With millions of people visiting Angie’s List (aka Angi) each month to search for home-related services, it definitely deserves some attention. As one of the leading home repair review sites on the internet today, you’d be crazy to ignore it as a method for attracting customers.
But it’s not without controversy.
When I started my handyman business in 2011, I tested Angie’s List to see if it was worthy of my time and money. I hesitantly spent about $750 in my first year advertising with them and received less than $300 in business as a result. I’m no dummy, so I swiftly went on to greener pastures.
However, I’ve heard of several other businesses that have had success with Angie’s list, so why am I different?
In this post, I plan to discuss the ins and outs of Angie’s list and give some first-hand insight into the lead generation giant.
What is Angie’s List (now known as Angi)?
Angie’s List, or to be more accurate, Angi is essentially a customer review-based search engine for homeowners looking to hire a handyman, contractor, or other home service pro.
Angie’s list used to charge homeowners to access the “list,” but they’ve since changed to a freemium model. Now, anyone can browse a list of handymen, contractors, house cleaners, and other home service pros free of charge.
Angi makes most of their money from home service pros who pay to advertise on Angi Ads or Angi Leads. However, homeowners also can pay a yearly membership for access to special discounts and coupons.
Interesting Stats
- HomeAdvisor merged with Angie’s List in 2017, forming Angi Homeservices Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI), the world’s largest digital marketplace for home services, including everything from maids to handymen to contractors.
- In 2020, over 240,000 businesses used Angi Homeservices to connect with customers, and over 32 million projects were requested in more than 500 categories.
- In 2020, Angi Homeservices generated $1.47 Billion in revenue, 10.5% more than in 2019.
- Angi Homeservices Inc. also owns Handy, another digital platform for connecting homeowners with service pros.
Sources: Wikipedia, ANGI 2020 annual report.
How to get your business on Angie’s List
Getting your business listed on Angi is free and easy. Simply go to the link below and follow the prompts.
At first glance, it may seem like Angi is a wonderful place created just to help you get customers, but Angi Homeservices Inc. is a big business designed to generate a profit for its shareholders.
There are a few things you’ll want to know before signing up.
Things you should know before signing up
#1 – Aggressive sales tactics and false promises
Once you sign up with a free account, you can expect to get several phone calls from Angie’s list salesmen trying to convince you to pay for an advertising contract.
When browsing complaints about Angi on BBB, you see a pattern emerge.
- A pro is called multiple times by persistent salesmen who promise a high ROI.
- The pro finally gives in and tries it out.
- After a month or two of paying $300+ per month with little to no results, the pro calls to try to cancel.
- The pro is then met with multiple barriers to cancel. First, the salesman is often on “vacation” and must be spoken to before canceling. Then, the pro is told there is a 35% early cancelation fee – something the salesman failed to mention.
- The pro gets fed up with the run-around and goes to BBB to file a complaint. This seems to do the trick. Angi finally cancels the contract, and the early termination fee is often waived.
When one person makes a complaint like this, I just assume they are one of those people. When I see dozens of people complaining about the same thing as in this case, I can’t help but believe them.
#2 – Pay to Play
When I started my handyman business, you could see amazing results with free profiles on most online business directories (especially Yelp). But, over time, they have become more and more difficult to get results from unless you are paying for “premium” placement.
Angi is no different.
Sure, you can list your business for free, and it will show up, but they will bury your listing underneath the paid listings. I don’t see anything immoral about this, but it’s just the way it is.
As time goes on, this trend will likely continue, and even if you can get results with a free Angi listing right now, you can rest assured there are a whole bunch of brilliant people testing and tweaking things so that paying for ads is the only way to see reliable results.
#3 – 1-Year minimum contract with 35% early termination fee
This should be a big warning sign to anyone. The fact that they need a contract to get people to stick around says a lot about how reliable Angi is at generating quality leads.
Or, at least it tells me that Angi is not a magic pill that will work for everyone instantly. It will still require you to work hard to get great reviews and manage your profile well. It will also take a while to start working since it takes time to build up reviews, which are a major factor in who a customer chooses.
I’m not here just to rip on Angi. I can understand why Angi would put this contract in place. It keeps short-term thinking pros in the game long enough to start seeing results, so they stick around over the long term. Most would want to give up before they built up their reviews.
However, when other options are available that don’t have contracts with steep penalties for canceling, why sign a contract?
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“80/20 Handyman Marketing”
You’ll learn the one simple marketing strategy that will keep your schedule booked solid all year long without paying a dime for leads or ads.
