Home Advisor is a RIP OFF to contractors AND consumers!! They sent me as a contractor BOGUS leads and charged me for everyone of them before i could review them. EVERY ONE WAS USELESS!! They tricked me into buying a "special package" of leads because I was new with them for $250.00. After they kept charging me more than I was making I asked for a credit back for the $250.00 and THEY REFUSED! I closed the account with a CREDIT BALANCE OF $250.00 and thought that was the end of it.
Then about a month later I get a letter from Home Advisor saying that I owed them $195.00!!! I OWED THEM NOTHING! I disputed the balance w/my credit card company and WON. I thought that was the end of it.
They sent the balance to a collection Attorney who said it doesn't matter if I won the dispute I still owed it. I had NO CHOICE except to pay it before it DOUBLED with interest, collections agency fees and all the other GARBAGE they were tacking ont it!!
CONTRACTORS DO NOT SIGN UP WITH HOME ADVISOR!!! They WILL RIP YOU OFF!!
The "leads" they send you are WORTHLESS!! AND they are sending the same leads to about 15 contractors in your area and CHARGING EVERY CONTRACTOR for the same leads!!!
Homeowners should beware as well! They were saying I was "verified". BULL! They never did any kind of verification on me. As long as I kep paying them, they did NOT CARE if I was qualified to do ANY OF IT!! They were sending me leads that I had NO IDEA HOW TO DO! Some contractors will try to do them anyway just for the money and do a poor, or worse DANGEROUS JOB!!
Bottom line for CONTRACTORS AND HOMEOWNERS IS STAY AWAY FROM HOME ADVISOR!!!
Our company made the mistake of doing business with Home Advisor. We received a total of 4 leads @ 61.00 per lead. This company will say anything to get contractors to sign up and not give credit for bad leads. This service is a total waste of time and money. Avoid them at all costs!
This company is a ripoff to service providers and the consumers. I recieved zero usable leads from this company over the first three months of service. I began to continuously stop leads at the end because it was costing me to get leads that I could not use or simply went to a blank voicemail box when I tried to call the "customer". I tried canceling on-line and there is no way to cancel. I was told upon signing up that I was signing up for three months....I could deal with that...I don't recall them ever telling me it would auto renew.
So since it renewed, I have not recieved any leads...in fact according to them I had my leads off....So what am I being charged for. They refuse to refund the $81 they are charging me for a service I did not recieve, simply because It renewed 9 days ago. 9 days ago when this disabled veteran was sick and unable to do anything.
I have aenough on my plate without having to worry about some company trying to steal my money and provide me nothing.
Additionally, this service did no reasonable background check on me and I was shocked at how simple it was to be a member. I am not saying that those people on the site are bad or a threat to consumers, but the people at home advisor wouldn't know either. If you provide a home service, stay away from them....if you are looking for a service provider, I would steer clear of this site.
Really, this rating system needs to allow for negative reviews. And since he (Jim Dinges) rebuttaled in a recent negative rating I suspect he will this time as well. However, do not be persuaded by this inferior contractor. He is the worst experience we have ever had. Jim Dinges is essentially an unethical person and that was my first mistake. The contractor basically begged me for the job and I would eventually acquiesce because I had a quick turn-a-round time for my project. That was my second mistake. Once the contract was signed, the shoddy, inferior and lackadaisical work proceeded.
This contractor lasted only a week with us. I was left with no choice but to fire him. In the week the contractor worked in our home, a litany of things went wrong! Here is a list of issues we had with this contractor in only the first week before we fired him:
BROKEN COMMITMENTS/ UNPROFESSIONALISM
- Contractor said he would start work on Saturday and wanted payment the Friday prior, once the contractor received half the payment he stated his workers may not be mentally into the work on a weekend and said it is better they start the following Monday.
- I requested the contractor order the tile for our project three times within the week he was hired and he promised he would all three times and at the time of his firing, he still had not ordered any tile.
- The contractor stated he would complete our tub installation the next morning, therefore the night prior I purchased the tub as part of our agreement. The tub, to date, is still sitting at Home Depot because the contractor never picked it up to begin the install.
- The contractor was told to level our basement floor with cement leveler prior to beginning the next day. The first day on the job, the contractor failed to do so. The flooring had to be pulled back up again, have leveler applied and then placed back down again. And still after this, the floor is still loose and bouncy.
- Contractor said he would start on our project daily at 9:00. This never happened.
- Contractor incessantly provided excuses when commitments were missed. This was customary!
NO ATTENTION TO DETAIL/ CARELESSNESS FOR HOMEOWNER'S PROPERTY
- The contractor left our basement bedroom in a sheet of dust when he performed work on the floor after he was told that morning by me personally to not leave any dust in our bedroom. My wife and 8-year old son had to clean their mess.
