REFUNDS
Im getting real tired of being told that my request for a refund isn’t approved. The latest one being a head hunter. This is getting ridiculous.
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We've been charged for numbers that are not in service and thumbtack refused to refund us. Had anyone else had this problem and found a solution or are we all being charged for leads we clearly cannot get a job with due to a non working number?
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so i paid $25 for her brothers to help her. this app is pointless. im late on rent n can potentially get evicted because i spent 2 weeks str8 getting leads like this
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There’s no other way around loosing money. 1 they don’t refund when the client cancel a booking. I’m pretty sure by now they own me almost $300 on leads clients book and cancel after.
many leads I receive be like that oh I got someone to help me out
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Please explain to me how I can get a refund for a client who read my messages didn’t reply and once I ask for a refund I was hit with this message
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I would like clarification on the refund policy as it relates to jobs that are outside my travel preferences.
If a job poster lives in City A and then asks for part of the work for their project to be done in City B...for this example, let's say City B is not in the same state as City A, what needs to be done on my part to receive a refund? Do I just have to ask Thumbtack for a refund? Or is there some special secret step that I need to take that I can't seem to find on the refund policy page?
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This is from the section on Case-by-Case refunds>The job changed significantly:
"If a customer contacts you about a job that’s drastically different from the original lead (for example, the customer changes the job location, and it's now outside of the travel area you’ve set up in your targeting preference), you can request a refund.
Make sure to include which job details changed when submitting your request. When you're chatting with the customer about changes to the job, use the Thumbtack messenger. That helps our team resolve your refund request much faster."
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What defines "changes"?
If the location (City B) of the work or part of the work to be done was listed in the description, does that matter? One could argue that it was never changed, but it was also not the same as the city listed for the job to begin with (City A).
Are job postings like this even allowed on Thumbtack? Or would Thumbtack tell the job poster that they need to make separate postings in the two cities that the work needs to be done?
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That should be eligible - I would reach out to [email protected] and include any screenshots you may have of the conversation in which the details changed.
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They denied my initial request. Leslie (with the Philippine customer service team) said that it was my responsibility to type "I am declining this job" on the chat, even though I told the guy on the phone when I found out that half of the work was actually in a different state and 190 miles away from my profile zip code (which has a 65 mile radius).
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I think it is explained very clearly in the email - that TT makes the connection between you and the customer and that is what the charge is for. However, that being said, many pros who attend our bi-weekly CommuniTEA meetings have recommended both texting and calling as well, and not relying solely on the TT messenger app. Did you try reaching out to the customer via their phone number?
@ShaquealThomas has also shared that several times customers who have not replied to him immediately have come back at a later date and hired him. He always recommends leaving the customer with a professional, positive message about being there to work with them in the future when they are ready to start their project — I think it's such great advice!
Hope this helps and sorry for the frustration!
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@LLContracting its super tough, the way they decide how and why the refund is granted is awful. At this stage I just have to bake it into my costs, most of the time I don’t get a refund. Where I have had success is when I became a platinum pro, I have a phone number where I can take to a person directly and was actually able to explain my side. So much work for something that we shouldn’t have to waste our time on. Thumbtack needs to change, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
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@LLContracting I took a moment to look at this particular lead - from what TT can see, this looks like a legitimate lead. There was an entire conversation about the specs/timing/pricing of the job back and forth between you and the customer. Do you have some written proof that the customer was just a head hunter looking for employees with no intention of hiring a pro for the job? If you have a screenshot of a convo it might be helpful to email that in and see if you can get the refund pushed through. Worth a try anyway!
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Yes I have been dealing with this as well. Also with instant bookings and people not going back on to cancel an appointment.
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Yes this is a huge problem, I think thumbtack should verify customers phone numbers.
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I have emails of the entire process. The main conversation which occured the day after initial contact was over the phone. I would hope that a company that makes good money off of charging me would use trust here. We blindly have to trust that Thumbtack is going to send legitimate leads. So far ive been denied refunds for some really bad leads. In my industry same day service is rare. To have a customer say, no sorry tomorrow wont work, ive already hired someone and was hoping i could get you out here today, while being charged for it is the other one im not too thrilled about. I understand that this is a business and you are trying to make money but y’all are doing it at the cost of small businesses that may not have the spare funds for bogus leads like that.
Where would you like me to forward my converstations from Kyle?
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We are working on some improvements re: phone numbers. I will post about it when I know more!
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What would be the ETA??
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I think an even better way would be to verify and provide both email and phone to the Pro. I rarely get a response through the app, so email could at least provide another avenue if the phone isn’t working.
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@DustiO Why doesn't Thumbtack follow its own policy when it comes to refunds?
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@STL_Shooter78 I am not sure which lead you are referring to, since you just shared a screenshot of the dispute charge page. However, I did go and look at your latest refund requests - understandably, our team needs to go with the information they have and when I look at the message thread between you and the customer, there is nothing to indicate that the job was outside your preferences. I would recommend sharing any screenshots of conversations you might have with this customer that would show that they were requesting something outside your preferences and sending that to [email protected].
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@DustiO, I'm talking about the lead from Gregory Taylor. The lead was posted as if the work was in Fishers, IN. Work was actually to be done in Winchester, IN and Benton Harbor, MI.
The app was not working properly on my phone that day. So I didn't see the Benton Harbor, MI portion (which is listed in the bottom half of his Video project vision section) until after I spoke with Gregory on the phone.
I was denied a refund for this lead twice. Once through the website system and once on the phone by Leslie, a Thumbtack customer service rep in the Philippines.
This was Leslie's wording in an email follow up to my phone call with her:
"After reaching out to our support team, unfortunately, we will have to stick with our refunds team decision and won't be able to grant your refund. As per our support team, if it's indeed outside your travel preferences, a pro should've declined the lead immediately or informed the customer that they won't be able to take on the lead instead of discussing the project details which shows intent on the lead."
What Leslie doesn't seem to understand, even though I told her several times on the phone call is that the app was not working properly on my phone that day and I wasn't aware of the Benton Harbor, MI portion until I spoke with him on the phone.
I also emailed support@thumbtack on this matter and no one responded to my email.
If your company says that you give refunds for work that is outside of travel preferences then you need to stand by that statement.
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