What do you get when you pay for Angi Ads?
If it’s free to sign up on the list, so why pay for ads?
Like I mentioned above, Angi does a good job at putting paid listings front and center while the free listings are harder to see and access.
Here’s a list of benefits you get when you pay for Angi Ads:
- Your listing gets placed above non-advertisers when someone searches for services in your categories.
- You also get placement on non-advertisers profile pages. So, even if a customer does click on a different business listing, Angi will still show your business at the top of that page, forcing the homeowner to scroll down to see the listing they originally clicked on.
- You get shown on other profiles outside of Angi, such as Handy and even their physical publication.
- You may also receive leads. These are similar to the leads you get from Angi Leads (formerly called HomeAdvisor), which is different than Angi Ads.
- You have the ability to offer deals. Well, assuming you spend at least $3,000 annually on advertising. These deals get featured on various pages to help promote your services.
There are clear benefits to paying to advertise. You will get more exposure, and as long as your profile isn’t terrible and you live in a city where nobody uses Angi, you will get more customers.
The pros and cons of Angi
What I Like
Angie’s list can be a great way to get new customers, and there are several reasons to like it.
- It’s free to get listed – A basic listing is free. If you are willing to put in the effort to get a bunch of reviews, it can be an effective way to get new clients at no cost to you.
- It’s an opportunity to build trust – By becoming Angi Certified, you give customers a reason to trust you. To get certified, just pass a background check, maintain a 3-star rating, and maintain all necessary licenses to offer your services.
- Solid technology – Angi has done a great job utilizing technology to add value to pros and customers. They have all kinds of tools to help collect payments, submit quotes, follow-up with customers, and quickly check metrics to see your ROI with the ads you pay for.
What I Don’t Like
Just like anything else, Angie’s list also has its cons.
- Constant sales phone calls
- 1-year contract and 35% early termination fee
- Free listings are unlikely to be effective over the long term. As I mentioned above, Angi is moving more toward a pay-to-play model. That means you could invest a lot of effort into building up reviews on a platform that then has you by the balls.
- You can’t control negative reviews – There are many irrational people out there who will give you a bad review simply because they hate their lives. I usually try to avoid these customers at all costs, but I have come across two of them. Unfortunately, if you get a terrible review, it can seriously hinder your ability to get customers from Angie’s list. This is especially true when you have less than 5 reviews because the one bad one will stand out. The bad review will hurt your chances of attracting customers, making it difficult to get more good reviews to cover it up.
- There is no option to add a link to your website from your Angi profile.
- You don’t own your reviews – You can’t publish your Angi reviews on your website or anywhere else, and if you do, get ready to fork out $10,000.
Is Angie’s List worth it?
Look, if Angi didn’t work, they wouldn’t have nearly a quarter of a million businesses listed on the platform, with many of them paying a premium to be featured.
Like I mentioned above, there were over 32 million home project requests in 2020 on Angi and its other platforms. Customers are clearly going to Angi to find pros.
The only question is, will it work for you?
That depends on the services you offer, how well you craft your profile, and how good you are at getting those precious reviews. The only way to really find out is to test it.
Unfortunately, they have a 1-year contract with a steep penalty for canceling early. That’s why I recommend testing other platforms first.
Start with something less risky like Google My Business, Thumbtack, or NextDoor, then consider signing up for a contract.
If you want to test Angi Ads, start with a free profile or sign up for Angi Leads (their service where you can just buy leads directly). That way, you can build up some reviews before you start putting your business profile in front of people whose sole purpose of using the platform is to read reviews.
Conclusion
Angi is a big company with the trust and attention of millions across the country. It’s a no-brainer to at least create a free account. Even if you don’t, Angi will likely find your business info and cold-call you anyway.
But I would be far more cautious about signing a contract to pay for Angi Ads.
And as always, never rely 100% on a platform like Angi for your leads because then they have you by the balls. Instead, diversify your lead generation efforts.
If you’d like to learn more effective ways to generate customers, sign up for my e-mail newsletter, where I’ll send you exclusive tips not shared anywhere else (It’s free).
There’s a Better Way To Fill Your Schedule
Stop spinning your wheels and start getting traction. Learn how to attract high paying customers to your home service business consistently and reliably in this free report.
“80/20 Handyman Marketing”
You’ll learn the one simple marketing strategy that will keep your schedule booked solid all year long without paying a dime for leads or ads.
A friend recommended me to your site. Thanks for the details.
