What did your first 30 days on Thumbtack actually feel like? 👀

Thumbtack seemed like a great opportunity for me and a very cool resource to just start my business and hit the ground running. The reality is I haven't made very much money considering how much I have paid to Thumbtack. I am a handyman and I had a fake customer out of India say they were a business in Florida and that they were working with a homeowner near me and that they needed the lawn cleaned up the locks changed and a lock box installed for keys.

They had found a vacant home on the MLS and they were attempting to have me burglarized the home so that they could list it on Craigslist for rent and then I would have changed the locks and added a lockbox that they had the code to so they could charge someone first month's rent last month's rent and deposit. I had to call the county sheriff the state police and the local police and this is a federal crime. They were going to hire another person off Thumbtack and belittled me and called me names after I refused to do what they were asking because I had called the realtor after I had suspicions. Thumbtack refused to give me a refund for their customer who was attempting to get me to commit felony burglary.

That was probably my worst story but at least once a week something unfavorable happens in my life directly tied to your app and it's at the point where it is damaging my life to attempt to be on Thumbtack. There is no quality assurance as far as who these Pros are so even though I have the tools and the skills and I'm going to show up and do a great job I am competing sometimes against people who may have no skills and just thought this is a quick way to make money and are ripping off customers so it makes my entire business model look bad.

I frequently have customers who are just bargain shopping I had one who was attempting to get me to break state law and said she regularly hires people off Thumbtack because licensed professionals are too expensive when she is performing work that requires a license and permits which is another one that Thumbtack refused to give me reimbursement for.

It would beIt would be much better if thumbtack only allowed customers to contact one pro and then pay for each other Pro that they want to contact.

II had a customer who was allowed to contact me that lives 3 hours from my location and way outside of the area I cover and I was charged almost $70 for that lead and that was just today.

II haven't heard back about a refund for that either.

I feelI feel like there is a high likelihood that this is going to end in some sort of legal action. When you are allowing scammers to hire local small businesses to commit crimes there is a problem.