- Contractor left dirt and debris from the days work in our master bedroom shower and did not clean it up. We returned home to find our shower floor covered with in dirt.
LOW QUALITY WORKMANSHIP/ INFERIOR WORK
- The drywall repair in our basement was horrible! It is uneven and will be torn out
- When the contractor finished our floor, the carpet tack strip was left exposed with nails protruding through. I found it before my kids were possibly injured!
- Contractor closed up a hole on our ceiling and missed areas less than an inch away after having me explicitly detail what needed to happen prior.
- Contractor drilled hole on our bath floor and left all the debris in the closed hole!
LACK OF COMMITMENT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- Our project, under this contractor lacked focus, attention and project management. We were never advised on anything. I was often left frustrated and with what appeared to be my second job.
- Contractor stated he would have a two-man crew working daily on our project. From what we witnessed, it appeared they never worked more than an hour at a time every day.
Through all the calamity, I am working with Home Advisor to resolve the issue and to have this contractor removed. He has refused to refund our $2600 we paid upfront and insists I hire him back to finish the job! He has left us scrambling to date to find another contractor to finish our job before our project deadline.
PLEASE AVOID THIS CONTRACTOR!!
I have also posted my videos of this contractors work on YouTube:
On February 16th 2015 I signed up for the PRO contractor lead service with Home Adviser via a sales rep. 2 hours later I informed the sales rep Mr. Joseph DeMarzio, that I will not need the service after all. I contacted the sales rep well before that 24 hour period before my debit card was to be charged. I was told that the approval process takes 24 hours. The sales rep lied to me. I was charged before the 24 hours even after I declined the service and informed the rep via email and voice mail. I also contacted the customer care specialist a Mr. Scott Seminoff on Feb 17th2015, still within the 24 hour window. So far I have yet to hear from either Mr. DeMarzio or Mr. Seminoff despite several attempts to reach them. I really should have done my research before I signed up. This company has more than 600 complaints with Better Business. Given their track record I doubt I’ll be able to resolve my issue with the company. I’ve file complaints with BBB and FTC. This company is a fraud and a scam. Stay away. They will also allow felons to use their service without doing a proper background check. The felons are approved almost instantly no matter the crime.
I was contacted by Mariela Lazo (online marketing consultant of home advisor) on Jul 17, 2014 to offer their services for leads matched to my business they had different plans for length of contract. I opted for 3 months at $80.99 plus the cost or each lead matched to my business. After a few weeks of signing up I discovered that what they offered was not delivered. I was sent leads that did not match my services and leads for clients I could not get a hold of therefore were useless and I was charged for them.
I immediately contacted Mrs. Lazo on Aug 8, 2014 to inform her of the situation and to request proper credit of their charges. This continue to go on for the following months. Once I realized that their services was not what they promised. I decided to request cancellation prior the end of the 3 months I signed up for. Again I contacted Mrs. Lazo on Sep 30, 2014 my exact words on this email were.
“I like to cancel my advertising with you at the end of the 3 months. I have not gotten any business and it is not working for me. I also like to request a refund for the last lead as there was nothing that could be done with the lead. This client was thinking about buying the house and was not even the home owner therefore not authorize for any repairs. The client wanted an estimate over the phone for us to figure out, if there was an existing sewer from the city or septic tank. This type of services are not listed on what we do. But if they were again there was nothing that could be done as this was not the home owner”
Home advisor continue charging me even when I had requested cancellation in a timely manner. On Oct 20, 2014 I once again contacted Mrs. Lazo with the following. “Please close my account I do not want to see charges on my bank account from you guys I will start disputing them because I have previously requested a cancellation. Please use this email as a 2nd request. Also send confirmation of cancellation. Thank you I appreciate your help.”
Mrs. Lazo replied that same day Oct 20, 2014 with “They should have cancelled, please contact 877-947-3639 ext. 7275. After this they continue to bill me and sent my account to collections for none payment. I don’t know how Home Advisor can get away with this. This practices should be illegal. I did my part to request cancellation in a timely manner. Home advisor failed to cancel my account, therefor I’m not liable for their mistakes of not closing my account when requested or for paying them a penny. I have documentation of everything stated. I saved all emails and have all records to prove I’m 100% right. I also did some research online and I’m not the only one complaining about the exact same problem. Home advisor continues to charge their clients even after a cancellation request. It is time for them to stop their malicious business practices. I hope this will help those planing on signing up with home advisor as a service provider. STAY AWAY!
HomeAdvisor, Inc. Reviews
Home Advisor is TRASH! DO NOT SIGN UP!
I wish there was a ZERO star! Same as everyone else on here.. Terrible from start to finish!