. I have a question or two for you and everyone else out there. Have you seen the new Angie’s List Message Center? Be careful, because if you are listed on Angie’s List, they put you on it without asking you.
. What that means: people who find you on Angie’s List can then contact you through the Angie’s List Message Center instead of contacting you directly. Then a message waits for you on the Angie’s List website. How are you notified it is there? You aren’t. Unless you log onto Angie’s List every day, you won’t see it. Do the send you an e-mail it is there? No.
. Is there any way this is helpful to you? No. Clients are more likely to get in touch with you through your own website, e-mail, or phone. Is it helpful to the client? No. Getting in touch with you directly would be the best option for them.
. So who does this benefit? Let me give you a hint? What service provider review company has yet to turn a profit? If you guessed the same one that says they don’t charge providers to be on their listings, but then charge them to be on a page clients will actually see, you guessed right: Angie’s List.
. So what reason could they have for setting up another space for you to have to get in touch with clients? Money. This is the test run, and I’ve already seen a slew of complaints around the internet of how poorly it works. Once they get the kinks worked out, if they ever, do, what can you expect to happen? They will start charging you for sales leads generated by your own reputation would be my guess. How will they do that? At some point they will remove your contact information from their website, and the only way people will get in touch with you is through Angie’s List, and then you will be paying for the privilege of them allowing people to contact you, something they could do before Angie’s List set up this barrier.
. For me I have enough clients already, and there have only been a few from Angie’s List that have been worthwhile. Actual word-of-mouth has been much better for me and connected me with some really great clients.
. Sometime ago, I wrote them and asked them how to get off the Message Center. I’d had a review of my response time come up from a service I didn’t know existed. Even though my business profile on Angie’s List says I am NOT taking new clients, I got an inarticulate message that said, “We need gutter repair.” Of course since Angie’s List never informed me, they hadn’t heard back in a timely fashion.
. I wrote Angie’s List and said I’d like to opt out from the message center, and never heard back about that, although they do call and write me three times a week asking me to advertise. So I added to my business profile that I am not taking new clients and cannot be contacted through the message center. I added a link to my contact page. That didn’t help either.
. So, as I am writing this I tried calling Angie’s List to be removed from the Message Center, even though I knew each time I call them I have to speak to two or three different people who try to sell me advertising I don’t need. As I was on hold I went to this page:
http://www.angieslistbusinesscenter.com/contact-us
When I highlighted that the issue was with the Message Center, one of the three options was to “Unsubscribe from Messages”. I hope they actually let me do it this time.
Thanks for sharing this, Tim! I’ll have to look into it for myself. I’m not a big fan of Angie’s List either and have had very low quality leads and very few at that.
Dan
This isn’t true. You get an email instantly telling you that you have a message.
. Well, as I suspected, Angie’s List won’t let you opt out of the Message Center. If you get listed on Angie’s List, you are stuck having people post to you on the Angie’s List website instead of contacting you directly.
. Here is their response to my request:
Thanks for your inquiry; I apologize for my delay.
You are unable to ‘opt out’ of the Message Center. However, you do not have an email address listed for consumers to message. [Right! I have form on my website so I’m not inundated with adverts.]
In your Business Description you do clearly state you do not use the Message Center part of Angie’s List. Your current means of contact would be phone, street address, or website.
Thanks again for contacting us. If you have any additional questions or concerns, just let us know and we’ll be happy to help. You can also find answers to many of your questions at our Business Support page.
zapier.com can send you an email when you get an angies list message
I have worked with Angie’s List for years and so much of what you wrote is true of our old ways.
What we provide now are alternatives to slashing prices and feeling like you at the mercy of consumer feedback.
With an effort focused on real results for real service providers, our new ranking and scoring system has an empowering effect.
I would be happy to teach anyone the ins and outs of our system, in hopes of avoiding confusion while navigating through the ever- changing economy.
Thank you for all of your honest feedback. Really and truly, we paid attention.
Your friend and advocate,
Meagan
Would you please contact me, Meagan? I need the guided tour so I handle my Angies List account correctly.
Megan,
Could you possibly contact me, I have some questions I would like to ask you.
Thank you again and have a wonderful blessed day!
