ratedpeople.com

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One thing to bear in mind is that people who use sites like that to find tradesmen will be after the cheapest job possible. I may be generalising but I reckon you would get more than your fair share of nightmare customers.

Boy you are right!

I use freeindex, which does the same for free.

Right bunch of bargain hunters though. The only job I have got of there, the customer have indeed turned into nightmares. I am thinking of removing my listing . . .

 

[Plum Bob 66]

They dont, but how does anybody know your a good plumber until you have completed the work, even if you come recomended. The general rule of thumb is once you have done the job and been paid the custard puts a recomendation on the site which others get to see, then they can make an informed descision as to who they use. In fairness I think your all getting a little hot under the collar over this company. There never going to make us rich, I have used them for a few fill in jobs thats it. All my regular work comes from referrals and local village mags...

 

[GQuigley67]

just seems like another expense i can do without at the moment though as I'm just starting up

 

[Resolute]

Has anyone tried yourworkman.co.Uk looks like a similar type of site but completely free - unsure how they make money though!

 

[Plum Bob 66]

Fair point, you got to do want you think is right!

just seems like another expense i can do without at the moment though as I'm just starting up

 

[cr0ft]

Boy you are right!

I use freeindex, which does the same for free.

Right bunch of bargain hunters though. The only job I have got of there, the customer have indeed turned into nightmares. I am thinking of removing my listing . . .

Ironically, Freeindex used to be great until they started introducing the get a quote service. Now, up to 5 tradesmen can come and quote for their project. So now it's just another site that promotes getting the job done as cheaply as possible. And people wonder why cowboy tradesmen are a problem!

I get the odd job off of it, but I don't bother responding to the quote request, just the ones where people phone me directly.

 

[GQuigley67]

ok another problem i have with this site is I cant get any heating jobs, because I dont have Part P !! apart from the fact Part P isnt relevant in Scotland I believe and I have a qualified Electrician to sign work off for me

 

[BigH]

Rated people is one big rip off, it is geared towards the customer putting the ball in their court. You have to pay for their contact details then THEY tell YOU how much they want to pay and you might not even get the job. Web sites like this encourage time wasters and penny pinchers and there is always a desperate plumber out there that is willing to undercut your price even without looking at the job, the only winners here is the website that charge you £48 per month and anywhere between £10-£70 per lead (customers phone number) which 2 other plumbers are also allowed to purchase, this encourages cut throat tacticts where plumbers are undercutting each other in desperation driving the prices down. More importantly the customer senses this and plays one against another putting the ball in their court. I do not recommend this to anyone a very frustrating way to try and get work and the majority of the time ending up costing you money. Avoid at all costs for the sake of your dignity and the future of plumbing.

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

used them few times but price for leads with no guarantee of getting job is too high. well we live in world full of scammers

 

[jtsplumbing]

See that PlumBob as done OK, but is this due to him being in country area ? say's he gets a lot from village mags ! so maybe not to meny plumbers in his area , but what about city /large towns where there is a lot more guys chaseing the work will it be the same for them ??

 

[Guest123]

I started using Rated People as they hassled me to take a free 3 month trial and I was sceptical of it like everyone else. I have changed my mind and I consider it to be very good, if you chase the right leads. I use it as a filler in for those days when I'm held up on a bathroom and I've done ok out of it. Contrary to the post above, it's not £10 plus for every lead. In fact most of the leads I've bought have cost me only £3.50 and given me job worth £100 plus, jobs which I'd never have heard about without Rated People. On every job I've done I've also scored more work including 2 bathrooms and this is being done outwith Rated People.
It's true that up to 3 plumbers can buy each lead, but using the traditional method of a customer phoning round for quotes, you can end up facing a hell of a lot more than 3 competitors bidding for the job, plus you've got your initial cost of advertising and then preparing and mailing a quote. You've got better odds of getting the job with Rated People against 3 others than up against a dozen (it does happen) from a customer phoning round trying to get quotes.

Rated People encourages you to sell yourself and your business, and show why you're better than the other 2. If you can't do this even outwith Rated People, you shouldn't be self employed and you'll bomb. It's also not true that you'll get a job based on price alone for this reason.

Customers I've worked for through Rated People are not penny pinching, get it done cheap types. Quite the opposite in fact. Most are just looking for excellent quality standard of work and friendly and professional customer service. If you don't provide this, then you won't get decent ratings and the amount of work that you get will suffer.

Rated People and the likes are here to stay and they have their uses in todays market. I reckon Rated People to be the only one worth bothering about and they are about to launch (yet another) multi million pound TV ad campaign.

It's not to everyone's liking, but you have to adapt to suit these trying times and it's worked well enough for me.

 

[barronbathrooms]

Used rated people for a year when things are quiet. Have had 3 jobs in this time out of £390 I have laid out. Most people go with the cheapest quote! They have no idea what a quality job is and then leave fantastic ratings for poor workmanship. I paid £48 for a complete bathroom renovation called the customer and they wanted a price over the phone! Told her I couldn't do give a price without seeing job! Phoned rated people to claim my money back and they told me because I had the chance to quote they would not refund me! Needless to say I had a good rant and canceled my subscription! Not worth the money unless you are prepared to work for less than £100 per day. I quoted £300 for a combi swap and power flush was told I was too expensive? They are taking advantage of how quiet and competitive the industry is at the moment. Customers getting poor quality installs for buttons! Good tradesmen losing money! Rated people making thousands! Rant over

 

[Guest123]

Used rated people for a year when things are quiet. Have had 3 jobs in this time out of £390 I have laid out. Most people go with the cheapest quote!

