Why do we still have to pay for a lead if the customer isn’t responding back

Hvachoms__1

why should we have to pay for a lead if the customer isn’t responding back and once you finally talk to them they went another company isn’t that concerned double charging for one lead?

DustiO

@Hvachoms__1 hi and welcome! Thank for the feedback, as a former business owner I understand how this can be frustrating. However, you are charged at the point of connection — and while some customers will only reach out to one pro, others want to get more than one bid. There are a few tips that we hear from pros often that can help you win more jobs. I would recommend making sure that 1) your preferences are really dialed in to the types of jobs you want to do and where you want to do them, 2) check that your budget and max lead prices are set to the amounts that work for you and your business, 3) include details in that initial message that you send to the customer - about the job they requested and add some things that make you stand out as the one they should hire (ie, "I would love to help you with your heating system repair. I have more than 10 years of experience and dozens of 5-star reviews and I take pride in doing great work for my customers."), 4) answer the FAQs section in your profile to address any up front questions they may have when they are searching, etc. If customers are reaching out to more than one pro it's important to make clear why YOU are the one for the job!

Tagging in some of our HVAC pros since they may have some more specific advice for your industry as well as a few of our Thumbtack Pro Advisors. Hope this helps!

@Mackenzie_17 @1stchoiceair @Adham @Haji_7 @emckin2 @chelseawray410 @JoyofMovement_1 @trevorlord @Ken @joltex @KingdomCooling @Vladimir @Bohannon639 @SetPointHVACR @Fix_Fitness @RubyPowell @amccarthy @Cliff @AntilleanRestoration @Jack_Marquardt @ShaquealThomas @Bretdouglas @CodyRisner @junkminers11

Cliff

I’ve been back and forth about policy on lead pricing and refunds. It is the job of the pro to land the lead. But what the pro can’t do is control the client’s willingness to respond. Some clients don’t EVER respond, on thumbtack, text messages, nor a phone call even. But us pros are still stuck paying for the lead. This is an issue I’m still working on. But if you are in contact with the client, it is definitely on you to persuade them to hire you.

Hvachoms__1

Yeah @Cliff that much is understandable that if you don’t land the lead then that’s basically on you but it’s the customer not responding to any messages or answering the phone and once they do pick up the phone after you have called a number of times and they say oh I have someone coming out already. But us as pros still paid for that lead and can’t get a refund or anything.

CustomHomeCreations

We receive many leads that we respond to initially, then text and even call with no response EVER! We have paid dearly for these leads to just get ghosted! This happens 90% of the time. How can we as Pros turn this around so that the leads are actually qualified?

danq

As an IT services provider, I want to add a different perspective.

Thumbtack’s model assumes the customer knows what they’re asking for — but in IT, that’s rarely the case. People don’t know how to classify tech issues.

In plumbing or HVAC, the customer says, “my AC is leaking” or “my toilet’s clogged.” You know what you’re walking into.

In IT? I’ve been charged nearly $30 for leads labeled “network issue” that turn out to be:

• “Can you come to my house and swap a coax cable?”
• “I need someone to push the reset button on my modem.”
• Or the all-time favorite: “My internet is out. I just want someone to come fix it for free.”

These are often labeled as “remote” jobs — and “high value” — when they’re neither.

What makes this worse is the ghosting.

You respond in minutes. No reply. No read receipt. Just money out the door.

You finally reach the customer and hear:

“Oh, sorry, someone else is coming. I was just trying to see how much it would cost.”

Great — we just paid for an unqualified window shopper.

No refund. No recourse.

I get that Thumbtack wants to be fair and that competition is part of the platform. But for industries like IT — where the customer often doesn’t know what kind of help they need — you’re going to keep seeing professionals frustrated by misclassified, unvetted leads.

Let us flag certain job types as “low-value,” allow better filtering on truly remote work, and give us the ability to contest leads that clearly aren’t what they said they were. Or…. Give us a no questions asked refund if we SHOW you that the work is in fact — not remote. Nevada — being well out of the service "range" for a local lead.

We’re not afraid to sell ourselves.

We just want the right people to sell to.

danq

@DustiO — sadly, it wouldn't let me tag/ping on edit — after the fact.

DerHilfer_LLC

@danq as a "handyman" I have to disagree. Customers rarely, or maybe I should say Thumbtack rarely applies the correct category of professional which leads to ridiculous amounts of requests for services I can't offer or can barely handle.

