Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 02-03-2010, 03:38 PM
 
245 posts, read 652,863 times
Reputation: 204

Advertisements

anyone know if it's worth it? I see mixed reviews of it, but only found one review specific to Atlanta, and it was 2 yrs old. Are the reviews easily manipulated by contractors or anything like that? I'm also checking the BBB and a few other site, but I'm looking for other fairly reliable gauges & am wondering if this is worth a bother.


thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 02-03-2010, 04:09 PM
 
13,981 posts, read 25,958,820 times
Reputation: 39926
I looked into it, but didn't see the point of paying for the info when these two sources are available in our area, for free:

Home Reports.com
Home Services Review - Consumer Guidebook

I have used a couple of referrals from these sites, and been happy with the results.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-04-2010, 06:52 AM
 
Location: Johns Creek, GA
17,475 posts, read 66,064,806 times
Reputation: 23626
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattie View Post
I looked into it, but didn't see the point of paying for the info when these two sources are available in our area, for free:

Home Reports.com
Home Services Review - Consumer Guidebook

I have used a couple of referrals from these sites, and been happy with the results.
Somebody always pays!
Angie's; it's the consumer. Home Reports; it's the businesses listed in the book.
Who's scamming who?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-04-2010, 10:56 AM
 
Location: Atlanta/Decatur/Emory area
1,320 posts, read 4,275,471 times
Reputation: 501
I use AngiesList and like it. When I don't have a vendor who I can personally recommend to a client, I research them on AngiesList and send recommendations based on consumer reviews. I believe that AngiesList has higher quality (higher integrity) information than Kudzu (for example). Can businesses still game the system? Probably. But even personal referrals based on past work are not really a guarantee of high quality service, so we all just do the best we can with the information available to us.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-12-2010, 08:59 AM
 
Location: Oregon
1,457 posts, read 6,032,024 times
Reputation: 1419
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdatl View Post
anyone know if it's worth it? I see mixed reviews of it, but only found one review specific to Atlanta, and it was 2 yrs old. Are the reviews easily manipulated by contractors or anything like that? I'm also checking the BBB and a few other site, but I'm looking for other fairly reliable gauges & am wondering if this is worth a bother.


thanks
Here is food for thought ...

Two users of Angie's List, each put a report in for the same company. One person met the company owner, hired them, and was very satisfied. They gave an "A" report.

The other Angie's List user merely emailed the company, never talked to them or had any work done. They gave the company an "F" report.

Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-12-2010, 12:44 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
1,123 posts, read 6,538,546 times
Reputation: 569
I use Kudzu and have found it really helpful. It's simply too hard to ask tons of people who they recommend and not everyone has the same critical eye for quality work. I tend to go through Kudzu and look at the guys with tons of great reviews, then go to their sites and do some other internet searches on them. Then I get my 3 guys for estimates and will choose based on my interaction with the sales person/contractor and play dumb on certain things and see if they try to take advantage or sell me a crock of bull.

In other words, I wouldn't pick my contractor based solely on their reviews, but it's a good mechanism for whittling down the MASSIVE pool of candidates for who will come give an estimate.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-12-2010, 12:51 PM
 
13,981 posts, read 25,958,820 times
Reputation: 39926
I can't vouch for this, but I did bookmark it when I came across it.

Contractors Alternate Network (http://www.contractorsan.com/about.php - broken link)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-12-2010, 07:48 PM
 
9,470 posts, read 9,374,960 times
Reputation: 8178
Default Angie's List Award

Quote:
Originally Posted by tdatl View Post
anyone know if it's worth it? I see mixed reviews of it, but only found one review specific to Atlanta, and it was 2 yrs old. Are the reviews easily manipulated by contractors or anything like that? I'm also checking the BBB and a few other site, but I'm looking for other fairly reliable gauges & am wondering if this is worth a bother.


thanks
The painters I recently used for the exterior of my home showed me their award from Angie's List. However, they dripped white paint on my new black roof and although they did a very good job on the siding and overhangs, they didn't do a good job on the windows. I had to watch them like a hawk to get the job I wanted. The person in charge NEVER stopped by to see how they were doing or if we were happy. They had a big binder of referrals, but the writing and grammar seemed to be the same on many of them--looked like they wrote some of the referrals themselves!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-19-2010, 04:47 PM
 
Location: Oregon
1,457 posts, read 6,032,024 times
Reputation: 1419
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdvaden View Post
Here is food for thought ...

Two users of Angie's List, each put a report in for the same company. One person met the company owner, hired them, and was very satisfied. They gave an "A" report.

The other Angie's List user merely emailed the company, never talked to them or had any work done. They gave the company an "F" report.

Figured that I could update my posting. FYI, the "same company" happened to be my company.

A few days ago, another review came in to Angie's List for M. D. Vaden of Oregon, and that 3rd report was also an "A" in every category. From an actual customer too.

Both actual customers not only have all "A"s, but also added that they got more than their money's worth.

Contrast that to the negative report I mentioned from a non-customer who had merely emailed. I sent a note to Angie's List that they may want to compare these reports to weigh the efficiency of their rating system.

Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Georgia > Atlanta
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 01:05 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top