Rated Tradesmen
- Thread starter FredFlintstone
- Start date
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once the free period is over they'll ask if you want to renew, don't bother and they'll get another free credit thing, and be put you on a pay as you go type tariff, no quaterly bill, but it costs a fortune to get the details of the lead. I ended up with two free credit things, each time i quoted, i was told by the customer that the job had already been done, and i was too late - good job they were free! When i emailed them to say the job was done and would i get the refund on the credit (and money if i decided to pay for leads, i go an auto email reply, then a call within the hour from a lady who lived far far away, and had to repeat everything three times before i understood her (i also repeated everything so she could understand)
The biggest thing that annoyed me was i never thought of it myself first - cos who ever did, certainly doesn't own an alarm clock
The biggest thing that annoyed me was i never thought of it myself first - cos who ever did, certainly doesn't own an alarm clock
I thought I'd try this lot and I'm not really impressed.
a. They did not check me out at all
b. The customers often allow a stupidly small budget
c. The customers rarely state whether they expect you to supply materials within the budget, or they will supply.
I think I'll stick with recommendation and local advertising!!
a. They did not check me out at all
b. The customers often allow a stupidly small budget
c. The customers rarely state whether they expect you to supply materials within the budget, or they will supply.
I think I'll stick with recommendation and local advertising!!
Hope you told her where to get off. tony
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registered ages ago, 3 referals free, the first one i didnt go and see, the second had not even bought the house yet, and the third had already got someone so i would of been fuming if it had cost. Some jobs cost as much as £30 just to go and quote for
Mate, I joined ProblemSolved a couple of months ago and have had loads of good leads from them. It's about 20 quid a month and they don't charge for anything else. Worth a look if you're having problems with other sites...
Cheers
Bob
Cheers
Bob
- Joined
- 14 Mar 2005
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Ufindus..Iomart..something street..
Read about them here...
http://www.blagger.com/scripts/db2.php?companyname=iomart§or=&location=&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
The rolled me a few years ago..took me 4 months to get my money back...theres even an iomart victim support group
ufindus, customer street all a con. if you have to pay to get work somethings wrong.
Thier customer service is rubbish as well. They only answer your mails if you threaten to cancell.
I've informed them several times that I decline to quote on 98% of the leads, due to the customer allowing a stupidly small budget. I told them they need to give the users better guidence on the budgets they allow, but they ignore your e-mails and don't do jack.
Mine is about to expire and I won't be renewing. There is no point in getting the contact details and going to see them to quote if thier "budget" is less then half of what your quote is likely to be. The site needs to kick people into touch about labour charges and how long jobs can take.
The site is of no more use to the customer than us, if they place unrealistic budgets, because no one is going to quote them.
I've informed them several times that I decline to quote on 98% of the leads, due to the customer allowing a stupidly small budget. I told them they need to give the users better guidence on the budgets they allow, but they ignore your e-mails and don't do jack.
Mine is about to expire and I won't be renewing. There is no point in getting the contact details and going to see them to quote if thier "budget" is less then half of what your quote is likely to be. The site needs to kick people into touch about labour charges and how long jobs can take.
The site is of no more use to the customer than us, if they place unrealistic budgets, because no one is going to quote them.
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I dont see it as paying to get work..I think a website or webshyte in Iomarts case is just a brouchere of your work..bit of an advert in a way but like mobile phones, fax machines and internet access its starting to become the norm
http://www.blagger.com/scripts/db4.php?company_id=1809&companyname=Iomart Internet Services
Heres a good link..Iomart even used to get their staff to write in to this site im sure..theres about 5 different iomart sections..they even have a support gruop for victims of this crock of ****.
If anyone wants to totally waste 350 quid send it to me instead.
I tend to agree with an earlier poster, and would stay away from all sites & services which 'promise' you leads.
Most of my clients are aged 50+ and very few use the internet, so any web based service would be pretty much useless for me.
About 95 % of my work comes from recommendation, the other 5 % coming from advertising in the form of flyers (A5) given to people [not just put through a letter box] and a few colour flyers up in local shops. Also, the shops they're in also have a supply of flyers and are all customers anyway, so anyone interested gets a recommendation as well.
Flyers are cheap enough - I get them made up by a printer on eBay ~ less than £20 / 1000. Always carry some in my car
What I do do -which helps to build up a good reputation and helps a lot with getting active recommendations, is to give a discount as in :
Existing customer A gives their friend B a glowing recommendation about me. Customer B contacts me, mentions customer A and I get work. Next time I do work for Customer A they get a discount. I usually discount 4 hours labour and up to £10 materials, which equates to about £ 75 ....which is less than I'd pay for one insertion in the local rag.
