Charged for leads who stop responding

ZerianProPainting · 2:53AM

I would like Thumbtack to improve its lead charging policy. I have paid for several leads where the customer sends only one message, such as “Hi,” and then stops responding. They don’t provide an address, schedule an estimate, or confirm that they actually want the job, but I am still charged for the lead.
As a small business owner, these charges add up quickly without giving me a real opportunity to earn the job. I believe pros should have better protection and an easier refund process when a customer does not continue the conversation or provide enough information to move forward.
I hope Thumbtack considers changing this policy to make the platform fairer for professionals. Thank you.

EricGilletteDOTcom · 4:41AM

I second this. Thumbtack makes it too easy for the customer to simply disappear - or to "race" pros against one another. I've had that happen several times, where I'm booked a week out, and the customer will schedule with me, only to have another pro come and do the work before our scheduled appointment. What's worse is the customer nor Thumbtack notifies you this has happened, so you block off the time on your calendar only to be met with a "dead appointment" the day of. You call the customer and they tell you: "Oh, yeah - so and so pro did the job already." It's worse when you arrive at their location to be told this at the door! I wish Thumbtack would stop making customers select more than one pro to encourage customers to race pros against each other. It helps Thumbtack's bottom line since they get to charge a fee to more than one pro, but hurts ours as pros since customers are encouraged to "race" us against each other with absolute impunity.

Charged for leads who stop responding

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