Instant Booking

Lookslike my time is almost up on year

Hi, I thought I was out of my mind and glad to find 99% of people agree Instant Booking was a HORRIBLE idea. I knew this from the beginning just because I know the way my cleaning business works and I gave it a shot (knowing it was going to be hell) and my revenue on Thumbtack completely TANKED. I was beginning to "make it" on this platform and then they hit us with the forced Instant Booking.

IB doesn't work the way they hoped it would. For starters- there is so much to evaluate in a home in order to give someone an accurate price. The funny thing that happened with my Instant Bookers was I was getting extreme Hazard cleaning and Hoarder home situations that the app was allowing them to "book" for about $400 or so. After they take their cut, my business is left with about $250 for what should be a 20-40 hour job with a whole team of staff. You do the math how profitable a job like this is.

They promise that Instant book gets you more "guaranteed" jobs, so the leads pay off, but honestly, about 80% of my bookings cancel before their service date. And then guess what? I can't get a refund.

I spoke with many customers from our IB's and many told me that they "had no other choice but to instant book to get a hold of me" and that they "didn't mean to book the job"....

It's just an overall terrible concept. There is a reason why we need to communicate with the customers first to evaluate the job. No experienced contractor signs up for a job and gives a price without first evaluating some basic information about what the job entails.

I would be curious to know from their backend, how many of their long time pros have fallen off the platform since IB was implemented because I know I pulled the plug with my $4,000 loss the first month on dead IB leads when I saw we were making no profits what so ever and just digging a huge hole.

Right! I wondered the same thing like if they are tanking and are trying to suck the pros dry before it all crumbles. But my better sense tells me that wouldn't make sense because I was spending thousands on regular bookings and I have completely pulled the plug on Thumbtack since Instant Booking. I imagine their revenue must be tanking as well

I agree! They MUST want the platform to fail.... RIGHT??????? RIGHT?????? Orrrrrrrr. I dont know?

By the time they realize what they did, people will have moved onto another platform and customers too because that is where the more seasoned pros will now have their portfolios. This is actually a great opportunity for another app to go big, no lie!

Since IB I have completely pulled off the platform and running ads elsewhere now. It's a shame because I was willing to give Thumbtack 10k+ monthly for the leads that used to work for me.

They've definitely got a team that reviews the analytics of their revenue and how much it MUST have dipped with pros pulling out since they implemented it. I'm so sorry you are going through this, it's criminal tbh. Have you considered running ads on yelp or google? Can workout for you. I think we all have nothing to lose at this point.

Never had a post with this many comments.... Like, an uproar? Hmmm... :)

I have spoken to clients as well as attempted to book other service providers as well. There is a dark pattern implemented into the booking process which essentially tells people to use instant booking if you're not paying attention (which is most users). Not using instant booking is still there, just hard to find.

Poor strategy to say the least. Definitely designed to siphon the most out of service providers by having clients inadvertently use instant booking as they see it as the only choice while thumbtack can safely say that both options are still available and that it's not their fault people are instant booking.

If they are using this for research, it's highly skewed for instant booking.

@Jeff_jtv2020 @rvgrand I've resorted to leaving my days unblocked and when the instant bookers complain when I change the schedule, I blame it on Thumbtack.

I'm so glad we are all sharing our thoughts on this because I honestly was thinking I was the only one suspecting these things. I dont know enough about that schedule rabbit hole because It didn't take long for me to deactivate all my services when IB began. (Not enough revenue to make a profit due to the IB lead costs eating up all the margins)- but what I do know is that I did check it out from the customer perspective and YES! It does sort of guide them straight into instant booking when they are looking to inquire for an estimate. So in other words- as a customer when you are looking for a pro, you will most likely click on "book" with that pro because it's the only option you see, and in reality you are not decided on booking with them. So many customers have told me this. That they didnt have any other option to get a hold of me. It's forced on the pro and is just another form of modern day ... you know.... Still doesnt make any sense because I am sure many pros have pulled the plug on their services so it's got to be revenue they are losing. I feel bad for the new pros coming in with the little money they have desperately looking for work to get booked on and losing all their money instantly, and then probably chasing their tail probably trying to work and accepting those jobs to make some of it back. I see this thread has been going since October, I don't think they will do anything about it given they have had solid complaints for 3 whole months and still nothing

emailing you now!

They truly are shooting themselves in the foot. I have got to wonder the brains of the people working in these teams.

1. It takes TIME for a pro to learn a system and EXPERIENCE for them to provide excellent service in the industry they are in. i.e. House cleaning.
2. When you run off all the well reviewed and experienced house cleaners such as myself and my employees, your platform now becomes oversaturated with newbies who are coming in to make a quick buck. Well those newbie "Pros" won't take long to upset customers for their inexperienced skills and bad service which will have a few effects: A) Customers will be unhappy, leave the pro a bad review, and after getting burnt out so many times from pros here on this platform- they will never use it again. It will become one of "those" apps that has crappy pros. B) Will burn the newbie Pro out because they are not making people happy, getting bad reviews, and chasing their tail trying to make money after the high leads costs- in turn, this will eventually cause for them to fall off the platform as well. C) The cycle will continue with new unseasoned pros joining with hardly any reviews and Customers will only have crappy options of Pros to hire. The platform will slowly die. I give it till this Summer of 2024 till they start taking desperate measures to get Pros and customers back on, but once people move on (like customers), they will find another platform to find pros and won't try Thumbtack again, at least for a while.

Its like the boat has a water leak and they are waiting to see how much it can flood before it sinks. But by then it will already be on a nose plunge down (queue the Titanic violin scene)

I like to think of the positive in all obstacles I face. This will only force me to get better with running ads on other platforms. Silly us for relying so heavily on Thumbtack. Abandon Ship. Good luck to you all, don't give up hopes on your business. Industries need experienced and seasoned Artisans. <3

Regarding TT's instant booking, is there anything in writing that we signed or agreed to when we signed up that says we could not discuss anything about TT and its procedures or policies or the way they charge us or any verbiage to keep us from informing the public of what TT has done or changed its policy to. Does anyone know this answer?

If nothing is keeping us from just informing the public, no TT bashing, wouldn't that be more beneficial to create change than just stating it here?

We haven't had or earned any money since Oct 16th, 2023, due to the instant booking. Yet I have been told there is nothing wrong with our account. We have however been charged for leads that we cannot get refunds for. I have our account hidden as we cannot afford charges. I have also signed up with Apex media for voice search and Yelp for leads. Although yelp is turning out to be expensive and the lead success isn't really great. Also, on Google with google maps and Ads. This is so crazy. During the pandemic we were so busy I had to sometimes book people 2 to 3 weeks out. Now I go weeks with no work.

I have paid out so much for advertising that it's breaking us and I'm considering just closing business and going to work for someone else.

Has anyone been able to turn around the loss of revenue and are financally doing well? How did you accomplish it?

Signed,

Feeling lost and depressed

Carpet cleaning, tile & grout cleaning, upholstery, and vents and dryer vent cleaning