Home Advisor is a RIP OFF to contractors AND consumers!! They sent me as a contractor BOGUS leads and charged me for everyone of them before i could review them. EVERY ONE WAS USELESS!! They tricked me into buying a "special package" of leads because I was new with them for $250.00. After they kept charging me more than I was making I asked for a credit back for the $250.00 and THEY REFUSED! I closed the account with a CREDIT BALANCE OF $250.00 and thought that was the end of it.
Then about a month later I get a letter from Home Advisor saying that I owed them $195.00!!! I OWED THEM NOTHING! I disputed the balance w/my credit card company and WON. I thought that was the end of it.
They sent the balance to a collection Attorney who said it doesn't matter if I won the dispute I still owed it. I had NO CHOICE except to pay it before it DOUBLED with interest, collections agency fees and all the other GARBAGE they were tacking ont it!!
CONTRACTORS DO NOT SIGN UP WITH HOME ADVISOR!!! They WILL RIP YOU OFF!!
The "leads" they send you are WORTHLESS!! AND they are sending the same leads to about 15 contractors in your area and CHARGING EVERY CONTRACTOR for the same leads!!!
Homeowners should beware as well! They were saying I was "verified". BULL! They never did any kind of verification on me. As long as I kep paying them, they did NOT CARE if I was qualified to do ANY OF IT!! They were sending me leads that I had NO IDEA HOW TO DO! Some contractors will try to do them anyway just for the money and do a poor, or worse DANGEROUS JOB!!
Bottom line for CONTRACTORS AND HOMEOWNERS IS STAY AWAY FROM HOME ADVISOR!!!
Our company made the mistake of doing business with Home Advisor. We received a total of 4 leads @ 61.00 per lead. This company will say anything to get contractors to sign up and not give credit for bad leads. This service is a total waste of time and money. Avoid them at all costs!
This company is a ripoff to service providers and the consumers. I recieved zero usable leads from this company over the first three months of service. I began to continuously stop leads at the end because it was costing me to get leads that I could not use or simply went to a blank voicemail box when I tried to call the "customer". I tried canceling on-line and there is no way to cancel. I was told upon signing up that I was signing up for three months....I could deal with that...I don't recall them ever telling me it would auto renew.
So since it renewed, I have not recieved any leads...in fact according to them I had my leads off....So what am I being charged for. They refuse to refund the $81 they are charging me for a service I did not recieve, simply because It renewed 9 days ago. 9 days ago when this disabled veteran was sick and unable to do anything.
I have aenough on my plate without having to worry about some company trying to steal my money and provide me nothing.
Additionally, this service did no reasonable background check on me and I was shocked at how simple it was to be a member. I am not saying that those people on the site are bad or a threat to consumers, but the people at home advisor wouldn't know either. If you provide a home service, stay away from them....if you are looking for a service provider, I would steer clear of this site.
Where do I begin?
Really, this rating system needs to allow for negative reviews. And since he (Jim Dinges) rebuttaled in a recent negative rating I suspect he will this time as well. However, do not be persuaded by this inferior contractor. He is the worst experience we have ever had. Jim Dinges is essentially an unethical person and that was my first mistake. The contractor basically begged me for the job and I would eventually acquiesce because I had a quick turn-a-round time for my project. That was my second mistake. Once the contract was signed, the shoddy, inferior and lackadaisical work proceeded.
This contractor lasted only a week with us. I was left with no choice but to fire him. In the week the contractor worked in our home, a litany of things went wrong! Here is a list of issues we had with this contractor in only the first week before we fired him:
BROKEN COMMITMENTS/ UNPROFESSIONALISM
- Contractor said he would start work on Saturday and wanted payment the Friday prior, once the contractor received half the payment he stated his workers may not be mentally into the work on a weekend and said it is better they start the following Monday.
- I requested the contractor order the tile for our project three times within the week he was hired and he promised he would all three times and at the time of his firing, he still had not ordered any tile.
- The contractor stated he would complete our tub installation the next morning, therefore the night prior I purchased the tub as part of our agreement. The tub, to date, is still sitting at Home Depot because the contractor never picked it up to begin the install.
- The contractor was told to level our basement floor with cement leveler prior to beginning the next day. The first day on the job, the contractor failed to do so. The flooring had to be pulled back up again, have leveler applied and then placed back down again. And still after this, the floor is still loose and bouncy.
- Contractor said he would start on our project daily at 9:00. This never happened.
- Contractor incessantly provided excuses when commitments were missed. This was customary!
NO ATTENTION TO DETAIL/ CARELESSNESS FOR HOMEOWNER'S PROPERTY
- The contractor left our basement bedroom in a sheet of dust when he performed work on the floor after he was told that morning by me personally to not leave any dust in our bedroom. My wife and 8-year old son had to clean their mess.
