ThumbtackReviews 1,535

Thumbtack went from a fairly straight forward and economical system for small businesses to find business leads to one where they pretty much pick your pocket. They used to tell you up front what a bid cost, and if someone looked at your bid, you were charged.

Now, they only charge you if the person making the bid contacts you, but they don't tell you how much they are charging you until AFTER they person sends you an email. I had two bids this week (the last two I will ever do!) and it cost me nearly $40.00 for people who were essentially just kicking the tires.

I'm not sure why this company got so greedy, because they are doing neither their service providers nor their customers a service by operating this way.

I worked with Thumbtack since 2010, having provided services to nearly 300 customers and receiving 130+ Positive reviews. This new system, no way I'll bid on jobs, and I can't imagine anyone else falling for the scam more than a few times, either.

I worked for Thumbtack, right at the VERY beginning when leads were completely free, and it was absolutely wonderful! I LOVED Thumbtack and was getting hired a LOT. Then, gradually, bit by bit, they started to change. The charges were reasonable at first, and they also had this thing whereby if the person ONLY asked for a quote from "you", you got the lead for free.

Someone has been playing around with the system BIG time. You know what they say: if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. As time went on, the categories changed, too, and I found myself being placed into categories that didn't really accurately reflect what I do. My complaints fell on completely deaf ears. I am an ordained Spiritualist Minister, with all of the rights and privileges granted to any Minister of any other recognized religion; I'm not a "fortune teller" (shudder: HATE that expression), even though Spiritualists have the belief of the ability to communicate with people who have crossed over, but I'm not a traditional, Christian, minister either!

Then, we have the public's mindset of "let me book the person who is the cheapest, and who will work for almost free". These are the exact same people after the event who are complaining that the person/entity doesn't know what they are doing!

If you check my reviews, on Thumbtack AND other sites, you will see that they show 5 stars for the most part. That's because I have integrity. No, I'm not the cheapest, but my pricing is on the low end of average for New York City.

Now, I rarely (if ever) use Thumbtack for anything, even though I won an award for "Best Of", back in 2013 I think it was :). I think it's a shame because if it continues to make everything "all about the money" it will gradually wear itself out and down, as do most people/companies who start to believe their own publicity. I mean, Angie's List is free and there are a host of other choices for workers now.

All that being said, Thumbtack gave me a start. At the time I was using Thumbtack, I was just transitioning from a full time corporate job to this work, my passion. For that I will be forever grateful. These days, I get referrals from my early Thumbtack leads and honestly, word of mouth is still King!

Gradually the pricing has gone up and the quality has gone way down. I just simply got sick and tired of quoting for things and spending my good money on leads that went absolutely nowhere. It seems to be the same story for most.

Their new system... charge the customers crazy amount to leads that someone responds to. This is not confirmed business just someone that responds to your lead... I see a photographer got charged $45. I got charges almost ten dollars and almost 18 dollars for two pet sitting leads... one asked me if I charged $25 for a week or pet sitting or per time... obviously not a serious lead...$25 a week of pet sitting... that one cost me almost $18. I don't know who thought up this system, but I am going to my credit card to fight the charges and quitting working with Thumbtack. This is bizarre practices... good way to lose customers...

Thumbtack will "introduce you to professionals to do your work"! Yes, they will ~
PROFESSIONAL THEIVES!
My sister referred me to a man & wife who she hired through Thumbtack to clean her house. I was always home with Angie & Jim Hammons when they came to clean but after a few months I left them for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, they stole EVERY piece of my family's inheritance throughout the house - EXPENSIVE IRREPLACEABLE ITEMS ~ so many precious pieces with extreme sentimental value - ALL MY HEIRLOOMS not to mention expensive cosmetic products that were brand new (Lancome, Profession hair products), a fit bit, and everything else they could get hold of. I'm just sick over this. Of course, Thumbtack won't take responsibility for the liability since I didn't get them directly through them. The local authorities will.

I've since done my homework that I should've done before hiring these grand larceny thieves but took for granted they were at least decent people with no criminal records. Nope! Angie Hammons spent 2 years in jail for stolen credit card and identity theft. Got out of jail & immediately hired on with Thumbtack!

Who would've thought an organization as large and well-known would not even check criminal backgrounds on the people they let in. Who would've thought Thumbtack who has a 1,000,000,000 liability wouldn't even do a background check on their own people? Would you assume the people you hire throughThumbtack were at least good, decent people?

Think again.

I've invested in leads but the sad part is that a customer can receive up to 5 pro quotes and at the end if they just decide to communicate you that they are not interested this alone will cost you the amount Thumbtack charged for the lead. They ask for up to 18 dollars for a wedding lead and you can be out of that money by the client just saying no thanks. Most times you do not get a word and just lose your money. I'm fed up and will disconnect my account for ever.

