ThumbtackReviews 1,535

We used Thumbtacks for years for our Dj business and it was great. We took some time off to focus on our other business, came back a year later and used thumbtacks again for our Dj service... coming back to thumbtacks we only received two leads asking us if we were available for their date. We only bid if we are available so this seemed rather odd to us. And Thumbtacks wants to charge us $40 for that! Their pricing has gotten ridiculous. I could understand if we were hired a fee like that but that is still pricey.

I have used Thumbtack for my company for four years. Thumbtack was a great source of clients for us for the first three years. We have gained some long term clients who we still work with today through Thumbtack. However, when they changed their business model, that is when it went downhill. I was fine with paying $3.33 to $5 per bid at a capped amount of bids being 5 people. Now, there are 15 or more bids, no charge to bid, but you get charged random fees for somebody responding (not necessarily even interested in your services). I've been charged $20 and up to $26 before for a question sent to me that I answered and never received a response for. I do believe they are putting in fake bids. I am not the only professional with a complaint. There are literally hundreds of professionals on different sites fed up with Thumbtack's sudden greed and scammy tactics. I am truly disappointed since they were once a good company.

I have been using Thumbtack to get leads and jobs for a couple of years now. Since I started I have seen a continuous change to their plans and how we are charged. For what I do the price has gone from around $5 to over $20. As well they have increased the number of pros who get to quote which continues to dilute the opportunities. This is beginning to be cashflow negative for me and I see it happening to many others. It is too bad they have gotten greedy. It was a good thing and now it is not. As well, using their system is slow and cumbersome. If a quote expires you cant delete it and your inbox becomes loaded with crap.
Others have been complaining and it seems only to be getting worse. Looks like they are trying to inflate profits to get it more attractive for a sale.
I would recommend to stay away and find other means to advertise and find clients.
Certainly not what it used to be... too bad!

At first everything was fine, I was getting recommendations but then I had upcoming projects and each time I was getting these outrageous number for little things. You can't go in and delete a project it just wants to know which of the recommendations did you use. People message you over and over. I found the worst wedding decorator on there. She communicated well through thumbtack then after I paid she disappeared. I think thumbtacks needs stricter rules for people offering their services. Like Thumbtacks need to start accepting reference numbers where they call the previous client or the thumbtacker for feed back. Too many people are getting scammed

This company is stealing from hard working professionals and business owners. Their price structure is not communicated, changes as they see fit and they refuse to refund money they charges you when you did not authorize the charge in the first place. I am shocked that this company has an A rating. I recommend that you run from this company, their business practices are unethical and you will regret your dealings with them. I saw reviews like this and decided to try it anyway. Shame on me.

Im customer and i have bad experiance with Pro. Finding thru thumbtack to do service for HVAC and Plumbing in my home. 90% from pro. Through thumbtack they are not certified doesnt have bond to protect the customer and doesnt have license register in CSLB to allow them to pefrom speciality of work. However im as customer i will never ever work with pro. Found through thumbtack abd will not recommend any one to do so. If any damage happend by subcontractor or professional to my home or your home thumbtack and pro. Wont be responsible for repair bacause they dont have bond to protect customer

It appears that Im experiencing what many Pros are with the Thumbtack bidding process. Former payment models were a good and valuable method to obtain new clients. With the new blind cost to bid a job, the bidder does NOT know the fee until after the bid is submitted and the bill arrives. The most information a business person can obtain is a range of potential rates.

Customer service has not been helpful in addressing this situation. If a client responds to my bid in any way I am charged. It is an untenable model! While Thumbtack used to be beneficial and responsive, it has gone totally downhill from a Pros perspective. The positive reviews on this site seem largely to be from the customer perspective. Sad!

Thumbtack refused to help me, and, they haven't proven a single thing... like even a stamped IP address to show at least it wasn't a Thumbtack employee making up fake contacts; tactics to make money I get it; Papa needs a new pairs of shoes; it doesn't mean stealing the shoes though. The double dipping, and potentially triple dipping on these "potential" customers. You consider a dropdown answer from a customer, a legitimate response?; I call it a lazy, and not serious customer! As an American citizen, I have the right to know exactly where my money is! You cannot show me behind the window?; even though it's my money behind the window? Get Outta here!

I asked one of the managers there to pretend for a second that I was auditing them, if I could have a rundown of my money. After a lengthy conversation, i was able to muster this out of them; but nothing that says at all where my money goes. Take a gander.

1. the service category,
2. Value or size of the job,
3. Length or duration it takes to complete the project,
4. Location,
5. Demand,
6. The competition in your market and
7. Customer's interest or response

Jean (Thumbtack Employee): You do have a good suggestion about the run down and this is definitely something we can look into adding in your dashboards so you can check how the cost is being charged.

Me: Netflix is $9.99 a month, nothing hidden, the most successful business in the world, they hide nothing, and it's straightforward $9.99 a month

Jean: Thanks for the honest feedback Jeff. This is noted and I'll be personally raising this to the management so we can work on your request regarding the run down. I just won't be able to provide a timetable on when this will be added to your dashboard, but I'll definitely work on it for you.

That is awesome, but where is my money lol, not to mention the 1000's of other Thumbtack Pros you threw one for. Oh wait, I did see a shiny new commercial on primetime television.

Worst freelance platform EVER. They charged me $51 JUST because a prospect asked me how much I would charge for freelance services. And that was just a 4-word message (what do you charge) VIA THEIR INBOX NOT EVEN ON MY BUSINESS EMAIL. NO PHONE CALL or follow-up from the prospect. Nothing! What a rip-off! I was new to the service and this was only my first bid submitted. I contacted support via chat. NO HELP. You would think that for a newbie they would show some level of service or at least a compromise. But no. Based on my experience, if I'm going to be charged over $50 just because someone asks what I charge - that's a TOTAL RIPOFF. I would NEVER RECOMMEND THUMBTACK to any freelancer. EVER. BEWARE!

Honestly, i started out with Thumbtack with the most confidence that i could. At first it seemed great, but I've probably had only a handful of legitimate clients and they've stolen hundreds of my money. Honestly its $#*!ing bull$#*!. $#*! thumbtack. They have fake people looking for your "services" i would have my instant match on and get "sounds good! Whats next?" after an automatic quote, thus because of this fake contact, making me pay thumbtack for the "successful" quote. Of course i would then never hear from said person again. Use a different website this $#*! is a scam.

I have been with Thumbtack for over 5 years. Initially the cost to quote was reasonable. The charge was by a credit. Then they slowly raised the rates for the credits. Then they raised the number of credits required to send a quote. Now they have gone to this practice of the vendor having no idea what the cost will be. They will not tell you up front. They continually say it is a complicated process, varies by quote. However, if you receive any type of contact with the potential customer, you are charged immediately. Why can they not say what the cost is if they can bill immediately? They have become too big and now the vendors who helped get them there are being squeezed. In addition to the raising of the cost to quote, they have also tripled the number of vendors who can quote on a project. They say this is what the vendor asked for. Really? I doubt that very much. Be very careful if you decide to go with them.