Is this worth the money? I don't have much need for contractors but I'm in the middle of a contractor search (see my no-show complaint below) and I'm wondering if it might be worth it to spring for this.
Make sure you get the coupon code. It'll be 40% off that way. And cancel before it auto-renews so that you can get the discount again. IMO that's the only way it's worth it.
My ILs bought us membership, and we actually used it to pick contractors. Two of three showed up. Zero of the 2 who showed up actually sent an estimate. This was for a kitchen remodel and a bathroom build.
On the other hand, everyone we found on AL for our septic-to-sewer conversion has contacted, met with, and given us estimates.
I think it really depends on the business the people are in. General contractors just seem to be crap across the board regardless of ratings on AL.
Additionally, I have had TWO contractors offer to give me discounts if I wrote favorable reviews of them on AL. One of them I would have written a favorable review anyway, so no problem, but the other company was a heating company that was barely passable. However, that made me kind of distrust the "raves" on there.
OK, I knew I remembered there being something potentially shady about reviews. This must be it.
Additionally, I have had TWO contractors offer to give me discounts if I wrote favorable reviews of them on AL. One of them I would have written a favorable review anyway, so no problem, but the other company was a heating company that was barely passable. However, that made me kind of distrust the "raves" on there.
OK, I knew I remembered there being something potentially shady about reviews. This must be it.
Thanks for all the opinions!
For us it was worth the money, especially because our previous house was a money pit. I'm very thankful to Angie's List that I found most of the contractors that I did.
FWIW, most of the contractors will give you a small discount if you say you got their name from Angie's List. I have had one say he would offer an additional discount if we wrote a favorable review, and this guy was the worst contractor we had from Angie's List (and he didn't have many reviews, but he was a contractor who offered a "buy it now" deal). Because I'm not a fan of confrontation, I had said "I can't guarantee that I'll write any reviews any time soon because I am so busy, but if I do I'll write a good one." - Needless to say I never wrote a review for that guy. There was nothing he did that awful, but there was nothing he did that I felt was worthy of praise. I felt he did the bare minimum to get the job done, and we had to remind him to pick up the garbage that was left lying around... but overall he did 'get the job done.'
I have a membership with Angie's List for another year, I think (signed up for 2 years at a discounted rate) and we'll probably refer to the list several more times in the next few months. I'm about to hire an arborist that I found on Angie's List (after getting estimates from 3). I trust the list but I do my research as well.