Angi (formerly Angie's List)

In one line: Don't take the "BIG DEAL" unless you know the following:
The big deal works like this: you get an email from Angie's List with a discounted service (tree trimming, carpet cleaning,. Etc). If you like the offer, you sign up for the coupon and the price (discounted) is paid for with your credit card (on file as you have to renew their membership periodically).
Most coupons have a 90-120 window for use. What Angi (formerly Angie's List) don't tell you is there is a 30 day window to get your money back from Angie's if you change your mind about the service (buried in the fine print on the website). After that, any money for coupons not acted upon (apparently) are sent to the business. So for a coupon at with 100 people taking an offer, 50 actually got the service (good), 30 people decided on a refund in 30 days (good), and the rest (20) lost their money as this was residual paid to the business. In short, free money for the business. No where on the coupon does it spell out these details and the user is left thinking that he or she has the full 90-120 days to either redeem the coupon or get the refund.
The "BIG DEAL" works best if it's a coupon with a single price for a service, say $100 vs $200 for duct cleaning. It's worst for a $200 savings for a service. In my case I finally got the estimate for the service (within the 4 month window) but found it way too high and I've been trying to get my money back ever since.

The pro never showed up and it's over an hour late. I moved all the furniture in order to get ready, and this is the second time for a no show when I did a lot of work in advance. My time is worth something also. I want a full refund of my membership fee, and I want proof that the membership has been completely cancelled, and that my job fee has been completely refunded immediately.
In addition, I could not download your app (I have an iPhone 6) and was unable to do anything on my laptop. So, if you require downloading of your app, that should be made clear to new members. That is the second "bait and switch" I was given.
I consider this to be false advertising under the law. This is not acceptable, and I will be posting very negative reviews wherever I can, and informing people that your website is unsupportable without a newer phone. I will also be contacting an attorney to discuss a claim against you for same. Please send this email to your legal department.
This has been a very egregious process - I have lost time, and had to do prep work on my own, and the "pro" didn't have the decency to at least call or message me. If that is who you are hiring, then you will flop. This can't be done to people -- all that money you have spent advertising should have been spent clearing and interviewing your potential "pros." I guess it's a flip of the coin - you lost this time, and I'll make sure everyone I know and have any contact with knows you are a scam.

I started using the Angie's List website almost since it started, some 20years ago. I liked the idea that consumers give ratings and the workers know that there will be feedback on their services. So, when I needed some handyman work done, I signed up for a year membership and scheduled service. The first problem I had, was I was given only a person's name and rating. Wasn't able to check his ratings. So I emailed the support services---never got an answer. Then 2 hrs. Before the appt. Got a text saying that due to a call out problem (?) I had been re-scheduled for the following Saturday. Wasn't given a choice for re-booking. I called customer service, and all I got was some scripted message about the different plans. As far as the no show, Angi (formerly Angie's List) said sometimes they can't find enough workers to fill the spots. Huh? I had a CONFIRMED appt, and even spoke to the person the previous weekend, who said, "See you on Tues." Normally, when you complain about a company's service, your concerns will be fowarded to someone who will look into your complaints and follow-up. Not now. Your complaints are handled by someone at a call center. When they asked if I was satisfied with the support call, I said "No" and wanted to cancel my subscription. Again, nothing but "we'll give you a credit of $10 on your next service." Well, needless to say, I cancelled my subscription. If you are smart, you will stay far away from this "new" company. They are only in it to make lots of money on useless plans. Very disappointed that the original Angie, who was all about making customers happy, has sold out to a big national corporation.

