Is Angie's List worth it for contractors? Unfortunately, no Angi, also known as Home Advisor, formally known as Angie's List, is NOT worth it for contractors. Having used Angie's List on two separate occasions: June 2022 and February 2023. Both Outcomes have cost me five thousand dollars in losses; I will get to why and how in a moment. On the other hand, Angie's List is efficient for a last-minute consumer who is likely to be bargain hunting; you will pay anywhere between $50-120.00 per customer contact; the salesperson will be friendly and very communicative with you in the beginning, and this all stops as soon as you provide the salesperson with your credit card details. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in going with Angi due to the overall length of this company being in business. This has blind-sighted me into believing that Angie's List was a legitimate business.
I am in the Moving Company and HVAC industry. I used Angi to purchase leads for my moving company, which was one of the worst experiences I have ever had as a customer. Busy season is coming if you're a contractor; you know what this entails, so I called Angie and explained to a representative my desire to purchase long-distance moving leads on a pay-per-lead basis. I did not want to be obligated to any "lead provider." Upon my request to receive moving company leads from Angie's List, their sales representative stated, "to market for your moving company, we would need a deposit from you so that we can use those funds as start-up costs to generate your leads." This was an unusual request; however, I am fairly reasonable, so I decided to give Angie's List the benefit of the doubt due to how long they have been in business.
How can a company that has been operational for over ten years be a scam right? Wrong- Angie's List fraudulently signed me up to a yearly contract on their "ADS CAMPAIGN" It gets worse; I was getting contacts from areas that I did not service; these contacts also were not moving anything more than a sofa and a few boxes; being that I am based in New York, how can my moving company service a client who wants to move a couch five blocks down in Massachusetts? Surely Angie's List will correct the situation since I asked for long-distance moving leads right? Wrong. As per Angie's List policy, "the consumer is allowed credit based on five to ten percent of overall Ad or lead spend," Meaning; if you purchase one hundred leads and out of that one hundred, you have had several bad leads, you are only entitled to five to ten leads to be credited back to you. This puts your company at a terrible loss, as the lead costs are between $65.00-$150.00 per lead. Not to mention that these leads are being shared with three or more competitors so if you're lucky enough to get a valid lead good luck. Ultimately this can and has resulted in some businesses having to close shop due to being scammed by Angie's List.
Anyway, so I called Angi to discuss this matter. To make a long story short, I was frustrated at the lead quality. I requested long-distance moving leads and was given local jobs from consumers more than 500 miles away from me. At first, none of this made sense to me; why would the salesperson sign me up for an ads campaign for local moving jobs when I requested long distance moving leads? Simply put, Credit card, Contract, Fraud and greed. When I contacted Angie's List, I was told by their client success manager "Josh Hause " "Even tho our salesperson misled you, you signed a contract, and you have no choice but to stick with it" I explained that I did not sign anything; I filled out a form to agree to a background check and provided my card details when I was asked to make the down payment to start receiving leads. Josh Hause then stated, "regardless, you're stuck, you signed a contract, and if I were you I wouldn't cancel because we can charge you for four thousand dollars per month, per your twelve-month obligation with our company" I was so shocked this guy was extorting me! I was so upset, "why would they do this to me? I have done nothing to deserve this" that's all that was in my head; I threatened to file complaints online. Then the manager stated, "that's no way to talk to someone who has the power to charge your card $48,000.00 for canceling the contract," and then hung up. I immediately called my bank and placed a block on my card. Since then, I called Angie's List several times, to rectify the matter and no answer. All of my calls were going straight to voicemail. I sent multiple emails and even contacted the BBB, and it was to no avail months later, and still no refund.
Eventually, I sent my bank proof of Angie giving me the run-around, and my bank eventually put Angie's List funds on hold while investigating my claim. Finally, a representative from Angi called me and wanted to discuss this matter with me; this person seemed to be the business owner. He stated that he noticed a chargeback on his account for close to five thousand dollars and would like to know why; I filed several complaints over the phone and through the Better Business Bureau and got a response from an agent at their headquarters stating that they sent me a refund check. I waited two months for the refund check, weeks later and I was still not given a refund, they kept on using the "your check has been mailed to you just give it some time excuse" Angie's List never sent the check to begin with, I paid using my debit card and they were playing refund check games with me. My experience with Angi was a complete shake down experience, Angie's list is a complete scam, this company did everything in their power to keep my money without resolving the issue. Eventually I reopened my claim with my bank and the Better Business Bureau, then Angi contacted me, Angie's List was only concerned about the money they scammed me out of. Angi has no customer service; they have someone who answers the phone to take a message when everyone else is ignoring you.
Angi had no intentions of helping me; after talking to several representatives back and forth for three weeks, someone called me and said, "we do not know why you did not receive your refund, but as a courtesy, we will cancel the check and resolve your refund concerns by waiving your contract fees" I laughed and said "don't worry about it my bank will take care of it" of course, the agent gets upset and hangs up. Angie's List is not a good company; Angi provides insufficient data to the consumer and contractor, Angi misleads both the consumer and contractor. Angi does not have a Better Business Bureau rating, however it should be an F; their accreditation has been revoked due to providing the consumer/contractor with leads that are false, outdated, and/or have invalid contact information. Failing to disclose contract terms, becoming difficult to reach, and/or failing to respond about issues pertaining to refunds, lead credit, and lead quality. Suggesting "pros" who provide shady work and/or unreliable service and applies unexpected charges for services and subscriptions." Angie's List has 2,056 complaints in the past three years and 1,225 complaints in the past 12 months. Angie's List changed their name to Angi due to the number of complaints they have received online. This confuses the consumer and makes it harder to locate company reviews and feedback online, stay far away from Angi.
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