Angies List scam or no?

Ok, I am somewhat new to Angieslist, i have gotten a couple good reviews from customers, which i thought was fine. Now i keep getting calls from Angieslist salsemen wanting me to pay a few thousand dollars a year to be at the top of the list on a rotating basis. What happened to the advertising that says contractors dont pay to be on Angies list? Sounds decitful to me, but real question is does it work? Does anyone on here pay to advertise on Angieslist. They want a one year contract, no trial period. I actually do very little advertising & doubt i will with them but im still curious what everyone else thinks.
This really sounds to me like just anothe BBB but at least they only want a few hundred dollars.

I read about Angies list on the internet. I read a few good comments about it but never really tried listing. Its would be best if you’ll clarify things with them. If you aren’t listed then don’t pay even a single dollar. I hope you’ll get even more careful on advertising. Internet is a place of scammers just don’t get fooled the next time.

I did a free listing on angies list a couple months ago. Since then a couple of my clients have went on there and gave me some great reviews. I’ve developed an A rating. I have not gotten any work directly from their site, however it just makes us even more of an accredited business. To be able to advertise or tell a potential client we are A rated on angies list just adds more to the business and I’m not paying anything so why not.

Angie’s List can seem hypocritical at times and is often irritating to deal with. However, we’ve won their Super Service Award pretty much every year at every location. It varies location to location but we’ve gained lots of business from Angie’s List leads. We’ve worked hard to earn that, the vast majority of our Customer reports read very, very nice.

Do you get these leads based on your reviews alone or do you also ay to advertise with Angies List?

We pay the monthly rate that guarantees us to always be in the top 6-8 of the roofers listed.

IMO Angie’s list is legal extortion. My company asked me to check into them about 5 years ago after we were contacted by Angie’s List of a shock negative review! Since then I have been constantly email bombed from them, even after repeated contacts to them to ask them to stop. I even had a nice run in with one of their sales reps that called here and was being pushy with our secretary to talk to someone at 9am… We’re trying to get 50+ guys out the door and deal with customer calls at that time. In any case she was short with him after he got pushy, so he calls back later, ends up talking to me, I try to explain what’s going on here at 9am and defend the secretary…long story short, we get into it pretty good. These are nasty people looking to piggy back on your business and charge you money for possibly bringing you more business. Basically they are looking to keep your reviews good if you pay and scare you into paying by being more than happy to list unfavorable reviews.

Maybe if you’re a high volume type company and you don’t mind the extortion “Union Advertizing” approach of Angie’s List then it might be a symbiotic relationship that is beneficial for both parties. My experience with these people however has been nothing but negative in the worst way. We are a specialized high end roofing shop that doesn’t hurt for work, most days we have a waiting list a couple months deep so Angie’s List can go suck a big one; we don’t need their rudeness, excessive email solicitations or any work that might trickle through their site.

Just my experience with them :smiley:

[quote=“Tar Monkey”]IMO Angie’s list is legal extortion. My company asked me to check into them about 5 years ago after we were contacted by Angie’s List of a shock negative review! Since then I have been constantly email bombed from them, even after repeated contacts to them to ask them to stop. I even had a nice run in with one of their sales reps that called here and was being pushy with our secretary to talk to someone at 9am… We’re trying to get 50+ guys out the door and deal with customer calls at that time. In any case she was short with him after he got pushy, so he calls back later, ends up talking to me, I try to explain what’s going on here at 9am and defend the secretary…long story short, we get into it pretty good. These are nasty people looking to piggy back on your business and charge you money for possibly bringing you more business. Basically they are looking to keep your reviews good if you pay and scare you into paying by being more than happy to list unfavorable reviews.

Maybe if you’re a high volume type company and you don’t mind the extortion “Union Advertizing” approach of Angie’s List then it might be a symbiotic relationship that is beneficial for both parties. My experience with these people however has been nothing but negative in the worst way. We are a specialized high end roofing shop that doesn’t hurt for work, most days we have a waiting list a couple months deep so Angie’s List can go suck a big one; we don’t need their rudeness, excessive email solicitations or any work that might trickle through their site.

Just my experience with them :D[/quote]

I can’t disagree with a lot of what you say. As I said myself, they can be frustrating and irritating to deal with at times. However, whether or not you pay to advertise with them has ZERO to do with them publishing good and bad reports.

I don’t like Angie’s List, I don’t like a lot of their business philosophies and I’ve had it out with more than one of their people. On the other hand, we have had a very nice ROI from advertising with them. Emotionally, they often disgust me. Pragmatically, I love them. Being older, my bank account usually wins out over my heart these days. :smiley:

These are nasty people looking to piggy back on your business and charge you money for possibly bringing you more business. Isn’t that the truth! Them and a thousand other such businesses. I call them the “leaches”.