On Jan 3rd, 2022, I signed a proposal with Angi.com to have work done in my son's room and remodel his handicap accessible bathroom, which included replacing the shower that was found to be leaking water into my son's wall and floor. I went to Angi.com looking for a licensed contractor. What I also found there was an offer that if I booked through Angi.com and paid through Angi.com I would get a Dedicated Project Advisor: "Angi is here to help make caring for your home a positive, easy experience. We'll connect you with qualified and screened service professionals for home projects big and small. And, when you book and pay with us, we'll not only back their work to ensure the job's done right, but we'll also offer damage protection — up to $10,000 for pre-priced services under the Fixed Price Terms, and $50,000 for all other qualifying services." and a Happiness Guarantee: When you book and pay with Angi, we'll cover your project up to the full purchase price, plus limited damage protection. If you're not satisfied with your home project or service, we'll work to make it right."
My Project Advisor, Matt Zahlmann *******463, told me he had a great licensed contractor that he would like to send to my home and give us a proposal. That person turned out to be Chris Hernandez and when he came to our home while I was at work, he gave my wife a business card with License number 1029414. My wife told him we wanted to replace the shower with an insert one. Matt gave me the proposal on Jan 3rd but the shower would be tile and not an insert, Matt told me that Chris would do the work himself and it would look great. I signed the proposal of $16347. 00 and was told I had to pay half up front before Angi (formerly Angie's List) start work, so I paid through Angi.com $8161. 00
Chris started the work on Jan 10th, 2022, and he brought two workers with him to do the demo. They sealed off the hallway that leads to the bathroom and my son's room and used the backdoor in my son's room to gain entrance and Chris then left.
Unfortunately for me, because I was having the work done through Angi.com I thought everything was being taken care of with permits and getting a shower that would pass inspection. On Jan 20th we got a knock on our front door and was told everything was done and they left. I inspected the bathroom and I can see all kinds of mistakes were made. I contacted Matt through text and sent him pictures. Matt text me this: "I just spoke to Chris and I know he has one of his workers coming by today to fix everything that still needs to be fixed. If you'd like for Chris to come by, I'm sure he will as soon as he has a chance to. I have no control over how busy he is. I also told him to give you a call." My text to him back was:" No we done Matt. If he was too busy he should have not taken the job. I will not pay until the bathroom can past inspection." And then I text him again on the Jan 25th, 2022 and said:" I am not happy about how we got here. You would think if someone just spent 20k you would Check your workers work and sign off on it before telling your clients it's done and what happen to the inspection? City of Fairfield requires inspection on shower replacements." And Matt text back this:" There were no structural changes made to the shower, so the only thing that an inspector would come out to check would be the plumbing, and the plumbing only. Both permits and inspections are on the homeowner, being that the project wasn't permitted, if an inspector comes out to take a look at the plumbing, he is going to want the bathroom demoed to see what was done. You are more than welcome to have an inspector come out, I am just letting you know what the process of that would entail" I text him back that was not true with a link to prove it. Matt then text back this: "James, I am on your side here. I know you didn't have the best experience, so I went ahead and talked to management and Chris for you, and we would like to offer you $500 price concession. I can assure you that this was done properly. I have worked with Chris before on multiple projects, and so have some of my colleagues. I knew the situation that you were in when I got in touch with you. I knew Chris and his company would be the perfect people to do this for you. I have not had a single issue with any of the projects that he has been on, and neither has anybody else. I do not work with bad contractors. You should really see some of the disasters that people come to me with and the horror stories they've been through with contractors. You are not going to have any issues with this shower"
I then ask Matt to please send me a detailed invoice of all work done with Chris's full name and License number. When I got that information, I looked at up the Contractor's License number and found that it did not even belong to Chris, but to an OSCAR VEGA-MORALES, sole owner with no employees. I sent that info to Matt and his manger Max Sloven. I got an email from Max stating "Hi James - We have received your communication and are working through a proper resolution. Please bare with us while we work to find a resolution."
Yesterday, Jan 28th, I got an email from Matt that said this: "Hi James,

I wanted to take the opportunity to address your concerns that you presented to me. Your first concern involves the need for a permit. I reached out to the City of Fairfield Building Department regarding your scope of work, and they confirmed that a permit was not needed. That being said, if you would like to have an inspector come out, this is something you can schedule on your own.

The contractor who was hired to do your project, is a professional and has fully completed your scope. Additionally, when you pointed out an area of concern, he willingly came back to amend and resolve the area in question. The contractor needs to be compensated for the work that has been completed. If after the inspector comes and finds an issue with the work, we ask that you file a happiness guarantee claim.

Your final payment in the amount of $8,916 is due. We ask that you pay your balance before it becomes overdue. If payment is not received, we will resort to any means necessary to collect the payment which includes but not limited to, sending you to a collection agency, legal letter or placing a lien on your home.

We would prefer to not resort to these extreme measures, but the scope of work has been sufficiently completed and payment is due. If you have any questions, please let me know.