BTW, I'm former IT. From 1997 to 2000, I was a "technology support specialist" who fixed printers and ran CAT-V. From 2000-2013, I ran a regional news website. For nine months in 2013 I was an application developer who got burned out on programming. From 2014-2023 I was a project manager in telematics. Then I rage quit corporate life and planned to do nothing. Which I was successful for two months, then I got bored. So I turned my house-flipping side hustle into a home improvement company because I already had the tools and the skills. I've been at the helm of DerHilfer, LLC since October 2023. And very happy. I digress…

For instance, I had someone request taking down a metal chimney as a handyman. Sure, I can do that. I'm going to unbolt it from your wall and drop it like a dead tree. Except she already sold it (which is unethical, but I'm not going to get into that) and thus, wanted it dismantled piece by piece. You told me to "remove it" not to keep it pristine.

Another great one is replacing a 10X9 foot glass window in a historic building. This is the absolute limit for a glazer (glass company) and there is no way for any other professional to deliver this item, let alone install it.

I can post a hundred more examples, I assure you.

Only one of these two "leads" were refunded.

Thumbtack needs to fix their algorithm and start refunding most requests. I would say all requests for refunds. I'm not here to screw Thumbtack, but if I'm asking for a refund, it's a valid request.

This is the correct category for "leads" requested to my business. You'll notice 7% are things I don't even offer, don't have the tools to complete or lack the skills. And my business has a very wide range of skillsets. If it's not labeled "Non-offered service", I or someone in my company can do it. All 165 of these were requested as "Handyman". Only 24% IMHO should have been "Handyman" which is why I dropped that category on Thumbtack.

danq

@DerHilfer_LLC I had not thought of it like that — I can see where confusion could hit.

On to problem solving.

If the clients are forced to put the problem into words, instead of a few clicks…. They could also be asked directly if they're price/window shopping. AI could go a long way to categorizing and measuring the value of an effort. It could also measure the "risk" of a lead.

Here's AI's take on a random lead.

Lead Summary:
Selected Category: Network Support Services
Client Request: “Cracked Mac Screen”

Location: King, NC
Preferences: Willing to travel or remote

Corrected Trade Match:
This task actually belongs under Computer Repair (Hardware), not Network Security.

The client appears to be requesting a screen replacement on a Mac, which typically requires:

• Physical access
• Experience sourcing and replacing Apple display parts
• A clear model number or photos to verify compatibility

Remote Feasibility: Not realistic due to physical hardware work

Engagement Risk (Pre-Match):

Scored based on clarity and willingness to explain

• Job Description Provided: No (one vague sentence)
• Photos Uploaded: No
• Model/Details Given: No
• Timeline or urgency shared: No
• Message from client: No
• Service Category Accuracy: No (wrong trade entirely)
• Remote appropriateness: No (selected remote but task isn’t feasible that way)

Risk Score: 8 out of 10 – Poor Fit to Route

Suggestion:

Before charging the pro, flag the following:

• Task is likely miscategorized
• Physical repair not appropriate for remote selection
• No supporting details or evidence client is actively engaged

Then prompt the client with something like:

“This sounds like a physical repair. Would you like to reclassify this under Computer Repair and upload a photo of the damage before we connect you with a pro?”

This protects everyone:

• Pros avoid paying for mismatches and ghost leads
• Clients get routed to the right help with better results
• Platform reputation improves from more accurate connections

DerHilfer_LLC

If I were the programmer, this is how I would write the solution. Slightly dumbed down to avoid pseudo code that only programmers understand.

Customer request "random gibberish of no consequence"

Thumbtack: We've got some awesome pros!

Thumbtack: How much do you want to pay (per hour):

<slider bar from $0-1,000/hr.)

Customer slides to $50.

(zero responses)

Customer slides to $75/hr.

(1 response)

Customer slides to $100

(3 responses)

Customer selects one Pro. Thumbtack prevents the User from selecting additional Pros unless the first Pro is unresponsive for 48 hours.

Pro Responds, completes the work.

Customer satisfied.

Pro makes money.

Everybody happy.

DerHilfer_LLC

True story:

User messages me at 2:00 a.m. (This is why I "hide my business" at EOB every day.)

I wake up, reply "I'll call you at 9:00." She acknowledges. Then I go back to bed.

User ignores my call at 9:00. But calls me back at 5:00.

