with no accountability I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT USING THEM. I now have to go through small claims court..Nickman DrewVersion: 187.0

✓ 2nd reviewI’m only writing this review because the developer responded to my review and was so kind to give me a link for helpful tips and stuff and maybe “I” you know “me” because of course it’s the the other 4, not 1 but 4 professionals that didn’t respond to my project from 3 weeks ago, it wouldn’t be them. You can go find my project for my washer problem about how I explain it’s not spinning or draining. Now if I could take pictures as you suggest of a washer not spinning I would but usually the lid has to be closed for the spinning part and I would need it open for the picture 🤔. So that won’t work, I mean maybe I could rig something up like macgyver to try and capture a non spinning washer with my waterproof camera inside the washer 💡🤔! I mean now we’re getting somewhere........I hope your understanding all of my sarcasm here and just and look up my account and my project. I wouldn’t be so sarcastic if I didn’t notice that 2 of those professionals didn’t just get 3 new reviews since I’ve freaking summoned my project. Now I’m going with sears appliance repair instead of your app. This is the 2nd time in the past 9months I’ve been disappointed in this app. The first time wasn’t the app fault it was actually pricing but this time 4 professionals not responding is ridiculous.Car12381Version: 174.1

✓ ScammersI used the app for about a month and for every lead they charged different amounts. I spent more on leads than I got paid as an output. I lost both time and money, and when I call customer service for problems, they transfer to 3-4-5 departments and lose 40-60 minutes if they even connect you to the correct department. Sometimes they put me on a 40 minute hold for one transfer and once I reached the department they hung up. You lose more time if you end up waiting on the phone, ending up with losing the money inputted for the lead. I had a customer hire me, I called them and texted them, and after a while the customer reached out and said that his problem was already fixed 2 days ago, meaning they sell leads, charge with no real jobs. Last time I called tech support, and let them know of a problem of the customer’s missing number from a lead, John from their service advised me to deactivate, and I was convinced that this is completely a scam company. Thank you John for the good advice. My last call was on June 29, 2:30 PM PST..LavservischiVersion: 309.0

✓ Their partnership with Soothe is terribleUsed to book and or find massage therapists through this app. You could see who it was, if they’re reputable, reach out etc. Come to find out they’ve now partnered with Soothe, and you can no longer find massage therapists on here. They direct you to soothe. Ok no problem. I’m trying to book a couples massage for my Gf or at least back to back massages for valentines day. The soothe app is hornendius. They have next to no massage therapists, they make you pick a date and time in order to see who’s available instead of just seeing who exiss and then reaching out to coordinate the best date and time. So you sit there picking 40 different dates and times to see who’s available, if anyone. Then they want you to just book it and send some random person to your home who you’ve done no background on. I imagine Thumbtack did no due diligence before partnering with Soothe. I live in maimi and they barely have any massage therapists on the soothe app. So i deleted Thumbtack and Soothe. Not worth the time anymore. Just booked a spa day for the gf instead 🤷‍♂️..Dlo7Version: 289.0

✓ Don’t download this app whether pro or customerI just had a scary conversation with a potential pro. It was for tile project that I needed done. He was very upset because in the messaging app, I told him that I decided to just go with another pro. He called to yell at me to say he got charged $60 for contacting me. I guess he was trying to get his money back or something. He then went on and on. I have now been hold for over 7 minutes to talk to a human being at thumbtack and could not get anyone on the phone to report this conversation. I’m very worried that this person has all my contact information since as he advertised that they paid $60 for it. It’s sad too as I used the app to get some good contractors before but I don’t need psychopath getting information. I usually look at reviews and have seen a pattern now of other contractors doing same. I want to add that I have looked at other 1 star reviews and this does appear to be a problem on this app. It’s unsafe. You can’t talk to a human being for support, the text support takes hours for a human to reach, & I even texted and sent a screen shot but apparently their text support is AI. There’s no way to talk to them about a contractor that you did not hire and apparently they don’t kick contractors off the app who abuse customers because other people have written same..Panfan2011Version: 318.0

