Rated People any good?

[paul5000cat]

Hi , I am a Gas engineer/ Plumber and I use to have a tradesman account with Rated People for last 2 years. I used to pay £40 per 3 months + price for each lead. Last one year I did not buy any leads from them because I have enough job to do but continued to pay them £40 for 3 months.
Just now before Xmas'2013 I paid £51.20 for a lead 'Combi Boiler Replacement '. They sent me contact details of the client. I contact the client and ask him for available day and time to visit the property, check the system and be able to give him a quote. Client said that access is not possible at first . On second call he told me that job is not more available his council is going to do the job. I call back Rated People and ask my £51.20 for this lead to be given back as a credit. They told me that the amount can not be given back and they changed their policy since 11.12.2013 and there is not any more 'refund policy'. I can not describe my rage. I closed my account with them. They do not do any thing just sell contact details of the client to 3 tradesman and finish. No one care for the client and the tradesman. Clients does not lose anything but we as a tradesman losing money.

 

[ham1606]

Rated people charge the Tradesman i.e. me £30 to 'introduce' me to a customer. The introduction being a name, telephone number and email address. When the customer doesn't respond to my call or email I am £30 out of pocket. Rated People do not refund this to me. They are an absolute CON and should be Shut Down. I have written to watchdog and my local Trading Standards. How do I know whether the 'customer' actually exists??

 

[ham1606]

Rated people charge the Tradesman i.e. me £30 to 'introduce' me to a customer. The introduction being a name, telephone number and email address. When the customer doesn't respond to my call or email I am £30 out of pocket. Rated People do not refund this to me. They are an absolute CON and should be Shut Down. I have written to watchdog and my local Trading Standards. How do I know whether the 'customer' actually exists??

 

[transam]

IMHO it is a scam , customers going on there looking for tradesman are

probably cheap skates , after some thing for nothing & who would want to work for them , bunch of dead beats in my op, out to rip some one off

and the bloke or blokes who are running this scam are IMHO a bunch of ladies willies

all I have to say really

 

[GavThePlumber]

If you use these services in any way, you are admitting you are a retarded.

That is all i have to say

 

[Simon321456]

I'm sure there are loads of reputable tradesmen on there, but as others have said, they aren't vetted

I chose a tradesman who had very good reviews, he quoted the best price and could do it quickly

I'm now attempting to get him back to fix the absolute mess that he made of the job

There is absolutely no way on earth that the person that did my job received the reviews on that website. He is simply not skilled enough. I could have done a comparable job

I suspect the lad that turned up was the assistant to the roofer that received the good reviews, but I have no way of getting in touch with anyone bar the lad himself. Which is proving fruitless

RatedPeople say "Once contact is made, our involvement ends" or words to that effect

 

[Simon321456]

If you use these services in any way, you are admitting you are a retarded.

That is all i have to say

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/irony

 

[frenchconnxtionsltd]

i don't think its fair to totally abuse the trades men on rated people, some of us take pride in our work. and we don't get credits for waste of time leads. yes rated people hold all the cards people can advertise there job twice and rated people get twice there money. i don't think they care about the trades men of clients posting leads its all about making money.
if your a new business what can you do but stick with them..

 

[transam]

Tis not the tradesman that are being slated , its the leeching pencil pushers & paper shufflers who run / or own the site (may be ?)

imho


customers?? using said site are probably dead beats & no hopers & as tight as 2 coats of paint

 

[HonestTrader]

If you are a trader do not under any circumstances join Rated People. I stopped using them in 2012 and I eventually cancelled my account because of suspicions about them. Unfortunately they kept the account going and a year later they have taken a years membership fee out of my account (£144). I have phoned them explaining this and they said they would refund the money. They haven't though. The person on the phone sounded Mickey Mouse, sounded like he was recruited off the local estate and was just having a laugh, and I had a feeling that this company Rated People is a cowboy company.
Do not give them your bank details, they are not to be trusted. If they cant be trusted with your account details then they can be trusted with nothing!
Besides that I strongly suspect that some of the leads are fake designed to lure the tradesman into paying more of their high lead fees than they need to.
I have had no problems with Mybuilder, use them if you want to use these kind of things. But stay away from this nasty company Rated People, they are just parasites that will eventually die when their host (hard working trades) realizes what they are.
It really is dumb to be so short sighted and just look for the quick con buck; but there is lots of companies like this in the UK.

 

[WalksWithTurkeys]

I had so many problems with trades from CheckATrade (including a totally bodged bathroom refit) that I avoid any recommendation site where the trades pay to have a presence. Independent sites such as ReviewCentre are more reliable but not without issues.

 

[gettingmyownback]

STAY AWAY!!!! I used this once and after turning down one of the tradesmen got a mouthful of abuse and a text message telling me that "tradesmen have to pay for leads", true but apparently they get a credit if they don't get the job, I owed him "£5.75 to pay for his lead", which he got a credit for anyway. And that he didn't "like the p*ss taking" He then told me he knew my name and address..... nice threat!!!! I reported him to Rated People and they "apologised". They do not vet these tradesman, in fact, this particular one had been forced into liquidation twice before and simply created a new company and carried on trading. As i said STAY AWAY. Word of mouth is the only way to get a decent tradesman.

 

[gettingmyownback]

Rated People do not vet tradesmen and so if you are unlucky, like me, you can get a complete rogue like the bankrupt fool who stole £2500 from me. Small claims court action required against a lying cheat. Rated Peoples reviews would have you believe he is an absolute angel!!! When I told them they did, oh yeah, nothing much!!!
So if you are looking for someone to take your money without providing any goods or services, in my opinion look no further than Crosby Building Services (Mr Lee Ellis Jones)

 

[Dan Robinson]

So where's your bad review?

http://www.ratedpeople.com/profile/crosby-building-services/ratings

 

[gettingmyownback]

So where's your bad review?

http://www.ratedpeople.com/profile/crosby-building-services/ratings

Wouldn't let me put it up.