Even though my fee on Thumbtack is $125, offers me $100. I tell her I can't work for her for $100. Agrees to $112.50. (I only made this offer because I would be 10 miles away at the designated time and can afford to lose $12.)
Next day. I'm eating lunch and message her. "I'll be there in 30 minutes."

She replies "My husband says $100."

I respond "Tell your husband, this is free, because he can do it himself." Yes, I know this is a jerk move, but I'm not free. Thumbtack isn't free. Thumbtack should remove all instances of "FREE" because I charge 10% over my normal rate for Thumbtack users forever and other Pros would benefit if they do the same.

Customer begs me to assemble her furniture as I'm driving home, I decline since I would literally make no money.

Two weeks later, she makes a new request on Thumbtack, costing me additional money. Still wants me to do her job at any price which of course is $100.

Request refunds for both attempts, only get one refund.
I have Thumbtack turned off since 1st of September and I may never turn it on again.

Highly recommend other pros turn off Thumbtack for 30 days any time a refund is denied. You won't lose out, but Thumbtack will.

Finally, out of all of my lifetime (since 2023) User requests 37% of Thumbtack users have never interacted with me. They made requests and didn't read the response, didn't answer the phone even though I called him minutes after making the request and if I had not requested refunds, I could tell you what percentage bought services from zero pros. However, when I submit a refund request, Thumbtack labels it as "No hire", which means I can't go back through the history and gauge the rare instance when a refund requested inquiry unlikely hires someone else

But I can tell you out of 83 refunds requested, 52 were denied.

structuralguy65

@DerHilfer_LLC I had a guy late yesterday, maybe 2 hours left on a Friday, literally tried to beg me to bring my price down for a day's engineering time, and then had the gall to say 'I need you to do this by Sunday.' This is the quality of lead that Thumbtack attracts. These people think they're ordering pizza. So I told him the price for weekend work is double.

DerHilfer_LLC

Best response I've heard:

"You're too expensive"

"I'm too expensive for you. The price is $5,500 or zero. I do quality work. Feel free to hire someone else."

"I went to three other places, they want twice the price."

"Well, I guess I'm not really that expensive."

In a race to the bottom, there are no winners.

kristipritchett3

DerHilfer_LLC

You have several great ideas in your response adding 10% to the ppl that hire you through thumbtack is very smart and i also am having the issue where they don’t respond or they are just getting prices right now or they have poor knowledge of what things costs these days and cldnt afford it to start with. How do u see how many quotes u sent out and how many never said anything?

DerHilfer_LLC

I never get to interact with 40% of Thumbtack Users. They don't answer the phone, they don't read the messages or they never respond. I've changed my mindset with Thumbtack. They're not "customers" until they buy. They're Users. These aren't "leads" they're "inquiries".
Because of the expense of Inquiries, I usually have Thumbtack turned off if I have work scheduled at least three days from now. Another problem is Thumbtack Users think I'm available tomorrow, or often the same day. We're a construction and home improvement business. I have appointments on my calendar for a year from now. Obviously, not booked every day, but no, there is zero chance I'm working for you today. Maybe I can fit you in this week, but never today.

It has become exceptionally frustrating because as I've documented, Thumbtack is basically forcing Users to make multiple Inquiries. As far as pricing goes, I have a solution to ensure that people are only seeing Pros they can afford, but Thumbtack would never implement it.

And yes, Tire Kickers (people who can't afford or have zero interest in buying) being told by Thumbtack that it's "FREE!" is a huge issue. I've had people hang up the phone when I say my price is $93.50/hr. After expenses, I make $30-40/hr. at that rate for ordinary customers. For Thumbtack users? It's like $20, often less. This is the reality for a sole proprietor. I have employees who make $100/hr. I could probably work for someone else for $70/hr. But I'm not an employee, I'm building an empire.Another consideration is deadbeats. I have three people with "bad credit" (they owe my company money) out of over 500 customers. Guess where all three of them found our business. It wasn't Google!

These are the customers you'll often see when you offer a "FREE! FREE! FREE!" service like Thumbtack. I've been using NextDoor Opportunities, which is $149/mo. I'm only two months in, so I can't say how good it is. However, most of the opportunities are good enough to pay for an entire month of this service, so I'm going to continue using it.

Edit: slight format change, I thought I was replying to a PM. It's 5:00 A.M. Maybe I should make some coffee before I "open the business".