I want a bathroom that is done by a Licensed Contractor that can pass inspection.

Beware! Angie's list is a complete scam. I know Angi (formerly Angie's List) advertise on television this is where I was intrigued by their television commercials. I have tried to have contractors come out to rental property's that I own that are angie's list pros and these contractors ARE NOT LICENSED AND I CAN'T VERIFY THEIR LICENSE WITH THE STATE LICENSING BOARD. Also, the contractors Angies List they have listed on Angie's List on their website, most of these licensed contractors that I called personally said that they DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO ANGIES LIST. Angie's List is a complete scam. I know they advertise on television this is where I was intrigued by their television commercials. I Put in a request to have different pros from plumbing to general construction remodel and I've also used them as a pro contractor. Angie's list is not what it says it is. Their pros in most cases are not licensed. They don't verify background checks on their members (Contractors) I have been told by many of Angie's List Consumers and contractors that some of Angie's List employees are sex offenders. It is a big rip off and a scam. They don't check licenses for professional contractors. Which most people should be concerned of hiring a licensed contractor. If you don't know if they're licensed you can go on the state website in your local area and verify any person or business that is licensed and active. There are other sources for leads that are a million times better than Angie's list. As a contractor, I tried them out and I did not get one single lead and it cost me over $3000. Don't use Angie's list just because they're on television doesn't mean they are a legitimate company. They may be registered as a company in Indianapolis Indiana. However, they are not a good source for leads. There are again, much better companies that charge you a lot less money and will provide you with leads to keep you busy.

L. Romero, Licensed Contractor
New Mexico

When I joined there was nothing in the sign up text to indicate that I would be limited to searching in one geographic region of the country. In fact, for the 1st three months that I had my account I searched in several different states / areas with no problem. Then suddenly one day when I logged in AL decided that my region was in NoVa and I was asked for more money to search anywhere else.

How did AL decide that my "home" is in NoVa? What cities are included in the area I'm allowed to search? None of this information was provided.

When I called AL for an explanation Angi (formerly Angie's List) said that I was supposed to be limited to one region searching all along. They had no explanation as to why I had been able to search everywhere when I joined.

They also told me that they charge more for memberships for people who live in populated areas, like NYC. Why are they bilking the AL members who live in large metro areas while charging other members a lower price? I wondered.

I think they want to "sucker" new members by giving them full access for a few months, and then limiting it later, to make them pony up cash to search in "additional" areas. One also has to pay more to access the list of health providers. This nickle and dime-ing of customers is scammy and unethical. It offended me so much I canceled my subscription and got a full refund.

PS - At the time I was using it - Spring 2013 - the site was VEEERY slow. It took forever to load, and to perform searches.

I paid for a three year subscription after a friend told me how much she liked AL. I needed a concrete and garage door contractor and contacted only the ones listed with an "A" rating in my area. I scheduled several to come out and give me quotes. Wow, what a terrible experience. Only two of the five concrete contractors were professional. The others were very unprofessional and one even hung up on me because he had enough business for the season. Yikes, way to burn a bridge brainiac (being very sarcastic here) I would have waited until next year if he was not so obnoxious. I posted one review giving the person that replaced my garage door a fair review (not bad but fair... to get a good review, you have to be good). Angie's list apparently lets them know about the review and I am guessing who posted it because the garage door contactor called me stating I better change my review and proceeded to argue with me for 40 minutes until I told him he was acting like a bully and I was going to hang up. He did not say, I'm sorry I over charged you or was unprofessional but started out threatening that I better change the review. He acted like a bully and it was not what I needed in response to posting my honest review of his work. I would really like to know how these individuals get all these good reviews (friends maybe) because I did not have any luck finding a decent contractor on the site.

Several years ago I did a year contract advertising with AL.
I only received 2 jobs from the whole year. I vowed to never advertise
With them again.

Last year I was convinced by a sales rep that
Angi (formerly Angie's List) had changed. So I reluctantly advertised with them again. Well its
Been a year and I have only received 3 jobs this year. When I call them
They have nothing but excuses. What I found out today is, if you
Google Angie's List, you get to their landing page. Right in the middle
Of that page there is a LARGE box that says:

"Find top-rated, certified pros for your project".