Angie list is a concern, if you pay you get rated higher, and a lot of contractors are finding out that you don’t have to be the best or even know any thing, this site is a joke and for people that pay a lot and have friends lie and give them a good review and for contractor want a be to pay to be ranked higher and after they rip off a bunch then you find out Angie don’t care, it’s all about the $$$$$$$$$$
Please contact me, I am interested in setting up an account in Angie’s List and have questions first.
my website is in progres now.
im open. y accounts on Yelp, Google, Facebook, next-door and I want to open my account at Angies list,
I will appreciate it if can help me.
thank you Meggan
As an FYI, you don’t have to offer truly “crazy” deals to get new clients. A smart way to use AL, if you’re just starting out, is to use AL to offer deals for fairly large things (with a large price tag)–like $299 for a handyman for a day, or $199 for a handyman for half a day. The hourly rate isn’t fabulous, but it isn’t terrible, either. You do this during your slow season to A) get new clients and B) to get guaranteed work for the day. If the job is shorter than expected, you get paid for more than you do. If it’s longer, they have to pay your regular rate to continue, and if they like you enough, they will. If they like your work, they’ll come back–and you can ask them to rate you on AL if they appear to be happy with your work, which will drive more business at your regular rate.
I have spent over $2,500 on “deals” over the past year and more than $70,000 on home improvements total through providers I’ve found originally on AL. My most expensive “deal” was $1500 for one full day of tree work. I had 16 trees removed along with a ton of bushes, then I hired them for an additional $500 to do my stumps. It was pretty clear that they almost never actually stayed for 8 hours with a $1500 deal because few people could have that much work to give them! I have a feeling they usually did a half day at each location, grossing $3000 a day minus AL’s cut, or else they did an AL deal and then their regularly scheduled piecework. Anyway, my neighbor and I together have 5 acres, so we were able to put them to work. That was my truly “crazy” deal. But I’ve bought $2 off (not kidding) carpet cleaning deals just because it was fast and convenient to order services with one click.
Every provider that I’ve chosen has had SOME terrible reviews. It’s pretty easy to find out if the reviewer is crazy, though, by the complaints and their other reviews. I always look for the bad reviews first to see what happens when things go wrong and how the company responds.
I myself have left 7 A reviews (well drilling, roofing, carpet cleaning, car detailing, $20k fencing, topo land surveying, the awesome tree guys), 2 D reviews (one person canceled on me three times after payment then no-showed and I had to get a refund; another was a lawn care company that did stuff like let parts of my yard grow to 6′ high and run over flower beds), and 1 F review ($43k geothermal job that took 10 months instead of 6-8 weeks and was fraught with ridiculous problems–including delivering the wrong unit, wrong billing, people showing up without warning constantly, employees digging around in my garage, trash strewn about, etc.).
AL has been worth every penny I’ve spent, and it’s how I found my general-work guy who now moonlights with me whenever he’s not at his day job (which isn’t always fulltime because of the nature of his work)–he’s a sub of a sub of a contractor I found there. It’s killed me to get tradesmen in this area who are really good, and now I do, so I’m thrilled. I also work to keep “my” guys as busy as I can, handing them off to my friends when they need stuff done. (My general-work guy is now booked through summer because of me–I got him a rec room, a basement, and a staircase in addition to doing the rest of my house, which is a huge job in itself, and I might be able to hook him up with some friends who need a 1600 sqft basement apt entirely redone, too, which will take him another solid 6 months.)
Thanks for the article. Does anyone have any experience with Angie’s list for HVAC services? We just received our first review from a customer and have been contacted by their rep to sign up. Thanks in advance.
How di you cancel advertising on Angie’s list and is there a penalty.
I had really good results hiring contractors through Angies List and always used it. However, they’ve apparently been bought out by HomeAdvisor.com who turned the business model upside down – members don’t pay but businesses get charged $50 for every lead and the site is setup to lead customers to submit their project to a slew of contractors thus generating lots of “leads” and income for HomeAdvisor. In my experience some of the companies to which a lead is thus sent are completely inappropriate for your project (eg an interior painter when I was looking for a pool painter) and that just results in unhappy and uncomfortable conversations with the duped contractors.
Angie’s List was NOT bought by Home Advisor. They were both acquired by IAC, please make sure this misinformation isn’t being circulated, as it’s grossly inaccurate.
Further, it is free for members to be on Angie’s List, this page has clearly not been updated. Also, they haven’t the “big deals” in years, so please update information accordingly.
Angie’s List manages to a return on investment platform now and pros get what they pay for and then some. It’s time to revisit Angie’s List, clearly, and update this page.
Angie’s List is a joke. They will scam you. They lock into 12 month agreement (they do not do month to month, because they know they offer poor results).