✓ Don’t use thumbtack . Beware ! Unprofessional contractorsUnfortunately, my experience with this contractor was profoundly unsatisfactory, compelling me to advise caution to potential clients. Despite the expectations set by their professional commitments, the service delivered was markedly below standard. Upon completion of the work, my residence was left in a disarrayed state, with painter's plastic negligently discarded throughout, a pervasive residue on surfaces, and an unbearable odor reminiscent of unsanitary conditions. The lack of adherence to a promised timeline further exacerbated the situation, indicating a significant discrepancy between the contractor's assurances and their actual performance. While I am uncertain if the choice of platform (Thumbtack or PatchBros) influenced the quality of service received, it is clear that the level of professionalism and respect for client property was profoundly lacking. In light of these experiences, I am unable to endorse or recommend the services of this contractor or the platforms through which they were engaged. The condition in which my property was left — notably the unpleasant odors and general untidiness — is unacceptable and unbecoming of professionals in this field. For those considering this contractor, I strongly suggest exploring alternative options to ensure the integrity of your property and satisfaction with the service provided.”.06833267billyVersion: 342.0

✓ Vulture Capitalism at its Worst“Free quotes” eh? Wrong —they charge all the people contacted including anyone who doesn’t get the job, & if you request to book then they charge them 3x more. This app is meant only to extract as much money as the company can from the service providers and in doing so promotes a race to the bottom, in which the cheapest & thus worst paid & most proportionally extorted by the platform rises. Furthermore, it’s clear the top listed services are almost certainly determined by what the provider is paying into the platform—in which case specialized services sink beneath a ton of nearly irrelevant listings for providers with no developed skills but who list themselves in as many categories as they think they will get contacts from. Sure, there are ratings & what can be gleaned from the reviews may help in getting a bit of info, but really it’s basically a yelp situation where they can write whatever they want regardless of what the provider did even if it’s a complete distortion of reality. It’s not a system that is even interested in what’s being offered—only what they can extract in blood money from a listed service provider..George ClusterVersion: 338.1

✓ Be weary of the rude and greedy providersI found an in home tv mounting provider via this app. Less than 2 months later...the entire mount was loose. When I reached out to the service provider in an attempt to rectify the issue. He told me there was nothing he could do for me since I didn’t purchase the mount from him. The description of services indicates that the provider offers a free in home estimate to make sure the products being used are going to reflect the quality of the work. This consultation was never offered to me. The service provider then proceeded to tell me that this instance was my fault bc I should have asked better questions. As the consumer, how would I know which questions to ask? He also told me that it would be an additional $200 for him to come out and “repair” the mount. I told him that it was ridiculous that I was going to be out of nearly $400 to have a service completed correctly. He said that I was the only one who was upset bc he was the best in town, there were no other prospective providers that would be as good as he claims to be and ultimately I would be the one suffering. I have reported this company to the BBB since I can’t get any assistance via the app. I’ve already deactivated my account and deleted the app. Such a total waste of time and money..H.K All DayVersion: 173.0

✓ DONT USE THIS APPI have been using this app off and on for some time. Recently was on to hire a small electrical job and sent my info out to the pros…then all of a sudden my account was deactivated. Contacted support to find out what the deal was and they said it appears I’m under the age of 18!! Then they wanted me to provide a government ID to prove I’m 60!! I told them I am not giving out personal info to them especially since they won’t tell me what caused the under 18 flag on my account. They said we can’t tell you that information!! I told them it must be a glitch in their platform cause I can’t be 18 years old over night when they can plainly research and see Ive hired off here before. I have several emails back and forth with these people and told them that if they can’t tell me or fix this problem that I would be going to social media and letting everyone know what horrible service they provide. This app isn’t worth giving them a picture of my personal information! Deleted app and posting on social media. Please don’t bother with the canned response that you are giving to other unsatisfied customers.Sdt316Version: 215.0