There
Is a spot to put in what you are looking for, plumber, etc. When you
Enter what you are looking for it asks you a number of questions.
Including your address etc. Then what happens is you get 3-4 service
Providers who will give you quotes by contacting you via email call or
What ever. Here is the problem. When you fill in your information
In that box, you are actually now getting providers from Home Adviser.
Which I now find out is their sister company. So as a paid advertiser on
Angie's List, if a prospect Clicks on that LARGE box in the middle of
Their web page, they will NEVER see me as an option because I do not
Advertise on Home advisor.

I am being told by Angie's list
Representatives that the prospect must be a member, and they must login
On a small box in the top right of their web page in order to see me as a
Paid advertiser. What the hell is that?

This is why I am not getting
Any calls! This is unethical and I will never ever use them again
For anything. I will be filing a complaint and be taking legal action
Against this company.

In early May, I searched online for a contractor / handyman to install a 12ft vinyl fence and gate because I am a disabled individual and could not do this job myself. The day after my online search, I was contacted by a "pro" named Louis Chavez (calling himself 'Chavez Enterprises') that was referred to me by Angie's list. This "pro" visited my home a week later, gave me an estimate of $853 and asked for half of the total in order to "guarantee" the job. So, I paid half the total in cash (mistake!). Several weeks passed until he finally showed up on June 1st with one Vinyl panel and two small fence posts. The "pro" showed up with no tools of his own and asked to borrow my drill and some screws. I allowed him to work. By this time, I was just glad that he showed up after waiting for weeks, so I paid him another $200 cash! I reviewed his work after he left and noticed he installed the panel upside down, dug the post holes 3 inches deep max, and screwed the vinyl panel directly onto the posts! (see pictures). Needless to say, this guy made excuse after excuse until he stopped communicating with me and never completed the job. I later did research and discovered this "pro" had a criminal record. Angie's list claims to find "prescreened" professionals to do your job. I think not! The "Customer Solutions" contact number for Angie's List did not return my call and when I tried calling them back, I was on hold for over 2 hours until the call was finally cut off.

I hired a contractor from Angie's List called Trademark because of their many A ratings. I used both their electricians and their plumber. Both were complete and utter disasters, resulting in them leaving a gaping hole in my closet wall, a ceiling fan that swings like it is attached by string, non-usable plumbing and me staying home from work to wait on workers that never showed up. I ended up hiring other people to fix their messes. So, I posted a negative review detailing everything that had occurred.

When I later checked my review, I discovered that I could not find the company listed at all. I emailed AL customer service and was told that the company had been removed from the main part of the website because Angi (formerly Angie's List) had been caught sending in fake A ratings. Apparently, the company was still on AL somewhere, but not in a place that any consumer would ever find them. So, it would appear that the company was not listed at all, rather than showing the reviews regarding how horrendous they were. I told them company this, but apparently they just ignored my comments.

A few months later, I got an offer for a "Big Deal" from AL, and lo and behold it was for the company that they told me they had removed for posting fake reviews on themselves. I wrote AL again and asked why they let the scammers back on, and why they were helping the scammers advertise. I was told that they essentially gave the scammers a "time out", and let them back on their site.

I found out later that when a contractor runs a "Big Deal", that AL gets 1/2 of the money. So, AL does get paid to allow contractors on their site, even though theri commercials claim that "contractors cannot pay to be listed". AL is a scam too. After this experience, I really can't trust any review I see on their site.

I entered into a 1-yr contract with Angie's List at a cost of $400/ month for an unspecified number of leads. Like many other complainants all over the internet, the leads were few and unprofitable but I was stuck in the contract. In my 10th month ($4,000 wasted), I contacted my rep to cancel and pay their ridiculous 35% cancellation fee.

A week later, I was once again billed the full $400 monthly charge. My rep was suddenly unavailable to answer the phone or return my messages but I was told by someone else that I didn't follow the correct cancellation procedure and there is a lengthy, convoluted cancellation process that I didn't navigate properly so I'm stuck paying for another month of service before I can cancel. After complaining to Jeff Carder, Katy Torian, Myron Robinson, and Clayton Hooks, I was told the agreement was cancelled. From an August 18th email from Myron Robinson: "Your agreement has been cancelled."