In the first sales call, they will ask you to spend 10-50K per MONTH! WTF? They you can negotiate the price down to $500/mo. The pricing is not transparent. They won’t tell you how many clicks you recieved, you’re basically just agreeing to a dollar amount and you have to “trust them” to generate traffic on your profile.
With Yelp and Google, you know exactly how much you’re spending per click. Not here. These guys just need your money, but as far as leads and reports – NOTHING, they don’t give a crap. Once you signed the contract good luck. They just give you “estimated calls” which is some BS number they make up.
Their agreement states that the contract price will go up 12% every month. WTF? Also, they will scam you with their “district fees”. It’s a random fee you’re paying that goes nowhere. It doesn’t go towards your web ad spend.
They also never answer the phone, and take 2-3 weeks to respond to an inquiry. When you call their fictitious supervisor “Adam”, he will never return a call.
This place is a joke, I don’t know how they exist – but they scam small businesses.
If you are a small business, DO NOT even think about joining Angie’s List. They are real crooks!!!
Take a look at their BBB complaints, there are thousands, that have been open
They act as if they are “too big” to offer help – and they keep mentioning publicly traded company. Basically they bully you into advertising for 12 months, and then you are stuck.
In their contract, there is also a clause that says “Angie’s List advertising will automatically renew into another 12 months after the first term”. WHAT A JOKE!! AGAIN, I HAVE HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE WITH THESE CROOKS. DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH THESE FRAUDSTERS.
I have been using Homeadviser / Angie’s list now 6 months.. All of you that think it’s a scam or state they rip you off !! Is pure BS I’ve provided over 185 customers in 6 months ! So the Clowns that don’t call the lead ASAP when you receive it… Of course your going to fail and suck in business and have a tiny bank account. My success in business is I immediately contact that customer in less than 1 minute and get at least 8 out of 10 job’s contacted !!! So all you lazy want-to -be contractors this is how you work it to your advantage.. yes it’s high lead costs but successful Business Owners that do not sit on their big lazy butt’s and cry Me Me Me !!
They talk a good game but they are ALL about taking every bit of money from you that they can get. I had to set a monthly stopping point because I’m not made of money. Well lo and behold there were two months after that where I didn’t receive any leads at all-but they were still taking that monthly payment. The ppl behind the scenes that actually run things are nothing but scammers that don’t care about the pros or how hard things are for you. They have your bank acct info and a contract and that’s all they need! So what if you are being wronged, they’re still getting paid… Home Advisor (or whatever they are calling it now) is even worse!!! I went to them after AL a few months ago. I listed my monthly limit at $1500 so could start receiving more leads… it’s been 3 months now and I’ve done 4 estimates and won 1 job that refused to pay $1000 of the final cost because they didn’t have the money in the first place… then, left a rediculous 2 star review to try and make me look bad so they wouldnt have to pay it. Of course Home Advisor wouldn’t take it off and now, in January, I’m not receiving ANY leads or working at all. No money, no food and behind on all my bills. Tried both now I’m looking for something else that actually works and doesn’t leave me completely broke. It’s sad but this is what happens if you don’t let these con artists take what they want from your bank account. JUST SAY NO!
I listed my start up remodeling business on Angie’s list because I thought it was free for businesses, but then the high pressure sales calls came trying to talk me into $600 and then finally $300 a month terms. The sales rep actually called morning noon and night and I had to block his call, big red flag. Obviously if the product was good they wouldn’t have to sell it like this. Now home advisor is calling me in the evening and I’m sure it’s the same. I think the other gentleman is right when he says you’re paying for job leads and it has really doesn’t matter how good you are. The real danger to the system is when they become powerful enough to tell you what job you’re going to do and how much you can charge. I see this happening very easily. We should all stick to finding our own leads through our own advertising and word-of-mouth.
This entire article is antiquated. I have been a top Consultant at Angie’s List for over 7 years.
We are not a pay-per-lead model, and that’s why our platform works so well. As a Certified service provider, you “Pay to play.” Yes, the more your advertising spend, the more contacts you will receive from our PAYING MEMBERS. These are truly interested buyers who are ready, willing and able to purchase your services. (This is not the crowd you find when dealing with any general public lead generation model.)
My job is to reach out to qualified professionals and through discussing their current business and their future goals, we build a campaign to reach/exceed these goals.
Our campaigns are structured as a 12 month time period because we are protecting your investment. No other provider can come into your area and purchase the contacts we have already allocated to your company. Also, ALL advertising has to have a set up period. Unless you are ready with 20 customer reviews immediately, it takes time to build your reputation. This is what we are here for.