✓ Misleading and unhelpfulThumbtack has changed drastically is the last 3 years. They have figured out how to make more money off the pro without ever being in the pro’s corner. This organization is under staffed and unhelpful. They will never come to bat for over any dispute. You could essentially get ripped off by customers and one of two things will happen. They will refer you around to other “teams” and you’ll never get a straight answer from anyone or they will do as they’re trained and justify why they’re right no matter the discrepancy. They have “teams “ where you can’t even speak to a representative on the phone “email only” so forget trying to reason with them , question anything or dispute. If they do get back to you by email it’s a minimum 3 day response time. It is in no way pro friendly. It’s for the homeowner and their pockets. Poorly run organization, bad customer service, poor in house structure and their payment system will leave you wondering if you even made more than you spent. I highly recommend other trade avenues like Angie’s list over this..DFZJ3Version: 116.0

✓ !!!!!Scammers & Thieves!!!!!!!!!!!!!Avoid thumbtack!!!!!!, they don’t provide enough information to customers for them to know what they are doing to the Professionals. When a customer uses the “⚡️Instant Book” feature it can charge the pro anywhere from $30-$300 instantly even if the customer is simply wanting to ask some questions and doesn’t provide all necessary information. This feature allows customers to book jobs for the pros without enough information or details to know if the job can even be done at the set time, charges the pro enormous amounts of money, and then when the pros have to cancel the job, which they had no part in scheduling, Thumbtack claims that a refund is not owed because the pro is just paying Thumbtack to connect them to customers. However, Thumbtack won’t allow pros to be connected to any customers unless they agree to turn on “⚡️Instant Book” which charges way more and does way more than simply connect you to a customer like their “leads” do. Thumbtack is hurting the relationship between Pros and Customers and Killing Local businesses in the process with this “⚡️Instant Book” Feature. It’s a “money grab” and should be illegal..J. Pop 721Version: 327.0

✓ Kinda scammyWent on google to find a cleaner, I selected a time and date I wanted the service, initially it was 125, after I made the time selection the website told me I’d hear back from the person within 4 hours. I heard NOTHING but they CONFIRMED the appointment via text and email, with no follow up in regards to if I THE CUSTOMER wanted to move fwd with the service. I had to actually download the app in order to cancel and send a message to the service provider that I wasn’t confirming until I basically got a price quote because Cole to find out they were gonna charge 350 for the service. Additionally it wasn’t the person I initially thought I was going to be hearing from. Soooooo to me it feels like they get you on google, and in order to make changes or cancel you HAVE to download their app. DO NOT USE. Especially if your “waiting to hear back” because they will book you and if you’re not careful I’m sure they will come to do a job and you’ll get stuck with a huge price gouge for a job you wanted a quote for first..YazziewildVersion: 271.0

✓ The history with thumbtackI have been with thumbtack almost 3 years. I have watch them go from a platform I would recommend to just about any contractor to a company that just the same as the rest. Thumbtack used to be a reasonable and reliable source for getting new project leads. Now they are just like Home Advisor and the rest of the over prices lead generation companies. I’ve watched gutter projects go from $17 per to $52 per. Wow what an increase. Not to mention they allow a customer to choose from an unlimited amount of contractors. The competition is fine but let’s say,”Thumbtack is charging the contractors $40 per lead and the customer has selected to speak with 5 different contractors. Thumbtack makes $200 off a single lead while only 1 contractor will win the lead of course. The sad part of this equation is the lead itself will only go for roughly about $200. End of the day you only make $160 before expenses like paying for travel, and paying employees. Only 2 things can happen with this equation. 1. People go out of business or 2. Prices go way up for the home owner. It used to be a competition between contractors, but now it’s a competition between contractors and the middle man (Thumbtack). This defeats the purpose of even starting a business. The constant raising of prices really have me considering trying other avenues and letting thumbtack go..Windows101Version: 147.0