On August 30th, my account was once again billed the full $400. At this point, I feel like they're either incompetent or fraudulent. $800 has been charged to my credit card since I verbally expressed my intent to cancel and my agreement is still active. Something is very wrong with the way this company operates.

*Notice that the only positive reviews are actually for companies who advertise through Angie's List, not Angie's List itself.

Caught up in the heat of Phoenix in July 2020 with a broken AC unit and Covid-19 slowing response times everywhere, we called this company. On the plus side, Angi (formerly Angie's List) were responsive. But we discovered that the top-of-the line "Goettl" air conditioner we purchased for our 1,000 square foot condo that cost $12,000 was actually a Goodman unit. We've since learned that the pressure from our emergency coupled with our own trusting nature gave them license to mislead (and charge us lots of $$$ which we had to finance). We also discovered that the 10-year warranty for the equipment was not registered by them as promised leaving us to hope that we don't encounter issues anytime soon.

I contacted the company by mail after we learned that we didn't actually have a Goettl AC unit, and "Mark," the man charged with PR and damage control, basically told me we had no reason to feel defrauded. The fact that we feel otherwise didn't phase him one bit. It was clear that now that they had our money, they see no reason not to keep it--even if their representatives mislead trusting (or stupid) people like us.

We are senior citizens who didn't know better, trusting their earnest-sounding advertisements and allowing panic to compel us to a hasty and expensive mistake. Maybe Mark is right--it wasn't unfair and we have no right to whine, but I would not recommend this firm to anyone unless they have unlimited resources. Caveat emptor!

We have been a long time advertiser with Angie's List( now Angi). It has taken a turn for the worst this last year and we decided it would make more financial sense to cancel early and pay the cancellation fee then continue to pay our advertising since we were getting only 1-2 a month and losing money.

I have verbally and in email form been told that the cancellation fee for ending our contract early is 35% of our remaining balance left in our contract. We have two more months left in our contract with them and our leads have dried up and it makes more sense to pay and get out at this point, so I have been pursuing canceling early(our year long contract ends in March and we will not renew).

Here is what I was quoted:
Current remaining balance:$567.06
Cancellation fee: $369.00

As you can see this is clearly not 35% of our remaining balance. After a long conversation with our client manager I got her to say its confusing and she described it to me- She said Angi (formerly Angie's List) take the remaining balance and times it by 35%( so $567.06*. 35= $198.47) and then instead of that being the cancellation fee, they subtract that number from the total amount left(567.06-198.47=$369). I am not seeing how they can do that with the language they have in the contract(attached). If it is legal, it is deceptive to their clients. A cancellation fee is fine and to be understood, however its the misleading language about it that we did not appreciate as a company.

Angi (formerly Angie's List) are a waste of time. I have had enough of time wasting web sites. They need to be delisted from Google. I am looking for construction companies which this dumb web site is included in the search results. I do not mind spending more time looking at each website and contacting them one after the other as long as my time is not wasted. To be fair, I am not familiar with Angi, I was not sure what to expect from it. It is the worst experience I had possible. I thought it would be a type of telephone directory perhaps with reviews, amount of workers, payment methods, for me to compare and select them. If they wanted questions answered before proceeding, I thought they would be ONE PAGE instead of TWENTY. Even worse, the questions have SPECIAL EFFECTS which takes even more time and are very annoying. Some of the questions are Patronizing. The next thing that happened is that they demanded my name, email address, and telephone which they are going to Spam me them selves and perhaps give the information to other companies to contact me with Hard Sells. Perhaps I do not know how to search properly or ANGI would not have appeared in Search Results. Upon reading reviews it looks like you need to PAY ANGI DIRECTLY before even accessing the information, So there is 20 Questions, Displayed Sloppily, Demands Contact Information, AND PAYMENT?! Before accessing the search results on ANGI?! AND That is not enough, they simply must do more: They do not recognize my telephone? Telephone has worked with 2 Step Verification and that means basically after all of this experience they have collected information and then the result is an Error Message... It looks like they stole my information. I am glad I did not send any payments to them.