Why on Earth did you spend £390 for 3 jobs? Did you not see that you weren't getting anywhere with this. No way I'd chuck away £390 for such little return.

And people I've worked for DON'T always go for the cheapest quote. Lots of them have had experience of using other tradesmen too, so don't know where you get your comment about fantastic ratings for poor workmanship. I for one take a great deal of pride in my work and put a hell of a lot of effort into both customer service and customer satisfaction. That's the ONLY reason I've got such a high rating with Rated People.

If it didn't work for you, then you should have pulled out earlier. It has worked for a great many others, myself included even though I don't need to rely on it to make a living.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Well done system3 you must be their top sales man, or the only plumber for miles around a write up like this ,you should get some free leads from Rated People. lol

 

[barronbathrooms]

Wasn't having a go at you system 3 but that is my honest opinion of my dealings with this company in my area (merseyside) at £40 per quarter and an average of £40 per job! over 12 months its easy to spend that sort of money!

 

[barronbathrooms]

I did not say what my return on the money I spent was! It is a disgrace that a company can charge £40 just to get there number. Each to there own ill stick to my recommendation work me thinks

 

[Guest123]

My advice for those thinking of trying it is to avoid the bigger priced leads e.g £40 plus as these are a lottery. Stick to the £3.50 ones which will give you jobs worth £100 is fine for smaller jobs. Like I said I don't use it as my main source of income, only as a secondary income when I'm held up on bathrooms, but it works for me. Like most, I was sceptical, but I've learned how to play the game on there now. Just don't try to use it as your main source of income!

There are far worse ways of throwing your money away, Yellow Pages being a good example.

 

[gravytrain]

don't do it !!!. i used them for a while. in the end it costs you loads, chasing leads that turn into nothing.
i did get work from it but really if you were going to chase 10 leads at say £20 you'd be much better off
spending that £200 on another form of advertising.

i had probably 20% good customers/leads and 80% bad.

just spend the money somewhere else, local paper, leaflets, boost your yell.com listing
any of these would do better in my experience.

the only reason they are hassling aggressively is that they are probably deparate for work the same as everyone else
which isnt a good sign.

 

[PlumbersMate]

System is right, no good spending £38 on a lead for a bathroom, the leads price are set on how much customer sets their budget at for their job. Have seen some set their budget at £4000 for a taps change n such like. I think if u go for the cheap leads and smaller jobs there is money to be made


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I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?kva4yk

 

[hammers4spanner]

Why would anyone pay £30 odd quid for a job you may get???
i can see the logic of spending£3.50 for day fillers just to help bring few pounds in and promote your business. I tried boiler guide which at £15 a lead thought was more than expensive but gave it a whirl and to be honest boiler guides leads imho are false.
Problem being these companies are going nowhere and are here to stay ,if anything rated people are getting bigger as now here them on radio and t.v .

 

[Yorkplumber]

Rated people used to be good. After 2 years and £40 quarterly payments. I had a string of leads where the client would not answer the phone. I went round to there house and there was nobody there. Complained to rated people asking for a refund but was told refunds are not given and that they would give me a free lead. It happened a number of times. I don't think clients realise that we have to pay for there info. When I first joined it was £5 per lead. Then it went up to £10 then £15. They are money grabbers. Don't use them mate. Like was mentioned before go with a good local magazine.

 

[Steve_P]

With these types of scams, sorry, companies, you get rated not for any ability in what you do but how polite you are when you're there. Rated by the customer and they know what exactly about your job? Do they check out your qualifications? Do they know if you can actually do the work? Or could you be bert from down the pub who just says "yeah, I can do that mate"!!!!! Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole.

 

[Leo21]

I'm a bit shocked to be honest or naive, I had no idea it was just another conning company. To be honest cold calls rarely get passed there first sentence with me, so I've never actually been offered it.

 

[Steve_P]

It's only my opinion but the way I look at it is . . .

There's a company who sell you a lead but it's not just you that is being sold this lead, possibly another 30 people at the same time. There's 100's of jobs across all the trades and they do the same with each one. Now, they aren't doing this for the love of the building trade, that's obvious. How else could they afford a multi million pound TV advertising campaign and sponsorship of prime time TV programmes?


Agencies that work on a %age I find more bearable as they put you up for the job rather than selling you the hope of bidding for it alongside lots of other people.


Again, just my opinion.

 

[petfenn]

there are a lot of these sites about service magic,find a tradesman ect all follow the same rule you pay for a lead which is sold to 5-10 others and hope your quote is the best,i used service magic for 3 months and only broke even ,luckly i was only trying them out for a bit of extra work so no harm done,i was supprised at some of the cp12 quotes £18 was the lowest.