Any opinions on "Rosie On the House"? (sales, landscaping)

[Voebe]

A few years ago, I stumbled across this on the radio, and I got really excited. Finally, I thought, a reliable resource for homeowners.

But when I got around to looking at their site, it was so narrow as to be useless. Their referrals were meager, and mostly only for widely known, very expensive companies. I'd been hoping for somebody to recommend small companies, individual workers, less expensive options. I figured that they were too paranoid about lawsuits to recommend anything other than a sure bet.

Are any of you fans?

[pbenjamin]

We've used the site for a few recommendations and have been pleased. If I need help in an area where I don't have any previous contacts, that's where I go.

[DougStark]

I've listened to the show a handful of times. Overall, I haven't been impressed by the show. I heard recommendations that are "iffy". In general, I THINK it's a show to garner customers to select contractors, but that's just my opinion.

If I need answers on homeowner issues, i search from multiple trusted sources.

[bgray9]

I enjoy listening to the show when I catch it occasionally while driving around. The one time I tried one of the referral companies on the website, we had an appointment with the company to get an estimate and they never showed up and didn't return several calls afterwards to try to reschedule. I e-mailed Rosie on the house regarding the non-responsiveness of the company, but this particular company remains on their recommended list. I've learned to do your due diligence on anyone, regardless of how highly they come recommended. We were burned by a landscaping company that had lots of good reviews but turned out to do very shoddy work, much of which we've subsequently had to have redone.

[ElleTea]

I find his voice annoying, so I don't listen to the show. The commercials with "hey there, Rosie here" talking about scorpions and "black widduhs" is bad enough. Ugh.

[Colt AZ]

One can only glean so much from radio shows like Rosie on the House, unless something actually pertains to your particular situation. I agree that mostly it's meant to showcase different contractors, good or bad.

Back before NPR became extremely nauseating, I would listen to Car Talk, with Click & Clack the Tappet Brothers, who presented excellent automotive information, complete with equally excellent humor! I always enjoyed their east coast accents! They were great.

[Sandduner]

Originally Posted by DougStark

I've listened to the show a handful of times. Overall, I haven't been impressed by the show. I heard recommendations that are "iffy". In general, I THINK it's a show to garner customers to select contractors, but that's just my opinion.

If I need answers on homeowner issues, i search from multiple trusted sources.

Good post...I agree

[Renegade007]

Angie's List is probably just as reliable and beneficial a resource.

[wit-nit]

Out of the dozen various contractors we used for various re-modeling work Rosie's was the highest bidder and had the pushiest salesman. He primarily talked about how special it would be to have a radio/tv personality's company doing our work. He also made false statements about what was required to do the job. I called the county permit dept and asked them about the requirements he stated, like having to have a certified 4 corner survey and a nuclear waste test, and they laughed and said that sounded like some kind of sales pitch.

[Voebe]

Thanks for the interesting replies.

I was less interested in the show itself than the idea - so I thought - of someone making recommendations.

Personally, I find Angie's List next to useless (partly because the ratings/reviews are so un-nuanced), and I've heard that there's some of the same corruption as with Yelp.