After years of paying 300 dollars a month to advertise with them, Angi (formerly Angie's List) changed their policy to auto renewal, without telling me. They say that they sent me an email telling me about this change, i never got this email, i can prove it. I have all of my email history. So when i called to inform them i did not want to renew, they said they would cancel it, gonna miss you. John never mentioned anything about an auto debit of 998.00 coming out of my business account! We are a small contractor and can ill afford these types of unanounced debits!. Going back, every year i had to docusign, pass a background check etc... so then they took 988.00 out of my account without my knowledge or consent for early termination. I am incensed, they reviewed it and declined a refund because of an email i never recieved. Never notified me of the change, until i did not want to renew. I told them i reviewed every email and i did not receive it. They have not responded. Pretty unfair to a loyal customer for many years, tens of thousands spent with them, never a late payment, in the end, they just take more, without consent, a contract or agreement. A simple courtesy call to make me aware of the changes would have worked, but i guess that would have reduced the chance of renewal. Im going to pursue this with every tool available to me, its now more about the principle of this then the money! Disgraceful.

We have been using Angie's list and were not happy. Somehow Angi (formerly Angie's List) talked us into another year. Our Rep never called me back when I needed her. I was told she was sick and someone would contact me. No one ever did so I continued calling and leaving message.So we figured when our contract was up we were not going to renew. It was amazing how they called us throughout the day for 2 weeks straight. We told them how we were not happy and their excuse was we need more reviews. When they excepted the papers to be mailed in with the customer rating and review, I mailed about 25 in and they told me that was too much at once. Are you kidding me. They only put 3 of the reviews on. So why would i waste my time to get reviews? Just recently we did get a new account manager Andrea and she asked what they could do to keep us. I told her give us 3 months free. She said they could not do that, but they would reimburse 2 months and not charge me an early cancellation fee. She said lets see how December is I'm very confident you will be pleased. She said she would call me when the month was up to see if we wanted to renew again or not.So we gave it one more to try. Needless to say we got nothing or should I say the ones we get are for work we do not do. We payed $500.00 a month and she said this was the cheapest she ever seen since she worked there. I knew this was a lie. They are sales people. So apparently she did call the office left a message... I did not receive it... She said she did call my cell also. I did look in my call log and their was no missed call. They renewed our as and increased the price to $843.00 So I called her when I seen this charge and asked why they would do this without my consent. Andrea said she did not hear from me so they renewed it. I told her they need to reimburse my credit card because I did not authorize this. She said I would have an early termination fee and I asked for what? Because i was told I could cancel. She apologized and said she forgot she told me she would wave it. She said I worked so hard to keep you along board and I told her I would rather give someone $500.00 that could use it bc thats what I'm doing with Angie's list. We always got work for out of state also. Angies List is now also with Home Adviser so if you get a lead from Angie's List they will not reimburse you back. THIS IS SHADY! Home Adviser also went downhill and the leads are not good.

Angi (formerly Angie's List) have not mentioned me at the beginning that contract is mandatory and I have to keep paying them 400$ regardless of what. I was just new in business and I was thinking Angi's List is good option to start. But that was the worst choice of my life. After a month and half they stopped sending me leads for full week and then I tried to contact them a few times they promised manager will contact me but did not. After a week they started sending me leads which are absolutely not related to my preferences and field. I maybe tried contact them 10 times same answers. Then I said why would I keep wasting my money for not using their services, since they dont contact me and dont care. I blocked my card account and they could not charge me. Guess whattt, immediate call, "hey how is your business?" I did not pay for December and finally the manager convinced me to pay for January that she will eliminate One month payment because i was not able to use their service. After I did payment, they blocked my account so that I am not able to use their service. I kept emailing manager a few times, since my account blocked after I paid for 3 weeks. Finally, i emailed them this is the end of contract because you are not doing your promises, she emailed me that she cannot eliminate the month payment, even though she promised. This is the worst platform to advertise. Believe me they are loosing all the customers they have and now pros. They are not offering you a service you paid but asking money and threatining you if you dont pay you will go to judge.

THIS OPEN LETTER IS WRITTEN FOR BOTH CONSUMERS AND PROVIDERS TO ANGIE LIST SUBSCRIBERS:

THE LIST PURPORTS TO PROVIDE LOCAL VERIFIED TRADESMEN TO CONSUMERS, AND TO HOST WEB SPACE AND VERIFY REVIEWS FOR THOSE TRADESMEN. THE LIST DOES NEITHER.