I've been a Thumbtack Pro for years. Every change they have ever made ends up costing Pros more money and is less friendly for Pros. Every time I've told them so. I've never gotten any response and they continue to make changes in the opposite direction of Pro's suggestions. If you use them do so with EXTREME CAUTION. Only choose the customers you are sure are likely to be real customers and the most likely to hire you. You will be charged it is not cheap and almost a shot in dark if you will get hired. If you have plenty of money to spend need a tax expense use them. I doubt Thumbtack reads any of these reviews or they would make more positive Pro changes back to the Pro friendly format they used to be. They are a greedy Billion Dollar privately held company.

Thumbtack connects you with wrong customers and customers out of your area, charges your card then only refunds it to your house account making you continue to use the service when you just want off the crazy ride.the last bondoggle the customer they connected me with lived over 5 hours away in another state. Most users if the sight are penny pinchers, I have much better luck on Home Adviser. DO NOT recommend for professionals!

IF I was reviewing my overall experience, I would rate them 5... but not now. Just today I found out contractors have to pay to send a quote even when they don't get the job. I have placed 18 requests in 3 years and hired 5 people. Not one of the other 13 jobs did I hire someone else to do... I just didn't do them for a variety of reasons. When you fill out a request, you can indicate "I am conducting initial research". IF I had known contractors had to pay just to quote, I might not have placed my request on the majority of them. This information needs to be disclosed to consumers on the website... otherwise it is NOT fair to the contractors. I am going to look for another resource.

I have been on Thumbtack for about one year now. My business gets regular quote requests, but I received an email that they will be removing all categories relevant to my business. I will no longer be using this service.

I have been trying to make a payment on my account since 03/15/18. I owe $22.97. I have made 3 payments prior to this charge.
I have called my bank and the specialist there told me there is no block on the account and that Thumbtack has been charging me $0.00
I have been trying to speak to someone there about how much they are charging per customer reached, and no one will provide that information. There are no set prices for their service. They can literally charge what every they want and won't break it down for you.
Now, since they can't figure out how to charge me properly, they have blocked my access to my customers and to send quotes.
I have tried the customer service chat room, calling (on hold for over 30 min each time), emailing, and now texting. The people I interact will don't seem to understand English and have a copy-paste response to everything. This month I have already spent $40 for a $100 customer. So far that's 40% of my profits.
Save your time, your money, and most importantly, your sanity.

It is like putting your money in a bag with a big hole. Be aware. At First. They send you a lot of requests. It is kind of scary and unreasonable like they generate those leads there is is no way to be real. But still I gave it a try and started spending money to get some clients. My quotes are viewed from anonymous people where I got charged. One client booked and never showed up. One called by mistake. All that I got charged... Unbelievable. I spent more than $400 in a month with people playing around. Save your money and run...

We hired a pro on Thumbtack for a roof repair, he came and we gave him money to start the job, he was doing horrible job, wasn't even doing it right, put tar where we didn't need it. Ending up needing a whole roof because of his negligence. The pro we hired wasn't licensed and he said he would give us our money back. This was in January. Went to Thumbtack to give him a review, he deleted his account and changed his phone number. Contacted Thumbtack, told them my complaint, they said they removed him already so a review wasn't needed and would forward my complaint to theTrusts and Safety team. I am still owed $1500. 00 and I don't even know his real name. I had to spend $12,900 for a new roof because of his negligence! I thought if I used Thumbtack I would have some kind of recourse, but I was wrong.

This company is a total rip-off.
They claim to have legit leads and they charge you for leads that has no repsonses.
Leads have no phone number to reach the clients.

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL.! They place fake ads to allure you to respond and they pretend by responding to your email and charge you for each leads that so called respond.

Try to ask the lead to give a number to call to confirm theyr work request no telephone number given.
If someone really are looking for a handyman, interior designer, photograper for their projects they will give you their number so they know who are dealing with.

In this case Thumbtack is not giving clients phone number because of so called privacy policy.
If a client is looking for a pro they should be able to to be reached so we can offer them our services.

When chatting online with them the response you get is with a link to their policies and they do not respond to you after that.

When trying to dispute the charge with my credit card company they state it was valid since I gave them permission to charge.
Yes I gave permission to charge for real leads not fake leads.

To all that have been scam by Thumbtack class Action Lawsuit has to be initiated with the company/owner.

This is very dishonest business practice.

I used Thumbtack to search for a contractor. They were all clearly cheaper than Home Advisor contractors so I hired one. I saw the guy throwing up one morning and asked if he was okay. He said he wasn't feeling good, i insisted the poor guy leave and come back tomorrow. GUESS WHAT... he never came back, left his tool bag here and my husband for a package of drugs in it. I was furious... I called Thumbtack to complain and ask how this guy was able to be referred by them and they told me anyone can sign up. YOU JUST SENT A JUNKIE TO MY HOUSE I SAID. They said they would look into it. End of story, the guy never came back took $1000 of my money probably spent $100 of it here and it's all my fault looking for these cheap quotes. HOME ADVISOR has real pro's thats for sure.