Leads

Marlene_Dawdy
Marlene_Dawdy Posts: 4
edited September 2021 in Network and Collaborate

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid spam leads. I don't mind paying for a valid lead but when I get text messages only saying hello and do you have a driver's license when they requested data entry, it annoys me to spend $24.

I look forward to some great suggestions.

Comments

  • I do not understand these situations, and my business can not afford paying over $100 per non-existent Lead/Booking or person’s lack of character and childish games with intent to cause financial and character harm to me, my family, employees and my business. In addition to paying Thumbtack $112+ fee, we paid for fuel cost to drive to this person’s specified location (which is also falsified), our time to attempt to reach this person by phone, by messaging and driving to location and we may have lost an actual paying customer because our Thumbtack schedule was booked and blocked for 2-3 hours for this specific Direct Lead Booking.

    I understand that Genova Electric LLC is not the only business frustrated with such large losses over false leads and bookings as several of the contractor businesses in our region have also voiced their concerns and frustrations on multiple occasions as we are all familiar and in communication with each other, and similar situations to this one I’m dealing with have happened to many other contractors in my region which brings me to make a suggestion to help avoid these problems.

    -Thumbtack needs to implement a small fee for Leads to book a business.

     ($30-$50) for leads/customers in order to book a pro. This fee will be required at time of booking and the business/pro would use this booking fee towards the services provided, so essentially the fee is waived if the pro is hired for the job since it is deducted from the total cost of the services rendered. This “Lead Booking Fee” serves as insurance to only get booking requests by serious customers who need services from businesses such as mine. It helps ensure the calendar opening and blocking is more convenient, reliable and available as only serious customers would be willing to commit with payment to book us directly. That alone benefits serious customers and Businesses by making time availability open for customers who actually need help and services and businesses can better rely on real job requests, profit and growth, which in end benefits Thumbtack by providing Customers/Leads with great reliable and growing businesses and helps Thumbtack growth alongside us as well, and diminishes scams and scammers. 

    Bottom line is Contractor Services will always be required and without Contractors to complete repairs and installations consumers will suffer a loss. Thumbtack, by supporting your Pros and protecting them from unnecessary losses, you are protecting Thumbtack, Leads and businesses using Thumbtack, otherwise if businesses continue losing profits and time, we (businesses using Thumbtack) will soon not be able to pay Thumbtack for referrals and we all lose our businesses, jobs and earnings.

    Thank you for your time, I certainly look forward to hearing back from you and resolving this very problematic issue.

    Sincerely,


    Genova Electric LLC

    Owner/GM: Jesse (480)274-7228

    Admin/Scheduling: (480)274-7230

  • I totally agree with your logic! Too often, I put a thumbtack service on pause because of the costs associated with leads that are not qualified or spam.

    Southern Connections, Inc.

  • GenovaElectricAZ
    GenovaElectricAZ Posts: 10
    edited December 2023

    Thank you, Southern Connections, Inc.!

    I have done the same thing, but it doesn’t resolve anything, so I have been trying to think of some suggestions… may not be quite the greatest suggestion but we have to do something or we will fall even harder. Hopefully we can all come together in creating a decent solution to help each other…us the family owned businesses can’t be the only ones to take ALL the monetary responsibility for everybody and every mistake. I’m denied a refund of over $112 for some fake jerk booking us and canceling the next day, and also over $100 for another guy booking us by checking off every most expensive electric job request and in comments specifying it’s an installation and setup of a smart thermostat (a/c specialist job)… $250.00 in 3 days lost for just 2 direct bookings, but my refund request denied. These customers need to take some responsibility by paying to book time on our schedule which I’d be happy to waive or include towards my service price if they do hire me, but if I’m not hired then that payment is for the amount of time my calendar was booked/reserved. Responsibility needs to be shared, not expected to be tossed on the Pro alone.