When I joined the list, I was told that it took 3 verified reviews before I could even be included in searches. Additionally, I was told that any consumer who searched for my specialty within 5 miles of me would have access to my profile. If the modern consumer will check, very few returned profiles have more than 1 review, and very few of those businesses are within 5 miles. This is the problem with the list i. E. that little of what Angi (formerly Angie's List) advertise or publicly proclaim is in fact the reality.
It was a great idea to begin with, but greed has bent the list into a money grubbing, preferential list. No longer does the list represent competent local talent, it represents only those who will tolerate the wishy washy policies of these idiots, and only for hard cash. And yet they still advertise the original goals. They are lying to you America, and are guilty of the basest fraud. This is very sad, as there exists any number of methods for the list to raise revenues other than by turning it into a billboard.
The hardest thing for me to catch on to was that every time you contacted them, a new answer was given to the current issue, and very few times was there ever a follow up, hence broken promises, and much ill feeling. This, in itself led to even harder feelings, as the list records every conversation, and gives each minimum wage operator broad latitude in entering items to your profile. Question them about anything, try to take them to task for any broken promise, and you will be entered as an aggressive troublemaker for the list. Pay attention, and you will note that each subsequent conversation with them will be more abrasive and uncooperative than the last. Poor me, I am the sort who believes in being rude to rude people, who believes in calling an idiot 'idiot'. Be rude to me, and it becomes my ambition to demonstrate real rudeness.
I would very much like to sue these clowns for everything they own, under the heading: 'Restraint of trade'. Tradesmen have invested much time in procuring these reviews that the list no longer deems important in placements. I am asking for feedback from any souls who might have something to add here.

On January 26th 2022 I called my local Roto-Rooter and explained that I had a clogged kitchen drain. The woman I spoke with told me that she could have someone out that afternoon. I made the appointment and inquired about their pricing structure. She said that "it depends on the job."

That afternoon the technician showed up. I showed him the problem and he told me that it would cost $565.00. I was shocked and I freely admit that I agreed to the price since our sink could not be used and had also started to leak due to the standing water. I know I could have told them to leave, but I didn't (had I known the price to free a clogged drain at the outset I certainly would have shopped around). Less than an hour later the problem was solved. The average plumber in Westchester County charges around $175/hour. When I called the local Roto-Rooter this morning and related the above I was told that, "that's the standard price for a clogged drain ($565.00)." Why were Angi (formerly Angie's List) unable to tell me this when I called initially? She said that it is Roto-Rooter's policy not to give prices over the phone. I feel that this is a disingenuous business practice that is in place to take advantage of customers who are anxious to have their plumbing problem resolved as soon as possible, before further damage can occur. This is just like someone selling bottles of water for exorbitant prices after a natural disaster or N95 masks for $20 each during the pandemic. I emailed Pat Swanson at customer service and got a non-response. I then telephoned and left a message and got no response. Telling, I think, that they would not comment on their pricing structure before or after the job.

Wonderful! Please see review submitted: All 5 Stars for Excellent, plus the following description of relationship with this fantastic contractor:

"Jim and his business partner, Bob, are the best contractors we have ever worked with. This is saying a lot since I'm 75 and my husband is 83, and we've had a lot of contractors help us with home projects over the decades. Thoughtful, reliable, prompt, pleasant to work with. From start to finish, the best -- actually, before starting! This job was very important to us -- we have mobility issues, and our new home had very steep steps that we needed to be made shorter so we wouldn't fall. When we were contacting contractors for this job, Jim replied promptly. But he did more than that, he answered every one of our many questions thoughtfully, and he added safety information that we weren't aware of, information that turned out to be critical for us. Jim always kept in touch, according to the timeline he promised, during the window when we were setting up the schedule for the job. When the job started, Jim and his crew were always on time, Angi (formerly Angie's List) cleaned up spotlessly at the end of each day, and they checked as the job went along to make sure it was in line with what we needed because they understood how important it was for us. This job was a bit problematic because of odd features of our older Broad Ripple house. A total pleasure to work with such reliable, skilled, pleasant, and kind professionals. We love our new stairs! We are looking forward to calling on Jim and Bob and James in the future. Dianne & Clyde Flowers"