Your feedback in action: Refund policy update.
Hello all, I am excited to share that Thumbtack has launched an update to the 15 minute cancellation refund policy. Thanks to your feedback and to the Pro Advisory Board for helping us find a solution, we are expanding the 15-minute instant book cancellation refund policy to 1 response hour (8am - 8pm).
Many of you have expressed feedback that 15-minutes is not enough time to allow for customer cancellations, and at times it causes pressure to be responsive at late hours of the night when customers make a booking after response hours (8am - 8pm your local time). With this update, you will have:
- Better protection from instant book cancellations. You are protected when a customer cancels a booking within 1 hour of booking you, giving you more time to firm up project details with your customers.
- No pressure to respond to bookings at night. While we encourage you to respond quickly, you shouldn’t have to respond to late-night bookings. If a customer makes a booking anytime after response hours (8am - 8pm) and cancels overnight, the cost of the lead will automatically be credited to your Thumbtack account.
We are committed to continuing to work towards improving the quality of leads and bookings but understand life happens and customers may need to cancel after booking. We hope this update gives you some peace of mind for those instances, and we look forward to sharing more improvements we are working on to bring you high-quality connections with customers.
Comments
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That is so amazing. I'm so glad to hear that us on the pro advisory board input is helping the other top pros. We worked on this relentlessly with the staff at Thumbtack to try to better this situation. They're always going to be hiccups along the way during a rollout. As long as we keep a level head and work for better solutions we are all going to come out on the end of it better than we ever were. Go thumbtack
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Let’s just get rid of the requirement that we must accept instant bookings thanks
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I'm sure that would make a lot of prose happy around America but surprisingly there's a lot of different categories where instant booking really helps the pro I'm on your side I don't really like instant booking because it can kill your budget really quick but I'm sure there's some good points to it and it might be helpful to some other categories however I think it's here to stay and we must amend are procedures to make it work for us one way or another. I hope your business is doing well and we want each pro to succeed and we want Thumbtack to prosper so that we have the lead generation. I got 11 leads yesterday in one day I've never seen anything like it. I know it's a little expensive and some bids but all in all I've never had a week where I haven't made money warm regards Brett Douglas Central Florida top pro since 2018
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I appreciate that they are trying to make it better. I go on Thumbtack from time to time to see how it's going and notice how dead it is with cleaning providers. I'm guessing everyone has pulled out since IB. All I ever see are new people with low and poor ratings. Not sure how Thumbtack has not gotten the picture that we dont want IB at all. Aside from it causing other issues (I won't get into detail because management doesn't care anyway), we now have to bother people to cancel their IB which in my experience, a lot of customers dont know how to navigate the platform and can't find the cancellation buttons. I won't be getting back on until it's completely removed. Even if customers stay with their IB, later they can cancel and the cost of lead is just ridiculous. No thanks, I have been on other platforms pulling customers in and Thumbtack is just not it.
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The funny thing is that there is a whole thread of HUNDREDS of people saying they don't want IB AT ALL and the best Thumbtack has done is increase cancellation time. Just goes to show how much they don't value our opinion. Wondering how much money they have lost since the IB features and all pros jumping ship.
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What about instant booking that we decline because the jobs descriptions is outside of our preference
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What of refunds for Booking that after 1 week cannot get a customer to confirm & we waste a 1/2 day window when the never confirm up to the day of? This keep happening with pushed out Booking...
Thanx, Bob
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That is an interesting point. Hmmm. Anyone can add something to this
Only by all of us working together to fix a common goal are we all going to succeed. We're all either going to drown or we're going to swim through this and make it to the shore. I don't see how any other pros can read people pouring out their heart and not respond. I don't have an answer for this but I definitely feel your pain and I hope that somebody can jump on here and help out God bless you my friend praying for you from Florida
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Instant Bookings "a Week Out" for Attic Insulation, when we are in a Heat wave in MD is not good... They want comfort / relief fast... & my budget was eaten up by a "no response"? Saddening...
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Cont. of HELP Post above... Sorry I would call if there was a # & not place this on Blast... but after we have been with you all almost since your start :(
The below is your refund policy & you just denied me a refund and I ask for the below reason? HuH?
The Booking was set 7 days later & MD is in a heat wave, no one wants to wait 1 week for attic insulation & comfort? This is my fault and my charge not, when the customer never clicked Confirm or Read Message. (send 3... in TT Window)
TT Guarantee? "You only pay for customers who contact you to learn more about working with you."
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You guys they dont care. Why are you still using the platform?
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I for one use it because I am loyal to thumbtack. I have used it since almost the beginning. It has become my number one source of revenue
But it absolutely works for me
I set a weekly budget of $300 for leads. In all the years I have used it I can honestly say I have never lost money
It is incredible for my landscape business in central Florida
Plus. I have been honored to visit there and have met some great staff
I feel like family. I will always promote them
Thumbtack works if you work it
Warm regards
Bret from Orlando
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Help
Can you text me later on today at 3865008217. Thanks Bret
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We hear your frustration, and we genuinely appreciate your feedback. Feedback like this is why we make policy changes (like we did with the refund policy), and helps us improve Thumbtack.
We started Instant Booking because we've seen that it significantly increases the likelihood of a lead turning into a job, compared to the typical leads.
But again, we hear you. Thank you for your input. It's invaluable in helping us make Thumbtack better for everyone.
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I'm sorry to hear your experience was frustrating but thank you for taking the time to share your experience. We understand that Instant Book (IB) has been challenging for some of our pros. Our goal with IB was to streamline the hiring process and increase the completion rate of jobs. However, we recognize that this approach might not be ideal for everyone.
We're actively working on making our platform more user-friendly, including simplifying the cancellation process for customers. We hope you'll consider giving us another chance in the future. Thank you again for your input.