I personally have seen our platform change providers’ lives for the better. I know of many companies over my time here that have become MILLIONAIRES via our platform.
You must use the tools we give you and not expect the work to fall into your lap. You need to be proactive in building a profile and obtaining great reviews. After that, the platform will do it’s thing, and do it well.
you are a LAIR and a troll! clearly part of the scam also. go back hiding under your rock… troll!
My company currently uses Angie’s List, and we DO pay per lead. It’s ridiculous to say you don’t.
Angi Ads is separate where you pay a flat fee for advertisement, and there’s no guarantee on what you’ll receive in leads from that.
My husband recently started his own business and decided to try Angie’s List to gain costumers. They offered him $300 in Leads. It’s been almost 2 weeks, we paid an additional $600 for more Leads. My husband has received “steady” leads, but the customers are horrid. They don’t want to pay the estimated amounts (which my husband has been Estimating on the lower end since he is just starting) or they tell him they thought they could find someone to help them for free. He has gotten work, but the “I’ll call around for quotes/Nevermind’s” truly outweigh the jobs. I think we are currently breaking even. If the customer says no, the lead fee is still deducted from the account. He was never explained that. He decided to cancel today, even though it’s only been a couple of weeks. They didn’t mention a contract or early termination fees, but I guess we’ll see when we see the statement. Thumbtack’s lead fees are 1/2 the amount of AL.
Angies List is a rip off . At least if you are in real estate of any type. I am a home inspector and the ” Leads ” are FAKE. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM. RUN , RUN RUN. DO NOT USE ANGIES LIST
Just now that they renamed themselves I have woken up to the fact that I paid for the last few years for a free service. I am a customer. I originally signed up to Angies list because it was a reliable source to get good contractors. In the last few years that seemed to have changed and now I understand why. Looks like they are just another middle man business now trying to get a cut. What a joke. Is there an alternative yet? I’m sure there are many people like me out there willing to pay to get reliable reviews.
If your expectation with Angi is that it would “give”, or “assign” leads to you manually, then you’re wrong.
The platform operates mainly on customer choice, Angi will not able to guarantee you an exact number of customer contacts every month, plus of course the seasonality and demands. Most of the complaints usually stem from the issue of not getting leads, which again, they have no control over with.
I hope all you guys would be reminded of this before you go and blame the company. You are paying for a featured listing and NOT for each lead, you’ll be getting.
I advertised with Angi for a couple years and then decided it wasn’t worth it for my type of business. My sales rep talked me in to another year, and I agreed. I didn’t hear from any sales rep for eight months, until the day after my contract auto-renewed. I told the rep I did not want to renew but that they could keep the first month they had already billed. They won’t accept that. They have placed a “non payment” mark by my company’s add-visible to the public! A bit that calls me a bad credit risk, akin to a check-bouncer and won’t remove it unless I pay what they ask. Be careful if you do advertise with them
That’s TERRIBLE! Good to know! I just registered our business but now I’m going to un-list and block all of their numbers!
Looked at your web page.
i dealt with angi . they will do a contractor with no problems. they took my money without me knowing about it. $1000.00 later i settled to protect my credit rating.
garbage company! little upset!
All of the AL employees that have commented here have all said in certain words that:1) It is all about how much you can spend.. and 2) They can’t guaranty that you will receive good or any leads…. It’s just a money making scam and a poor business decision for anyone trying to make an honest living.
Angi or Angy’s or Home advisor, whatever theybare called they are scammerss, Do not signed with them, after signing with them foolishly without reading any reviews now after little over 5 days their message sending leads to you have and keep sending unsolicited and unauthorized leads to me and keep changing me for it, every message they send have a charge price of more that $100 dollars, i am asking them to stop sending me these leads, I am telling them To have my account refunded and closed, they do mot listen , they keep sending you to other departments, and when finally some one tells you that Yes your account it’s been closed that a few minutes later some one else calls you and ask uou what can they help you with and that your account is in fact still open and in the meantime their system keeps sending you leads, leads that ceeate a charge for you, leads that have a minimum price of $100.00 dollars each and this around and around, ITS A NITEMARE’ I wish some one can help!!!!!!
Angi’s uses very deceptive tactics to acquire consumers information, and then turns around to sell that consumer information to contractors. This cannot be denied. Cannot.
Test it; search foundation repair services. You will see one of the top search results is for a company called Powell and Sons. Powell and Sons has a website stating they are a local company (they apparently are local in Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and everywhere else). The website has a picture of a guy standing next to a white, lettered van, Powell and Sons. The same guy and van is in every major market across the United States…interesting how that could be.
