California Specific Question
I'm asking this knowing Thumtack operates in all the US and rules vary widely. However, Walmart.com, Amazon, Home Depot ETAL have figured out how to mark products as "not available in XXX State" and prevent shipping to those states. So, the basis for these questions are technically possible.
In California any person performing over 500 dollars in work, material and labor, must have a valid contractors license, an active bond and if there are employees they must have workers compensation insurance on file with the state.
I just went through Thumbtack in my area and it is loaded with multi person operations doing big multi thousand plus dollar jobs that are not licensed. Why isn't there some sort of acknowledgement on the customer/lead side of things stating this basic law? Basically, a 25 or so word acknowledgment the customer must read stating "Any job over 500 dollars performed by an unlicensed person exposes you to liability and risk, shop carefully" or something. In CA if a person gets injured working on a house and they are unlicensed and without insurance the homeowner will be considered an employer and is liable for all the nedial bills. The homeowner's insurance will not cover because they hired an unlicensed and uninsured service provider. Make this warning prominent and unavoidable. That would be the fair thing to do for us licensed folks.
Your system allows these unlicensed operators to directly compete in the area that is legally set aside for the licensed operators. As an example, pull up this guy in Southern California:
Eliseo painterIt shows he's been a top pro for years. His profile says 5 employees and when you do a license check by personal name and business name he is UNlicensed. So, that means no insurance, no workers compensation insurance nothing. This guy is doing massive jobs for people and putting homeowners at risk.
Secondly, I'm willing to bet in the terms and conditions we all agree to without reading there is something about not doing illegal stuff. Where is the accountability on that from a technology point on your end?
Answers
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Thank you for this feedback, I will pass it along to the teams working on licensing. Important to note that sometimes a license on Thumbtack can't be verified (and badged on their profile) if the license is not in their name. So, some people may be licensed, but they are working under another license (ie they work for a larger company, but they have their own Thumbtack profile). We do let customers know to look for licensing and insurance, but we know this is an area where we could improve and we are actively working to make it better for both pros and customers.
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Understood. I'm really trying to give Thumbtack a real chance. I've been buying leads for over a year now and honestly have total and complete buyers remorse on my overall experience.
In California there are way to many unlicensed advertising for work that they are not legally allowed to do. The lead refund process if very much hit and miss. As an example, I got a lead and within the first message exchange the person gave and then immediately retracted a 1 star review. They did that exact thing 3 times within a couple minute during our message exchange as if they were trying to scare me or something. Thumbtack should kick off people like that and refund the contractor.
I'm hanging in but losing hope….
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@HSConstruct Did you report the customer in the app? I would recommend doing so if you haven't. You can do that by hitting the 3 dots at the top of the message thread with the customer. we have Community office hours/networking sessions via Zoom once a week — great place for you to come if you want to ask questions live and get advice/tips from other pros (someone from Thumbtack is usually there as well - usually me!).
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I'm not worried about this person being kicked off thumbtack. I want a refund for this lead and was denied. I pointed out the 1 star thing and it was still denied. I appreciate all your ansers.
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@DustiO One more question on the Opportunity lead section. It appears these leads have are missing fields. None in the work catagories we use show the field where the customer talks about the scope of work. It is hard to want to risk getting charged with limited information.
Is there additional job specific fields (NOT lead contact info) to help make the decision on reaching out?
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@HSConstruct You should be able to see that if you click on the "view details" button - are you not able to see that? And, are you looking in the mobile app or on desktop?
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I'm hitting the "view details" button but man are the details scarce on most of the ones I'm shown.
Second question on the same opportunities section. Certain opportunities do not allow me to send a message. The "send" button doesn't become active even after typing a message.
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The opportunity lead you added in your reply is a good example of a lead I can not respond to. I type into the box but the send button stays inactive.
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It may be that the customer has decided to mark another pro as hired or canceled that project since that opportunity appeared - but to be honest I am not totally sure. I might recommend reaching out to support as they would likely know more about this specific thing than I do!
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I'll reach out. I just went to the Opportunities page, hit refresh and out of the first 5 only one would allow me to actually send a message. 4 had the box, I could type into the box but the "send" button remained inactive. Weird.
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