Customer A very chuffed - build a stronger relationship, tells Customer B who then actively recommends me to others .....
Yes - £ 75 is a lot of money in some ways, but £ 75 is an insignificant cost to get a good, regular customer. It works for me anyway. Building a steady regular income from very good payers who don't give me any hassle whilst acting as my part-time sales people.
Most of my clients are aged 50+ and very few use the internet, so any web based service would be pretty much useless for me.
About 95 % of my work comes from recommendation, the other 5 % coming from advertising in the form of flyers (A5) given to people [not just put through a letter box] and a few colour flyers up in local shops. Also, the shops they're in also have a supply of flyers and are all customers anyway, so anyone interested gets a recommendation as well.
Flyers are cheap enough - I get them made up by a printer on eBay ~ less than £20 / 1000. Always carry some in my car
What I do do -which helps to build up a good reputation and helps a lot with getting active recommendations, is to give a discount as in :
Existing customer A gives their friend B a glowing recommendation about me. Customer B contacts me, mentions customer A and I get work. Next time I do work for Customer A they get a discount. I usually discount 4 hours labour and up to £10 materials, which equates to about £ 75 ....which is less than I'd pay for one insertion in the local rag.
Customer A very chuffed - build a stronger relationship, tells Customer B who then actively recommends me to others .....
Yes - £ 75 is a lot of money in some ways, but £ 75 is an insignificant cost to get a good, regular customer. It works for me anyway. Building a steady regular income from very good payers who don't give me any hassle whilst acting as my part-time sales people.
I'm member of Vetted Tradesmen http://www.vettedtradesmen.org.uk.
Costs me 200 quid a year and i get job leads for £10 each. They collect money in for me if its overdue for free as well and i thought that was really handy. Save me doin it on the weekend.[/url]
Costs me 200 quid a year and i get job leads for £10 each. They collect money in for me if its overdue for free as well and i thought that was really handy. Save me doin it on the weekend.[/url]
i'm sure i'll get plenty of criticism for this post especially as its my first but i found this topic by accident so thought maybe i can get some advice. i'd also like to point out that i'm posting not as a way of advertising as its a local service so wouldn't benefit me anyway.
I recently set up a similar service to that of rated tradesmen, so recently that the advertising hasn't even started yet. Unlike 99% of similar sites on the net we work locally and won't take any work from out of the area, the same goes for the guys registered with us.
The reason i set this up was due to being asked quite often if i knew a good builder, plumber etc. Yes i know tradesmen, many of them are my friends but of all of them there is only one who is a painter and decorator who i'd recommend.
I'll keep this short but i have met with local tradesmen, met their previous customers and will only pass work onto those that have got good feedback. I don't charge to join, don't charge to post jobs. All we get is a percentage of the price paid to the tradesmen for a job done. This might not work out but from my the point of view of the tradesmen its only cost them money if they get a job and they make money from the job anyway. Customer gets to use someone who's been recommended, we've taken pictures of their previous work and comments from customers so future customers can view them and know they are genuine.
Sure your bored by now so i'll leave it at that. Constructive critisism would be appreciated and i've no problems asking any questions. I won't link to the site unless asked as i don't want anyone to think i'm just using this as spam for my site.
I recently set up a similar service to that of rated tradesmen, so recently that the advertising hasn't even started yet. Unlike 99% of similar sites on the net we work locally and won't take any work from out of the area, the same goes for the guys registered with us.
The reason i set this up was due to being asked quite often if i knew a good builder, plumber etc. Yes i know tradesmen, many of them are my friends but of all of them there is only one who is a painter and decorator who i'd recommend.
I'll keep this short but i have met with local tradesmen, met their previous customers and will only pass work onto those that have got good feedback. I don't charge to join, don't charge to post jobs. All we get is a percentage of the price paid to the tradesmen for a job done. This might not work out but from my the point of view of the tradesmen its only cost them money if they get a job and they make money from the job anyway. Customer gets to use someone who's been recommended, we've taken pictures of their previous work and comments from customers so future customers can view them and know they are genuine.
Sure your bored by now so i'll leave it at that. Constructive critisism would be appreciated and i've no problems asking any questions. I won't link to the site unless asked as i don't want anyone to think i'm just using this as spam for my site.
Your plan sounds like a local network for trades persons. good idea and I would just create a simple local website for it. Forget about attracting other trades from other localities - they are bored and many have burned their fingers on big promises, high fees and low returns from "rated traders sites"
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