The consumer fills out a form on the website thinking they will get a call and free quote from somebody working at Powell. Instead, they get 5-6 phone calls from various companies that each paid $50-$120 for their name and phone number.
The consumer is confused and angry. The contractor is duped and has their own reputation hurt by appearing to be deceitful.
This happens thousands of times a day throughout the country to consumers and contractors of all kinds.
Let’s say 50% of the consumers on Angi’s do actually connect with a contractor. The contractor does actually sell the job and gets paid, and the homeowner gets amazing service and their project completed. All parties happy. 50% of the time.
The other 50% are dissatisfied customers.
Can you imagine if you ran a business and only 50% of your customers were satisfied in the services provided? Your company would quickly go out of business. Yet Angi’s continues to thrive and make millions of dollars a day. Because the people searching for contractors are not charged, and are shown fake ads with promises. The contractors are charged.
The best solution I can offer is people need to continue to talk about this scheme over and over, and hopefully Angi’s changes their ways. However, Angi’s has a board of directors and stock holders to please. The likelihood of them all of a sudden admitting their deceit and adopting a company culture of honesty…is slim.
At the very least, the more it is talked about, the less likely a consumer will be to trust using Angi’s. It should be easier to trust your neighbor, trust your local contractor, trust your local business. Not a distant corporation with known, deceitful tactics.
Today, with search engines, social media, and every business having their own website, the service Angi’s provides is unnecessary and obsolete. If you need a contractor, ask friends and family for referrals and just call the contractor directly. Go to their website directly, learn about them, and speak to them directly. There are bad contractors out there, those that lie and provide poor service. But it should not be assumed a contractor is more trustworthy or reputable just for having a listing on Angi’s or for having an Angi’s badge on their website.
If there is an argument Angi’s helps small contractors that have no website, or no online presence and no online reviews, helps these small businesses be visible to consumers and get leads…I get it. I do. Sounds noble and honorable. But that honor is squashed when Angi’s turns around and creates fake companies, fake websites, uses false advertising, and sells consumers information to these small businesses to then compete against each other for a name and a phone number. Competing to call a consumer that isn’t expecting their call.
Every Angi’s rep will tell you, if you want success with their model, you need to call consumers within seconds of them submitting their information. Otherwise, you’re out of luck. A small time contractor is not available to call new leads within seconds, because they’re too busy working with their tools or sorting out payroll or helping a customer. If a contractor wants any type of success with Angi’s model, they need a dedicated call center. Any contractor big enough to have a dedicated call center shouldn’t require a service like Angi’s. So again, my opinion regarding the service Angi’s provides, is that it is obsolete. The fact that they have to create fake companies and fake ads to compete and make their millions proves that point.
Consumers don’t need them. Contractor’s don’t need them.
**The company I work for does have an Angi’s profile and an active budget with them. We do have 3 dedicated team members who answer calls all day, as well as reach out to new customers, some of whom are through Angi’s. We’re lucky if we are able to reach 55% of the customers Angi’s sells us, even when calling within seconds. Of the 55% we may reach, we’re lucky if 60% of them set an appointment to receive a free quote from us. The other 40% say they didn’t visit Angi’s, or never submitted a form, or already hired a company and don’t know why we are calling to begin with. On a daily basis, we also speak to at least one customer that states they were on Powell and Sons website, and they are confused as to why we have their information. They want a call from Powell.
Consumers need to know. People should know how Angi’s uses deceitful marketing tactics. There is no trust or honesty with their brand. The less consumers use them, the better off contractors will be.
Wish I read this first before signing up with Angi. I’m a homeowner who was looking for a contractor. I only picked 3 contractors that I wanted estimates from but have been getting calls 2 to 3 times a day from shady contractors that I can not find any information on and they claim to be local. They all now have my home address from Angi what the F!!.
Thank you for this article. This is exactly the same experience we have been having. The newest thing I have noticed is, that if they can’t get you to answer their excessive calls or sell to you they will put a message on your profile so that everyone can see it.
It says: Angi periodically audits provider records for accuracy and thoroughness, and also researches every report we receive of errors and outdated information. Angi has been notified that one or more portion(s) of the contact information on this record is invalid, and we have not been able to confirm updated information for the provider. If you are aware of updated contact information, please contact Angi with the details so we can get this corrected.