- Contractor left dirt and debris from the days work in our master bedroom shower and did not clean it up. We returned home to find our shower floor covered with in dirt.
LOW QUALITY WORKMANSHIP/ INFERIOR WORK
- The drywall repair in our basement was horrible! It is uneven and will be torn out
- When the contractor finished our floor, the carpet tack strip was left exposed with nails protruding through. I found it before my kids were possibly injured!
- Contractor closed up a hole on our ceiling and missed areas less than an inch away after having me explicitly detail what needed to happen prior.
- Contractor drilled hole on our bath floor and left all the debris in the closed hole!
LACK OF COMMITMENT AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
- Our project, under this contractor lacked focus, attention and project management. We were never advised on anything. I was often left frustrated and with what appeared to be my second job.
- Contractor stated he would have a two-man crew working daily on our project. From what we witnessed, it appeared they never worked more than an hour at a time every day.
Through all the calamity, I am working with Home Advisor to resolve the issue and to have this contractor removed. He has refused to refund our $2600 we paid upfront and insists I hire him back to finish the job! He has left us scrambling to date to find another contractor to finish our job before our project deadline.
PLEASE AVOID THIS CONTRACTOR!!
I have also posted my videos of this contractors work on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/eofKtYfjwRk
http://youtu.be/4OBYVBFauvM
http://youtu.be/eofKtYfjwRk
http://youtu.be/w2oSt55Nez0
On February 16th 2015 I signed up for the PRO contractor lead service with Home Adviser via a sales rep. 2 hours later I informed the sales rep Mr. Joseph DeMarzio, that I will not need the service after all. I contacted the sales rep well before that 24 hour period before my debit card was to be charged. I was told that the approval process takes 24 hours. The sales rep lied to me. I was charged before the 24 hours even after I declined the service and informed the rep via email and voice mail. I also contacted the customer care specialist a Mr. Scott Seminoff on Feb 17th2015, still within the 24 hour window. So far I have yet to hear from either Mr. DeMarzio or Mr. Seminoff despite several attempts to reach them. I really should have done my research before I signed up. This company has more than 600 complaints with Better Business. Given their track record I doubt I’ll be able to resolve my issue with the company. I’ve file complaints with BBB and FTC. This company is a fraud and a scam. Stay away. They will also allow felons to use their service without doing a proper background check. The felons are approved almost instantly no matter the crime.
I was contacted by Mariela Lazo (online marketing consultant of home advisor) on Jul 17, 2014 to offer their services for leads matched to my business they had different plans for length of contract. I opted for 3 months at $80.99 plus the cost or each lead matched to my business. After a few weeks of signing up I discovered that what they offered was not delivered. I was sent leads that did not match my services and leads for clients I could not get a hold of therefore were useless and I was charged for them.
I immediately contacted Mrs. Lazo on Aug 8, 2014 to inform her of the situation and to request proper credit of their charges. This continue to go on for the following months. Once I realized that their services was not what they promised. I decided to request cancellation prior the end of the 3 months I signed up for. Again I contacted Mrs. Lazo on Sep 30, 2014 my exact words on this email were.
“I like to cancel my advertising with you at the end of the 3 months. I have not gotten any business and it is not working for me. I also like to request a refund for the last lead as there was nothing that could be done with the lead. This client was thinking about buying the house and was not even the home owner therefore not authorize for any repairs. The client wanted an estimate over the phone for us to figure out, if there was an existing sewer from the city or septic tank. This type of services are not listed on what we do. But if they were again there was nothing that could be done as this was not the home owner”
Home advisor continue charging me even when I had requested cancellation in a timely manner. On Oct 20, 2014 I once again contacted Mrs. Lazo with the following. “Please close my account I do not want to see charges on my bank account from you guys I will start disputing them because I have previously requested a cancellation. Please use this email as a 2nd request. Also send confirmation of cancellation. Thank you I appreciate your help.”
Mrs. Lazo replied that same day Oct 20, 2014 with “They should have cancelled, please contact 877-947-3639 ext. 7275. After this they continue to bill me and sent my account to collections for none payment. I don’t know how Home Advisor can get away with this. This practices should be illegal. I did my part to request cancellation in a timely manner. Home advisor failed to cancel my account, therefor I’m not liable for their mistakes of not closing my account when requested or for paying them a penny. I have documentation of everything stated. I saved all emails and have all records to prove I’m 100% right. I also did some research online and I’m not the only one complaining about the exact same problem. Home advisor continues to charge their clients even after a cancellation request. It is time for them to stop their malicious business practices. I hope this will help those planing on signing up with home advisor as a service provider. STAY AWAY!