Instant Booking

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Comments

  • Networky
    Networky Posts: 1

    I’ve been charged for instant booking 3 times more than regular lead fee. Any job was from instant booking was way to small to even make a profit. I’ve searched for an option to cancel this stupid service but nothing so far. If you don’t want us to work with you guys then I will find another company to work with. You’re becoming like home advisor. That is sad

  • Azhandyman
    Azhandyman Posts: 18

    Great idea, always I thought the same, create somenting fair where all of us get real benefits, a real community. with fair prices, and real leads. im opening to work in it.

  • Very well said. I deactivated my account, because they were not available to try and reason with. How could they go from being a decent partner to this, so fast?

  • I had been with my busisness hide alredy 90 days!

  • I agree 100% with @Bigdrive99 - rather than fighting a corporation, take matter in your own hands and focus on your personal website etc.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,853

    @Fix_Fitness You have control over when customers can book you (ie if you need 1 day, 2 days, 7 days lead time before a booking). You currently have it set at 7 days — if you received a booking for 30 minutes out, can you please DM me the name of the customer so I can take a look at it? You also have the ability to set a price for a service call, which you haven't yet set. You can do that here.

    @Ashish_Architect @VANiK I always think it's a great idea to have a diversified portfolio of marketing spend, so these are great suggestions.

    @Networky Be sure to check what you have your Max Lead Prices set to, to make sure it is set at a price that makes sense for you and your business.

  • Yes! I have stopped the auto charge when my funds get low and I will not be renewing. But I would like to use every dollar that is in the account so Thumbtack doesn't just get to "keep it".

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  • VANiK
    VANiK Posts: 13

    I've had my account deactivated for quite some time now. IMO, I would highly recommend that any and all focus on your personal websites, social media, etc... and advertise through Google & FB. At least with those avenues, you can control your target market and budget.

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  • @VANiK This is exactly what I’m doing at the moment. So I’m actually happy for the push thumbtack had put on all of us to make that change. I would much rather have my 200 reviews and 4.9 star rating on Google instead!

  • @William_Villarino - what platform have you found as a better alternative aside from the obvious (angie, houzz, bark)

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,853

    @Fix_Fitness that sounds super frustrating, I am sorry. I don't know if this is helpful, but have you tried integrating whatever you use to track your other appointments so that they get automatically blocked on your TT calendar? There are a lot of integrations available - you can see what we currently have here and there is an email address to reach out to there if you don't see the integration you want there. Again, if you've already done this just ignore me, but I want to make sure I am sharing what tools we do have available to make TT work better for you. (And of course you can link your Google calendar as well, if that would help)

  • Matt
    Matt Posts: 167
    edited January 12

    @DustiO i think the main frustration is why do we as business owners need to adjust how we do business to accommodate the needs of Thumbtack? Yes Flex Fitness can integrate and do everything, but even then, the customers that are being sent their way are not quality leads that follow through, and to make adjustments to their business for them seems silly. Main thing we are all asking is the ability to turn a “feature” off if it isn’t working for our business.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,853

    @Matt I am just trying to offer existing resources that could help with some of these pain points. I understand what you are saying, but in the meantime, this may help some folks to have a better experience.

  • @Matt @DustiO "why do we as business owners need to adjust how we do business to accommodate the needs of Thumbtack?"

    This, times 1 million. 

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  • Fix_Fitness
    Fix_Fitness Posts: 18
    edited January 12

    Of course all these things were considered. All the decisions we make have to make “business sense”. This just doesn’t make much sense for us to have to integrate everything only to have to adapt to the needs of TT’s platform. Especially when the return we see from TT leads is by far the lowest of everything else. This was a great platform to supplement the vacancies to make schedules more complete. Nice to have when covid hit. But now, its done a complete 180, while taking everything good, that had been working, away from the pros and customers and forcing everyone to use a structure that clearly doesn’t work well. And its hardly fair for anyone either. To be instantly charged for a lead you know nothing about is practically theft in its own right, when its for a job that you don’t want or doesn’t make sense for you. And for many Pro’s, doesn’t work at all. A big problem with instant booking is the fact that the pro is Forced to accept the booking. What happens when a customer cancels the booking right away, even before the pro sees it? The pro logs in to their account and is Forced to accept an instant booking that has already been cancelled! WTH?! No way to repoet or flag the bad lead. And TT is giving no option to contest the bad lead anymore. So I can’t see how this could be considered anything other than theft. Even when TT claims to offer an avenue to get a reimbursement, the process is made very difficult, forcing the pro to write a meaningless description with minimal character count. And even IF TT approves the dispute, there is no refund. Its a partial credit. So where does the money go that was unrightfully taken from the pro??? They never see a dime of it. TT still keeps the money they withdrew from the pro’s account anyway. Its mind boggling how this hasn’t been prosecuted yet.


    I can’t imagine how these instant booking changes could possibly benefit TT in any way compared to any of the prior. Sure this gets rid of having to staff employees to give refunds and credits all day long for bad leads, etc… But the problem with the previous method of charging pros was, in fact, the stem of the problem all along. This could all be fixed by simplifying the way leads are charged and charge only the pro that lands the job. This is fair for everyone. And legal, at that. The grey zone that TT likes to continue to dance around in has already been crossed into the red as far as the pros are concerned. These 18 pages couldn’t be ANY clearer of that.

    We all understand that TT cares about one thing. Their bottom line. Every change that’s been made over the years exemplifies this to another level each and every time. But this is the story of how many successful businesses end up failing from their own demise… sometimes the people in charge just need to take a step back and check their ego and do the right thing every once in awhile… or they can remain the lonely captain heading for destiny.

  • I received the email as well thinking the same (change has finally come) but nope just the same thing we’ve read on all 18 pages of complaints!

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  • I think they know by now that they'd get roasted alive if they left Youtube comments on.

  • Unknown
    edited January 12
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  • You're 100% right. I remember a policy TT had before, where the customer didnt read your quote, you get a refund. guess what, that policy quicky dissapier and instead the started to charge you for any everithing even if the customer didnt read the quote. And after a time the tons of scam leads I started to get only to hit my budget and take me out from the list until i put more money in the budget. and the fact you say, what happen with the money when is debited from your account, why TT dont give you money back? all the stores around USA do it, why TT no?