Angie's List?

[VRBeauty]

Has anybody here joined Angie's List? If so, I'd appreciate your feedback.

In my area it costs $26.00 per year to join Angie's List for just the regular stuff - it costs a bit more if you also want reviews of doctors, hospitals, and other health providers.

When I worked it was easy to get recommendations (often unsolicited! ) from co-workers. Now that I'm retired... I kind of hate to be bugging my friends all the time, and my immediate neighborhood just isn't all that neighborly. Years ago my neighborhood association put together a neighbor-to-neighbor list of recommended plumbers, painters, etc, but that went the way of the dodo after the advent of internet reviews. I like the idea of a service like Angie's list where they at least try to control for trolls, businesses that self-post, and businesses that post with the intent of hurting their competition. And yes, I realize the annual fee is equivalent to just one or two meals out. But AL doesn't offer trial periods, and I don't want to pay for the service if it doesn't deliver what it promises.

So, if you use AL and find it worthwhile, or if you've tried it and found it lacking, I'd appreciate hearing about your experience!

 

[ame]

I have one, and I don't use it enough to give a fair assessment. It was helpful for the mold remediation and basement waterproofing, but beyond that, it's been a mixed bag. Not enough people local to me are willing to pay for it, and I find that many people I know want to "just borrow your login" to look someone up so they don't have to pay. I will let my parents do that, or my brother, but not anyone else.

My biggest aggravation with it is that I get an ENORMOUS amount of emails from them asking me to update reviews, finish half started reviews, check in with them and review the service, etc. even though I have all my communication preferences turned to leave me the F alone.

 

[Matata]

I joined when I retired and found several good handymen in my area who were willing to take on projects that were too small and were turned down by numerous contractors. I guess if they're not going to make big bucks, they'd rather not have any money at all One job was designing and screening in my patio for the cats and another was painting my kitchen cabinets which was a huge chore. You have to be as careful choosing on Angie's List as you would anywhere else. I live in rural southern Oregon and most of the contractors down here want big money for less than mediocre work. I've found the self-employed handymen to be more motivated and to take more pride in their work.

 

[woofmama]

I'm a member and have it used it fairly often. Found a great plumber, Hvac repair company and computer repair service on there.
I feel I get my moneys worth and will keep up my membership.

 

[aviastar]

I'm wary of Angie's List; do a search for vendor feedback about the site and it's not pretty. The complaints I have seen include that you can pay to be at the top of the search results and while you cannot pay for a higher rating, the ratings and reviews are juried by Angie's List, so reviews from non members often don't get posted or counted towards the rating totals at all, especially if the vendor has not paid to be higher in the results.

That's enough to keep me away.

 

[luv2sparkle]

I saw a sting on 20/20 with air conditioner repair men. The ones from Angie's list were the most crooked. They even joked that they seemed trustworthy because they were from there. After that, I decided they weren't even worth a try.

 

[GemFever]

Paid something like $70 for a membership one year, used it once to find a plumber. He was a super nice guy but ended up charging a ton for a basic service (as I later realized, I'm not a home owner so I don't know this stuff). I was really mad when Angie's list renewed my subscription without asking, and for once I raised hell and got my money back. It wasn't worth it for me.

Also, as ame mentioned, they are pretty intrusive with calls to get you to review people. It got downright creepy... DH went to see a doctor and Angie's list started calling with all our info asking how we liked the doc. I didn't find that doc on Angie's list and don't remember ever contacting them about it.

 

[VRBeauty]

I think I've read enough - LOL!

I hate unsolicited mail, phone calls, and even email. I'm more than willing to take the occasional survey, but I hate it when you can't finish a survey unless you answer "*every* question, even the ones that don't pertain to you... or when you can't provide a nuanced reply. And I don't like the idea of a consumer protection group using "opt out" rather than "opt in" for renewals... so based on what you've all told me, I'm thinking Angie's list might not be the right service for me.

Thank you all for your input!