ThumbtackReviews 1,535

This referral site is tricky to use, and they change things up so often that your investment of time and money may be wasted if one of their changes makes it impractical for you. I don't recommend it. It took months and lots of money to get our first online client there, despite often having a waiting list locally. Once we did, we got regular business, but we ended up taking two customers who attempted to defraud us and lost money on both accounts. Thumbtack could have been helpful but wasn't.

They really don't have any screening mechanism or accountability for customers or for reviews. So, be very careful about accepting clients via Thumbtack. They don't have anyone who seems to have a clue about how small businesses really work and will just read scripts to you if you try to discuss how one of their many changes or an existing feature is impacting your business. They think it's a matter of just telling you how their software works and don't understand the business process.

After we lost money on two fraudulent customers for larger contracts, we decided to take our account off Thumbtack and close our page. We were assured that when people searched of us and our business, there would be no connection to Thumbtack. Instead, people who search for my personal name and the name of my company land on a Thumbtack page that makes it appear as though my account was removed for some negative reason and as though I've gone out of business. They then invite the visitor to find my competitors through Thumbtack.

So, despite all the money I paid to Thumbtack in the process of connecting with customers, they have now repaid me by giving people who are searching specifically for me and my business the idea that I'm a bad risk and out of business anyway. While the page doesn't technically say that, every customer who has told me about landing on that page has said that was their impression.

So, if you don't want your future potential customers to think you were kicked off Thumbtack and went out of business, be careful about creating an account on Thumbtack in the first place. The way they've changed things, it's really far too expensive to use, at least in my business. We get much more business from free methods than we ever got from Thumbtack, though that may not be true for you. Check out what people find when they search for me now:

I Hired a "Pro" through Thumbtack. The "Pro" turned out to be a scam artist who would take your deposit and disappear. Thumbtack does not check their pros and it is easy to for scammers to create fake positive reviews. Myself and another consumer posted a review on the "Pro" within minutes of each other, victims of the same scam. Thumbtack removed the"Pro" and the reviews, effectively hiding the evidence that it is happening there. Thumbtack is very effective at bringing consumers to scammers.

I started using Thumbtack as a professional in August 2017, shortly after I'd started my own business as a freelance and contract writer and editor.

Initially, this was a great place to start out my business. The transparency was great, and I could easily see what I would be spending any time I put in a bid. Because I was cautious and bid carefully, I tended to land half the jobs I bid on, or better. It was a good balance.

The compatibility of Thumbtack with my business (and many small businesses like mine) ended abruptly in June. The new model pitched that we would be paying for leads, not bids, so we'd only pay if we were contacted. Since different leads had different value, the prices could vary. The algorithm for determining value was never clear, and the prices were exorbitant. Most of my jobs run 1-3 hours, and most of my clients aren't likely to bring repeat business (because my most frequent service has to do with higher education personal statements), but I could expect to pay an hour's worth of work for a lead that could easily be someone just price shopping (which the new system hasn't eliminated, despite that being pitched as a primary goal).

The changes to Thumbtack have apparently impacted the customer end as well, because the jobs I used to see posted aren't coming up anymore. I was initially told that these jobs must not exist anymore (like they somehow went extinct), but I've found plenty of them with networking and Fiverr, so it's more likely that my clients have ditched the system.

I would NOT recommend any pro use Thumbtack to generate leads.

Been a pro for a couple years... due to their new pricing I am losing money with them now. And I swear it is TT doing the bidding and robbing. I never got as many leads as I did in the past... and the reply rate is amazingly high... but after the first 'What is next' the 'client' goes dark and never replies... of course they have contacted 9 pros with the same comment making TT richer and their pro's poorer. I am done with these con-artists.
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Hired Kurt Ramsey from Rebuilding Michigan for kitchen and bath remodel. Remember Ramsey because company name changes. Was assured job would be completed by June 28. I have experience with contractors so assumed some leeway. Job was not complete until mid August. I came to realize that he doesn't have workers. He goes out to street to find contractors. Result is it takes twice as long to get anything done. Also quality of work is poor. Paint all over driveway. Debris all over house. Counters not balanced so installers came back 3 times! Constant delays. They never cleaned up. Constantly hounded for money. Paid them to get rid of them. Terrible experience.