We just signed up with them with Angie’s ads, not realizing that there’s Angie leads as well so your fork out over $200 a month, you’re right there’s no link from Angie’s to my website. They will not put my own phone number on there they say it’s for tracking I don’t want their phone number on there I want my own. When you try to list your services the formatting is correct when you hit enter it reformats it and it looks like crap this system is built to keep you locked into Angie’s and keep you doing that but one of the faults with Angie’s is the fact that because of their bad operation. In time no one will go there. Trying to get out of the contract I need to do that it’s been a week almost so I’m trying to figure out how to do that and I will go to the better Business bureau I’m just cannot do it they are crooked.
After using Angie’s I decided to take marketing into my own hands. I am successfully getting more customers than I can handle for less then $200 per A/C install. After spending a lot of time and money figuring out what works! Give me a call I CAN HELP!!!
First, I know first hand as an Service Pro that Angi NEVER told me lies about my return. In fact, I was told by a rep named Jason that he wasn’t going to over inflate my expectations. If I pay for the lowest option, I would get the results associated with that payment tier. I was also informed of the cancelation fee prior to signing up. All of this stuff about misleading etc. is false. I’m sure you have some new people that are not sure how to say things or try to over inflate expectations because they need to keep their job. But they are not taught that.
Sorry, to add to my previous comment. The Pros that are not successful are not doing their job. Angi doesn’t promise jobs, the provide the service requests. It’s our job as a Professional to win the work.
INVESTIGATING GREAT MARKETING FOR A LONG DISTANCE MOVE AFTER 20 YEARS IN THE PAINTING BUSINESS
Angies list verifies us as pros background check etc. But not customers. They send me false leads all the time they know they are false and much more.
I am currently researching AL, thank you everyone for your time and honest advice. I felt like I was being scammed as soon as I started texting with the representative at AL. She stated I should really try to “swing” that $300 this week because next week would “not fly”…because “he did say that they pulled your acct from me because it had been over 42 days – BUT if in anyway you can swing that $300 to setup your account this week he can get it back – he said next week will not fly – I would love to be your account manager if possible & you will make your Money Back VERY Quick Just saying!! have a great night TTYL”…….”that 42 days is all we are aloud to handle an account”. I told them I wouldn’t be able to give them 300 dollars until next week and so she threw that BS at me. I’m gonna pretend to follow along and continue wasting her time now for as long as I can before declining. The sales reps tactics are scammy as all hell; giving round about answers to my direct questions, not giving me a word in to reiterate my specific question not being answered, talking so much that I can’t even follow all the supposed true information she’s spitting out her rear..disgusting company.
I’d like to thank everyone for their candid comments regarding Angie’s marketing tactics. When the AL rep contacted us his first question was…Do you have a credit card handy? Big red flag for us! We retired after being in business for over 30+ years but with things being what they are now-a-days, we decided to get back into doing small “handyman” jobs to stay occupied and help offset the current impact of the economy. On initial review, AL seemed to be a good place to get our name back out in the marketplace. The construction business has always been very competitive and there are more “Scabs” and “Wanna-Be’s” out there now than ever before. So, with Angie’s touting a vetting process of its service providers, it seemed like a good place to start. Their numbers are impressive but having to pay for leads, especially when they’re not verified, on top off advertising charges…Nope! I’d be better off standing on the street corner handing out handing out $10 bills. Yes, times have changed and we’re still “old-school” minded in that we still believe in giving quality service to our customers…A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. Guess we’ll see if that is still respected. At least it will be without Angie!
I’ve been with Angie’s since it was Home Advisor, it has always been a hassle with all of the leads generated by window shoppers, renter’s who do not have permission from owner, leads that you call minutes after notification and they tell you the work has already been completed. However even with the hassle it used to be worth it.
But since it became Angie it seems like it’s circling the drain.
So far this year 2024 the leads generated are almost garuanteed to flop, Fortunately I’ve been in business for 30 years in the same area, so word of mouth treats me pretty well.
I will not be renewing my Angie account. The hassle far exceeds the benefits. If I had to give advice to someone starting a business, it would be steer clear
of Angie’s, I would recommend services like Porch or Thumbtack, I’ve had good experiences with these in the past. Also you can set up a free Google business page, and also Yelp,
Angie’s is great if you are a shareholder, However if you have to earn money the old fashioned way “Working” I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone
I used both Angie’s List and Home Advisor back in 2017. Both total scams! Your better off advertising with small community newspapers. The only thing Angie’s List or Hone Advisor care about is sucking as much money from you as they can as quickly as they can! Beware!