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Thank you for your question. You will only receive bookings if they match the targeting preferences that you've set for your business. If you're receiving leads that aren't a good fit for you, it may be time to review your targeting preferences to see if there's something that needs adjusting.
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Oh, man. I'm sorry to hear about this experience. We understand that sometimes things don't go as planned and it sounds like this customer must have had their plans change.
We don't know why some customers choose to go quiet after time. I wish I could say we did know.
I would suggest adjusting your lead time to only allow for jobs that are ready to start within a day or so. By changing how far in advance customers can book you, you take more control over the delay between getting the booking and starting the job. This can be changed in your settings and I've linked to that page for you. Be sure to go to "Calander and availability."
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Thank you so much, Bret. We appreciate your responses here!
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rileymcgriff, HUH... I am 1 day out on a lead yet takes us 4 days to get to a home to Work. Maybe you need a Contractor to change your Pages terminologies... & our (so-called yet paid for) customer NEVER clicked your Online Page to accept any of our Chats.
You should read your Policy that says "No Rely... No Pay".
I am sure your Office Staff get paid no matter if a customer go forward or not... So they can force the most leery to set a Estimate Date customer on a Calendar for $20.00? Right? Even if a Week Out like ours, when surely one will just call someone else. The Only days we have OFF No Estimates are Saturdays... BTW.
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rileymcgriff, Also what does this mean of your in our Chat? For the Customer NEVER acknowledged anything from us? They did not even Confirm to us after 23mins...
To YOUR: "We don't know why some customers choose to go quiet after time"...???
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Bretdouglas, We have been with them since the start for they seemed honest & affordable. If we did not build up an all 5 Star ratings over the years I would probably look elsewhere, yet TT used to work very well for us.
All I can think is they were bought out & like what happen to Angi List after that... they went to "Hell in a hand-basket" quickly...
Putting Profits over Loyal Customers.
Sad Déjà vu :(
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Awww. There has been chaos. But I still see the beauty within. I hope that it's still profitable for you no matter the little quirks that we have to deal with I strive to do the best I can every single month I'll put up with their nonsense because I still do exceptionally well with their platform. I've tried all the others and none of them seem to work right for me. I just like to see everybody succeeding on Thumbtack like we are. Because we definitely have got it dialed in and we make money every single week
I pray every night that every contractor will become as just as successful and love Thumbtack like we do I would never want them to go away
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All I can say is and this is the God's honest truth. There's never been a week that I haven't made huge return on my investment. I hate to mention numbers and figures because then you're going to have haters no matter what. But let's just say I do at least $30,000 a month with just Thumbtack alone. And even if I spend the $300 a week at $1,200 my roi is incredibly through the roof. I just like every other contractor hate to spend an instant booking for $120 when in reality that b**** should only be $60. But we also must admit we're not Thumbtack and we don't know what they're expenses are. I have met Marco and he seems like an amazing gentleman. He welcomed us to his facility and entertained us and fed us. You can't ask for a nicer guy and if he's making profit that's his business he thought it up he's making it work and who am I to argue with that. I just keep adjusting my bottom line so that I always make a profit if you need help if you need any understanding of how you can tweak the system please reach out to me directly. 386-500-8217. I'm not paid by Thumbtack and they don't even know who I am I might be a top pro for all these years I might actually be on the pro advisory board. But I'm a simple man who wants to reach out and lift every other contractor up to grasp each one's hands and lift them just like I've been lifted. I don't stress on the future because I know a thumbtack's there I will always have food on my table my bills paid and I'm laughing all the way to the bank every single month. Reach out to me and let me help you to become a thumbtack wizard just like I am
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Good for you and I am sure your Golden Reviews of them keep you at the top.
I can do reviews too... Yet I call Black , Black., and as needed I will do with the BBB and elsewhere.
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Lol. I am not at the top. I rank the lowest in my area because I pay the lowest for leads.
I work thumbtack to benefit me. But good luck in your business and which ever direction you go. I wish you well. We strive to lift everyone up .
We are a team. May your journey be fulfilled
Warm regards
Bret
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Bretdouglas, I dont know how long you have been in Biz, yet I 17+ years & "Losing money with a Zero Return is never Profitable"...
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Well. I have been in business for over thirty years. I have never lost a dime with Thumbtack. We are landscape installation contractors and I honestly can say Thumbtack drives $30,000 a month in business for us.
I have never not made a huge ROI on my weekly leads.
However the interesting thing about Thumbtack is nobody's business models are the same. We at one point over 30 trucks and we're doing $3 million a year in revenue and we would have never been able to sustain that using thumbtack. Once we got rid of our large business and downsized it's been an incredible tool for us to use. However we're scaled to the perfect size for us because we can sell enough leads and then shut off Thumbtack do the work and then come back open it up and bid again. However we're in seven different categories for landscape installation so there are so many opportunities one day we're doing irrigation the next we're doing pavers or we're doing tree work. I can't compare my business model to others I will just say the Thumbtack works for us and I will continue to praise it and use it
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They're not going to change anything. This has been going on for over a year and this thread is filled with hundreds of people saying the same thing. They only listen to what they want to hear and they make ridiculous little updates with exciting news about how they changed one tiny little thing but still doesn't help the pro. I'm surprised people are still on here. I'm assuming it must be just a bunch of newbies that probably got a promotional email from thumbtack and are giving it a try until they realize what garbage it is. It's so unfortunate because thumbtack was such a thriving platform last year. I will be waiting on a lawsuit because it will be sure to come. The crazy thing is I know the admins see these messages and they just completely ignore them or reply with the bogus work lingo response.
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May I ask how much an average instant booking cost for you and what is the size of your average job? It may work for you because your revenues are big on average, versus handyman, painters, cleaners Etc. Some jobs are only one or $200
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