✓ Amazing idea and design, poor executionThe idea of thumbtack captivated me, the thought of getting my feet running around starting my own business sounded amazing and a dream come true. The layout of the app is outstanding and everything seemed to be coming together swimmingly.. until. Lead prices, not so much the prices as much as you pay for a “lead” before you can ever message the person. This is an amazing design for the company to make money though you may see no benefit, it’s also great for the customer... they have absolutely no idea you are being charged, so almost every time you message them even at THEIR request they often don’t respond or read your message and not reply. So we are literally paying thumbtack for people to ignore us. On top of that a week into using it I got phone call from a rep from thumbtack and they diligently tried to sell me a prepaid credit for $300. They assured this would increase my business somehow, and that they could get me more jobs. The rep was frustrated when I asked him why would I purchase this when the 6 leads I’ve spent money on haven’t replied or wasn’t a good match. I would be wasting $300. Basically this app would be amazing if you could give thumbtack money after the job was settled, I understand why they can’t... people would find loopholes around that system. So basically this is a horrible alternative to just starting your own business. I regret the money I spent here, you will probably regret it too.EhauwjsosbsbshVersion: 166.0

✓ Use Home Advisor InsteadThumbtack’s customer service doesn’t deserve a star. We had a terrible experience with an electrician we hired through the site (way under qualified, never finished the work, went MIA and left fire hazards in our house that another electrician we found on Home Advisor later uncovered for us - thank goodness). We tried to contact Thumbtack when we had a problem with the electrician but was only able to open a dispute ticket to try and come to an agreement with the electrician. Obviously the dispute wasn’t going to get anything accomplished because I had already tried communicating outside the app with the individual to no avail. After the dispute closed because the electrician stopped responding (again), thumbtack said they would reach out to me within two business days. That was weeks ago. Home Advisor on the other hand called me after I hired the new electrician to see if i had any issues scheduling a time with the pro. Then they called a few days later to see how it was going and if I needed any help. A day after that I got another phone call from them asking how I would rate the electricians work and professionalism. Lastly, I got an email asking if I had any concerns with the phone rep from home advisor. Nice to have customer support...even when things are going well..MwsidlerVersion: 91.0

✓ Instant Match FailureI’m a dog trainer that provides two services. One is in home training (starting at $60 per session) and a Board/Train Program (starting at $900 for two weeks). If someone is interested in the in home sessions, Instant Match sends a quote for $900 and I get laughed at. Or vise versa. If someone is interested in Boarding, instant match sends a quote for $60. Again, I don’t land the job. If I turn off Instant Match, which I’m forced to do, my quote is last to be seen and the potential client has already viewed the other quotes and contacted at least one other pro. In addition, the app takes so long to open it puts me at an even worse disadvantage. One final issue that keeps this app from 5 stars is the notifications. Why does the notifications go to email? Why can’t the notifications come directly from the app itself? This puts me at triple disadvantage in the time it takes to get competitive quote out to a potential client. With these issues aside, I will continue to use this app and hope Thumbtack continues to fine tune it because the overall concept is great and I can see its benefits..Growler6gVersion: 74.0

✓ What a complete waste of time.I needed a small home repair, and this app provided a number of local companies that offered what I needed. I contacted four that had fairly good reviews. Three responded immediately. Two asked for photos. One set an appointment to come out in person to review the work. One of the “photo” guys got back to me immediately with a quote that was clearly excessive. The in-person quote was much more realistic and he was very detailed in explaining what was involved. I decided to go with his offer. The second “photo” guy eventually got back to me, but by that time I had already selected the other service provider. The forth service provider never responded. Unfortunately, the in-person estimate told me he was very busy and it would be at least three weeks before he could get me on the schedule. He said he would be in touch once he had a date for me. That was over a month ago. No call to set the schedule, no contact of any kind. Ghosted. Then the texts and emails from Thumbtack started. Four or five a day trying to get me to schedule other projects. I finally had to unsubscribe to get that to stop. So here’s the bottom line: more than a month later I have to start all over. The app did nothing but waste my time and flood my inboxes with worthless sales promotions. Deleting it now..SlbabaluVersion: 312.1

