Thumbtack is not working more for me

[Russ86]

I'm doing wedding videography and photography. In 2018 I was hired 27 times. The old system was ok for me, the system when I send quotes and I paid if customer respond also was ok for. But after TT disabled the future for customer to see quotes sent via Jobs tabs is not working more for me. I have Promote activated when it started and gues how many times I was hired? 1 time for a 4 hours event. I'm not interested in this kind of events lengh, but I can not limit the hours, because I'm interested just in 8 hours event of full day. Also for videography I can't set price for 8 hours I can do this just for 1 hour what is not correct, for the photography you can set your price for 1, 2, 3,4 hours...  I spoke with TT support about this 6 months ago and nothing.  But not this is the only problem. The quality of the leads are not the same, if in 2018 I had 3-7 quotes/daily with $2000-$3000 budget now I can see just one in 2-5 days. A lot of Under $500 or $999-$1499. Also when a new customer contact me via Promote you gave him 3 more sugestions to send Availability request. How can this customer send availability request to this 3 suggested vendors whithout checking their's profile? Maybe this customer don't like what your sugested vendor is doing? why sugest vendors should pay for this? for request from customer what didn't saw his profile? and many many issues. Just activate the Job tabs let the customer see our offers and it was sent via job tabs and improve the quality for provided leads.

27 weddings in 2018 and 1 in 2019? How do think, this new system is working?

[Meckell]

@Russ86 The Jobs tab is indeed still available for pros to utilize and it's a great way to get connected to customers. If a job is in the Jobs tab, that means that the customer has already reached out to another pro. However, we still give other pros the opportunity to send those customers a quote, which the customers will see. 

Customers are able to see pros profiles before deciding to reach out. That's the great thing about Search Results. Customers can look through as many pros profiles as they want and the pros aren't charged until the customer reaches out. 

Although there isn't an option for you to only receive 8-hour jobs, it is great feedback. I'll be sure to pass this along.  I'm sorry to hear that Thumbtack isn't working for you. You've had 38 hires in the past and I want that same success to continue for you! I'm happy to help with whatever you need. If you'd like to further this conversation or have me look into your account, just send me a private message. 

[Russ86]

Customer will not receive any notification in Inbox or email about my offer from Jobs Tab. He need to open Projects tab to see just Interested Pro.

If customer contact one Pro he will receive a tab with 3 more suggestions and the customer can just click to contact this suggested pro. I can send you a screenshot to understand what I mean.

Option with 8 hours is available for photographers and for videographer should be the same, because is the same customer, 90% same details.

2 days ago paid $30 for under $500 offer 6 hours job. Why i was charged if I have set my price $299 / h. This is not right..

[thattechjeff]

Contacted by 4 folks so far today and paid to respond to them.  Then as it happens 90% of the time-no further response.  Like many others I am losing more money using Thumbtack than I am making.

I am baffled as to why this occurs so frequently.  I could see a small percentage but 95%?  

[Meckell]

@thattechjeff We understand that it's frustrating when you respond to a customer and then you don't hear back. In this situation, I would give the customer a little bit more time. If you responded to them earlier, it's very possible that they have stuff going on throughout the day and they will get back to you later. This post here has some great tips on what to do if a customer ghosts you, be sure to check it out! 

[thattechjeff]

We feel it's a flaw in the Thumbtack system but we appreciate your input!

[DCFGCatering]

0 hires in 2019

Havent even gotten a review since 2018; and I have over 100 Reviews.

[ElGolem]

As a Pro working in the writing/editing arena, I could not agree more.  For one thing, the system places way too much emphasis on how quickly you respond to job requests.  The busier the Pro, the less likely s/he will have time to monitor the site for listings and jump on them with well thought-out quotes. 

Secondly, whatever algorithm they use for pricing quotes seems to bear no relation to the actual value of the job.  Third, they do not require job posters to provide sufficient information to determine whether it is worth the $10 to send a quote for a job without any way of determining if it is a good fit. 

Third, I resent paying in advance only to get a moronic vague response from the job poster that leads nowhere, especially when posters are not required to furnish even the most basic information.  Good working relationships are based on good communication between both parties, and Thumbtack's business model discourages this due to the high-cost of intiating a communication with scant information about what the job entails.  In the case of writing jobs, the customer themselves often does not realize how much work their project will require.

At least for my business, they would be better off allowing a free-market economy such as other sites like Upwork--allow Pros and those who need help to have a free interchange (without time restrictions) to determine if they are a good fit to work together, and then take a a percentage of agreed-upon fee as their commission.  A revenue model like that would inure to the benefit of both sides.  

[Maidtronics]

Thumbtack does not work properly. It has malfunctioned in many different ways for me. I have submitted photos showing that it falsely reports that I have 24 messages to get me to go to the app then when I go to the app I actually have zero messages. There is a number of issues like this that I have had. My profile has been viewed just under 400 times and I have only received around 5 leads. I have been hired 0 times but charged a lot of money. Of course they have given me problems about crediting any of the leads . If somebody initiate a conversation with you you respond and they view your message it's a valid charge 100% of the people I've engaged in conversation with have stopped talking to me making the quality of the leads worthless for me. I went to their competition and immediately started getting leads that converted to jobs. Thumbtack has been unable to provide any information about their system working and properly even though I've submitted photos.