5-Star Review Deleted by Thumbtack without reason

[DJStevie]

@cranichik 

Good point!!!

DJ Stevie 7-26-2019

[taylor]

@cranichik The only times a review will be removed is when it violates our Content and Review policy. Outside of those terms, we cannot remove a review. We want customers to have the ability to share about their experiences they've had with pros both on and off of the platform. Keep in mind even if the pro is not hired but has still had an interaction with the customer, they can leave a review about that experience. We know how difficult it can be to receive negative reviews, and it's important to us that professionals on Thumbtack are represented as well. This is why we give professionals the opportunity to respond publicly to all reviews. When you receive a negative review, we encourage all pros to respond professionally to show other potential customers that you offer quality services regardless of the situation. 

[DJStevie]

@taylor 

Any chance on having customers post reviews for Pros AFTER we do the job? We have suggested that numerous times, and personally, it make alot of sense. Also Pros should be able to leave reviews for customers so other Pros have a chance to review in case customer is looking to hire a different Pro for another or same type of job.

DJ Stevie 7-26-2019

[cranichik]

@DJStevie Like Uber and Lyft. The driver rates the passenger, as well as passenger rating the driver.

[babybrown]

Thanks,

I understand that there are stringent guidelines in place but the way they are handled is amateur and inflammatory to say the least.

As an (potential) asset to your business I have to tell you guys that the following language is not only unfair but it's also devisive and de-motivating. I'm talking about:

:: offense on file,  fake reviews associated with you, violations ...serving notice, account monitoring, loss of access etc etc etc.

This type of verbiage is incredibly disheartening to honest folk like myself - especially when it is a decision based on imperfect and inflexible algorithms.

The review in question was honest and well within TT's stated guidelines. This was from a client that I work with on a consistent basis and TT sent an email containing all the above language TO MY CLIENT! As though she were some kind of criminal.

Please fix your enforcement of simple protocols so that you don't make your pro's feel like shysters or common criminals.

Thanks guys

[MR]

@babybrown  I have, on several occasions had to say that I was in no way affiliated with TT, nor am I an agent for or are they an agent to me to separate my firm from things that the client felt uncomfortable about in the beginning of the engagement. For example, they felt that when looking for a lawyer, being offered other lawyers to consider was shady and basically ambulance chasing and wondered if I was making that happen on their request. Also, although they did not mind me asking for a review, they found it questionable that the system was auto-asking them to post a review even before the retainer was signed, which made the lead feel uncomfortable. 

They were very relieved when I described what TT is  - and what it is not. 

They also were taken back when they received an email from TT asking if the lead hired me... as they thought that was confidential information and that status was between me and the client  - which by way of attorney privilege, they are very correct. I need to ask permission from the client to mark them hired as it would be unethical to do so without their informed consent. I am sure several other professions here have a similar issue that they need to be wary of. 

[Maverick28]

Maybe while you're at it you could remove reviews where a customer lied and said they hired you when they did not and said they did just to leave a bad review because they were not a pleasant person to begin with.

[CTE]

A few weeks ago a customer contacted me to ask if we could come out to his house on a Saturday to move his furniture for him.

"Date: Sep 28 Times: Morning (9am - 12pm), Afternoon (12pm - 3pm) Allow pro to suggest other dates"

Here is our conversation:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi ******, would 9/26 or 9/30 work for you?

-No sorry

Will any day during the week work?

-The 28th the day that I requested would work for me

Okay no problem, we cannot do it on that day but I’m sure there are other pros on thumbtack who would be able to!

-Cool

-----------------------------------------------------------------

The customer then marked the job as hired in order to be able to leave a 1-star review. Clearly this was because we were not available on Saturday, however, our business hours on Thumbtack clearly state that we are closed that day and I thought that I handled breaking the news to him as nicely as possible.

I would not be complaining if I had performed a job for a customer and I thought that we gave 5-star service but received a 1-star review as that is their opinion of our service. However, receiving a 1-star review for a job that we didn't even do and for customer service that clearly did everything right in the given situation and even encouraged the customer to stay on Thumbtack to find another pro is clearly not deserved. Thumbtack told us that the customer was open to other dates in our initial contact with them, but it seems that this was not the case.

I immediately contacted customer support via text message and was told that it was policy not to remove any review as the customer is expressing their opinion. They said that it was a limitation of their system to make sure reviews could not be removed, but Thumbtack does have a review policy where offensive/racist type reviews can be manually removed by them so this must not be a technical limitation. When I pointed out that reviews have been removed for other pros in the past I was then told that they could escalate my issue and email me with a decision.

I gave an email to contact me at and did not hear back for a week so I sent another text and the next agent told me the same thing about how reviews can't be removed but did not update me on the emial. She was able to unmark the job as hired but not remove the review of our service that never happened.

I started using Thumbtack in April and aside from this situation it has been one of my best decisions and it singlehandedly created a new category within my business. I have become a top pro, my budgets set to unlimited in multiple categories for my entire state, and I have happily spent thousands of dollars with Tumbtack but this undeserved 1-star review has been very upsetting and is the only reason I am not a 5 star pro.

Thumbtack's policy of never removing any reviews is extremely scary. It seems like at any time my competition could create a bunch of fake accounts and send me down to 2-star status resulting in a sharp decline in customers and loss of top pro status. For this reason I am questioning the amount that I rely on thumbtack to support my business as it can all come crashing down at any time. I would really like to see that in a situation where I am clearly not at fault they will do the right thing even if it is not something that they normally do.

[Meckell]

@CTE we allow customers to review pros based on any experience they had. That could include any messaging or conversation that went on between the two of you. Even if the customer didn't mark you as hired, they still would have been able to leave you a review. One thing to keep in mind is that customers are able to update their review. I would recommend reaching out to that customer, see if you guys can come to a conclusion, and ask them to update that review. 

[Peter1]

We working super hard to get the jobs, make it right and then get the good review. Your biggest mistake is letting potential customers to leave us bad review without even being on the estimate! Even competition pros leaving bad reviews to us just because is so easy. Such unfair! It should be like before: review only after hiring! Just because someone doesn't like the price or don't understand pricing or work specifics it shouldn't drop our hard  work rating down. Don't like the price - don't hire - simple.