✓ Misleading & Terrible AppThumbtack charges pros for unqualified leads, literally charging every pro just for just having a conversation with a potential client even if the job isn’t booked. A prospective client can request up to 4-5 pros trying to get them to undercut each other’s estimate and then decide not even go through with the project. On average 30% of these potential clients don’t book appointments, they’ll just become unresponsive. Every one of those pros will be charged for a so-called lead between $10-$50 and have no recourse for recovering that charge from Thumbtack. It’s a total scam! Thumbtack’s instabook feature doesn’t work as intended and requires a ton of work to adjust the scheduling, while the app crashes half of the time. Also let’s not forget that Thumbtack grossly exaggerates the volume of work available. For instance you can have a $100 weekly budget for leads and they say you’ll receive between 4-14 leads, which is an outright lie. You’ll be lucky if you get 1 job confirmed without the client changing their mind. Thumback is ultimately just another tech company with zero accountability that rips people off..Pervasive MediocrityVersion: 247.0

✓ Beware: app pushes their pay platform; some providers aren’t signed up for it.This app has been a complete headache. Very difficult to use. I’d give it zero stars if I could. The app advertises their pay platform stating it’s safer and easier to use. I decided to use the app for payment. No sooner had I done that, I received a message from the provider that they weren’t set up for payment and could I please reverse the payment. Of course, I have no idea how to do that. I found a place to email customer service and ask about reversing the charge. Four days later, I’ve heard nothing from Thumbtack. Yes, I can contest the charge on my credit card, but it takes time, and who has time for that. I’m highly annoyed. Additionally, I asked for a estimate from another provider but later decided to go with my first choice for provider. Evidently, if I don’t “cancel” my request, the provider gets charged $25. That’s ridiculous. Anyway, this app is poorly designed and extremely aggravating. As soon as I get my $ back, l will delete this app for good. Way too many issues!! Avoid it!.Clo493Version: 274.0

✓ Poor customer serviceThought this would be a good resource and used the app a few times to hire a pro. These pros are not background checked as the app states, the person I hired was awful. He wasn’t a licensed contractor as advertised. My experience with him ended with me being way over charged from my original quote and having to call the police when he attempted to string arm me and into wiring him final payment without an invoice, proof of work or him even finishing the work. He refused to leave my property till I wired him money. I contacted thumbtack and waited over 5 days for a response, all the time being harrased through the app by this pro. When they finally responded they only said they will look into it. You call and no one can help you. The trust and safety department does not have a phone number and the people who answer at customer service can’t do a darn thing. They are advertising these people and don’t back up the customer at all. Over a week later and still no resolution to my issue and under extreme harassment from the pro through the app I was forced to pay him to leave me alone. I would recommend using people for referrals and not this app..Uninterested05Version: 317.0

✓ This App charges the contractor when you select themAs a small business owner, I depend on the integrity of Thumbtack to provide quality leads. For the homeowner who uses thumbtack to find qualified contractors, this app is a great resource. Unfortunately, when a homeowner selects a contractor, the contractor is immediately charged to contact said homeowner. Most of the time, the homeowner selects more than one contractor, which if fair…they want the best price and want to feel confident that the contractor they selected will provide a premium service for their project. There are times when the homeowner changes their mind, maybe the project they had in mind is outside their budget after seeing an estimate provided by the contractor and they cancel. Maybe the homeowner feels inundated with the responses from the contractors they selected. Which is fine. Thumbtack provides ZERO support for the contractors in terms of refunding for the lead when the homeowner no longer cares to do the job or cancels. They keep the contractors money, and the homeowner is none the wiser! You would think they would have a better support structure for the contractors, whose money supports the business and financial side of thumbtack, but they do not..PhattyslapperVersion: 294.1

✓ They steal money from movers!!! Customers too probablyCharged me $30 for a lead not in my preferences then said because I responded the charge was valid when in fact I was charged at the time of booking. I would of had to pay regardless. I’ve loss about $150 by them sending me leads not matching my preferences, you can literally deselect a city and go back and like clock work the city is added back and you will be charged. Talked to an agent and provided a screenshot when he said the city was still selected (on my end it was not). He closed the chat and stopped talk, the next agent just kept ignoring my point and referred me to some online blog. Ever time I proved him wrong he changed the subject. They will do anything to avoid refunding you money after they steal it!!!! No customer service number and will give you the run around, I told them I was going to dispute the charge and contact the bba and they said they would block me on the app if I despite even though they are the ones charging me for things I shouldn’t pay for. Don’t use this app they will still your money with the quickness and give u the run around!!!!!.JayMover222Version: 343.1