You will be charged for quotes on jobs that you don't want. They have this cute little button that you can use that says DECLINE buts it's just for looks I suppose. If they deem it a valid quoted job, you are charged regardless of if you read the job request and decide that you had rather not take the job. This is where that decline button comes into play. I started using thumbtack over a year ago and liked it at the start but then they began the instant match. You either use it and get charged regardless of if you think the job will fit you or send each job quote yourself and end up not getting the work because instant match sends them quicker. Totally disgusted by the way I've been treated and will not be using thumbtack anymore.

I was on Thumbtack for 5 years until they did something proving that they have no regard for the pros who keep their company alive yet they'll cower like a weak puppy if one of their non paying customer/ recipients have a complaint!

Here is an example. A couple of months back, I had the opportunity to work for a fellow by the name of Mark W. I was set up to work this party for 7 hours. However, when I got there it was raining heavily and much to my dismay, I found the party to be outside. I sought shelter inside the house while the ceremony was going on elsewhere and no one wss drinking at the time. This guy had the nerve to yell at me and said I had no right to be in the house even though the temp was in the 50s and it wss raining heavily! A week or so later, he had the nerve to write a review of me calling me a crack whore and thereby ruining my reputation. I asked Thumbtack to please remove review but they declined. It took months for me to have the review deleted but only after I threatened them to take the matter to the Better Business Bureau and along with a threat to sue this idiot Marc.

There are lots of places to get jobs these days and if I were to give advice to anyone regarding Thumbtack, I would advise them to promote their business elsewhere.

Just want everyone out there who needs concrete installed, give Manny with Quality Concrete a call. Manny & his crew did a FANTASTIC job pouring 500 sq ft of concrete around my pool & 60 sq ft in my garage. I promise Manny will give you a GREAT price & his workmanship will be worth more then you pay him. I had 4 estimates & I'm so glad that I went with Manny, I will not even look else where if I need more concrete. Awesome job Manny, & THANKS AGAIN. MANNY RODRIGUEZ with QUALITY CONCRETE call them *******780

I've started a business in bookkeeping that helps clients organize their books, I don't however prepare their taxes. Thumbtack knew this because I stated in my profile that I did not do taxes. They, however proceed to send me tax clients and I accidentally sent a quote to one. This mistake was obvious and I clearly wanted to keep using their service. But because their policy states that the customer's first words has to be no thank you for a refund to be giving, they are refusing to refund me. The customer also made a mistake in responding is embarrassed because of the whole ordeal and won't talk to me. All I really wanted was this mess to be cleaned up, but they continue to refuse because it's against policy. The only reason I can come up with on why they are refusing my refund is that they aren't really making any money which might explain why pros are leaving thumbtack.

Thumbtack Survival Guide:

Make sure to read the FAQs and the small hyperlinks. Prices are hidden in these areas.

Don't engage a lead until you 100% understand the costs. We paid $60 for a single chat communication.

Only buy leads with phone numbers and stay away from all leads where the phone numbers don't match up with the business zip.

Check the leads to be sure the area code matches the business location (use online directories)... And if they still don't pan out - report them to Thumbtack and pray they will refund... or just try something else. :)

I've used Thumbtack for almost 5 years. It helped me build my business I. The beginning, I won't lie. Now, however, I am charged up to $47 for each lead, even if the lead never follows up or is requesting a ridiculously low price. In addition, I agree with the hundreds, if not thousands, of people regarding fake leads. I've gotten random messages from leads that are WORD FOR WORD identical to each other, and of course, after the first message silence from the other end of these "leads".
Thumbtack is making me broke with all this crap. There needs to be an internal investigation in my honest opinion.

I was happy with Thumbtack service for a couple years. And then last year they started to changes things around and from there it went from good to horrible.
They charged me for leads up to $55 even though the client would just answer "not interested". Or would charge me for a lead that they generated through a matching system, matching me with a request that wasn't even interesting for me.

They also decided to no longer ask client for their budget range. So now it makes it even harder to know if my services will be a good fit for the client.
Anyway, they just ruined a good business model. Too bad.