✓ No longer gives quotes. Rates too high.The concept of this app is a great idea for a small business owner such as myself. It gives me a chance to market my counseling business to people in need of those particular services. I initially signed up for instant match in which the customer receives an immediate response when they put in a request. BAD IDEA!!!! Thumbtack did not give me an accurate idea of just how much these rates would cost and I ended up being charged over $40 in less than a week. I then turned off instant match and would send quotes only to the customers I chose and was told just how much I would be charged for the quote. The rates varied anywhere from $1-$12 and occasionally I was given the opportunity to quote for free. This was very reasonable although it was a gamble because the majority of the time, the customers would not respond to my quote. I recently received notice that Thumbtack has changed their policy that I would no longer be charged unless the customer responded to my quote. This seemed like a great idea! I could still pick the customers I wanted to quote but I no longer had to worry about spending money on customers who were no longer interested in counseling. I assumed the rates were about the same as they were before. Boy, was I wrong! I was charged $23 for my quote! That is way more money than I am willing to spend for someone whose business I may not even get! I will no longer be using Thumbtack for marketing under these new rates..SuburbanmomVersion: 61.0

✓ More transparency would be great.As an end-user, thumbtack works great. However, I wish they would have told us more about what it means when we reach out to multiple people for a job. I reached out to find a photographer for an event that I’m having tomorrow night. I put the job out there for three different people. As it happens, someone else was able to find a photographer for me within a few minutes, but two photographers reached out to me and informed me that they had to pay 10% of what the job would have been just to be able to contact me. I felt absolutely horrible and guilty. I canceled the event immediately after I found out, but it was already too late for those photographers. As the end-user, we should be told that people are going to be charged just for putting out an inquiry. Perhaps we would only reach out to one person at a time that way. I would definitely hesitate before using Thumbtack again..Joojee14Version: 275.0

✓ Do your own due diligence!I hired three different services through this app and I was extremely disappointed with two of them. I hired a man who thought he was a painter to do a large interior painting job. He did a terrible and messy job, and took several days longer to do it than estimated, which pushed back the schedule to put my house on the market. It was a very stressful situation. I was mad at myself for not interviewing him about his experience as a painter, I just assumed he was a painter because he said he was, and he was on the app. I also hired a window washer who was extremely problematic. After many promises and big talk I hired him. It took him almost six days to “finish” washing my windows, would show up and leave unannounced, and was completely unreliable. It seemed to me he had some serious personal problems and behaved inappropriately. I felt afraid to fire him, even though his work was very poor and I paid him when he said he was through, even though some windows were not finished as I could tell the next morning in the daylight. I was just happy he was gone and hoped I would never see him again. I will never use Thumbtack again to hire services again..Koski63Version: 261.0

✓ Screening providersWe’ve used Thumbtack 6 times now. Only 2 have actually done the job. The others were NOT knowledgeable about the jobs they were hired for. Two of them have cost us a total of $500 to replace or fix their mistakes. We had to replace parts they broke on our awning. One said he could build us a gate for $175 and took 2 days for a 4 hour job and left a huge mess, dug up my grass by the gate because he made the gate wrong.. put the post in wrong, didn’t replace the other post.. I could go on and On . When he decided he was done he gave me a bill for $350 when he said $175 and it’s going to cost me another couple hundred to fix it Thumbtack should screen their providers better. Like I said, only 2 people out of 6 did their job. One of those ended up charging 8 hours at $55 an hour when he quoted 2 hours but he wasn’t aware the first guy hired to do it broke some pieces so we had to order pieces which made that take more than 2 hours to fix.99 reasonsVersion: 164.0

Thumbtack: Home Service Pros works most of the time. If it is not working for you, we recommend you excersise some patience and retry later or contact Thumbtack: Home Service Pros.