New pricing structure

[Keelie22]

I don’t mind to pay for every time I get hired but it is extremely frustrating and expensive to continue to pay for customers saying “what’s next” or “what’s your availability” things of that nature, only to never hear from them again. I dispute them and I don’t hear anything back. Also there used to be free quotes from time to time, now thing is ever free! I would be able to get hired a lot more probably but I’m scared to pay the fee and then just get a “sounds great, how do I sign up” and then hear nothing again

[TonySpinella]

I agree with you Keelie22. I have also been charged for vauge responses that never turn into jobs. Thumbtack needs to expand the responses to allow for these types of customers who just want an answer to a question before they commit to the job.

[AutumnElectric]

The pressure on pros to utilize promote is continuing...I simply do not understand why a client isn't required to list a defined scope of work, as opposed to '5-10 lights' and then ask 'what's your estimate?'

The past year has become disheartening, I went from 80% of my jobs coming from TT, to 10% so far this year.

[Joekruzel1]

I agree with all of you on that matter ive spent over 200 dollars and only got 2 jobs and only one job was a decent pay. They really should be requried to add more discription. And we should only be charged if we actually get the job. Becauae yea that very vauge discription make you have to respond to get more info on the job just to be able to give a accurate estimate. Cause lets face it no two jobs are really the same as everything comes into play when it comes to making a profit and losing your shirt.. Its either that or it should be a standard price for everything. Cause i would not be against paying a monthy bill at a decent price to have unlimited access to contact customers.

[Lcorrone]

This lead source used to be pretty good now prices for leads have quadrupled and you don’t even get reimbursed when no one responds. In the contracting business you just can’t send a price quote for someone needing a septic system. It don’t work like that. So I say contact me. And lately I never get an answer. Or what’s your availability then never hear nothing again but now we are paying $60 a lead for absolutely nothing. Now I’m scared to even respond. I got way more jobs when they charged $12 a lead

[Kameron]

@Keelie22 while it can be sometimes discouraging when customers don't get back to you it won't be a situation that constitutes a refund. Feel free to check out our refund policy for more information HERE. Not all customers who contact you will end up hiring you, but our goal is for you to earn enough from the jobs you win that Thumbtack is worth it. Here's a good list of things that we've seen directly increase customer responsiveness. 

• Responding within the first 30 minutes of the contact has shown much more success than after the first 2 hours. When responding be sure to add some value to the message for the customer, maybe some small ideas about their job.
• Keeping an eye on your competition through the Insights and working up to as many, if not more, reviews. We've seen that the more reviews a pro has the more likely the customer is to keep engaged.

Ultimately there's not an accurate enough way for us to know when a hire has actually taken place and when a job has been completed. We've seen that the new way we charge per customer response has been much more fair for pros than when we used to charge for every quote sent. With that said we know there's always room for improvements and work hard every day to take in pro and customer feedback to do so.

[DJStevie]

@Kameron 

Please do not take this the wrong way, but the new way of charging Pros isn't fair at all. I've expressed my frustration many times as well as giving suggestions to improve it. What is discouraging and frustrating as well, is that none of mine, nor my peers, feedback is being addressed at all. Because if they were, we would see something positive from Thumbtack(  "we have looked at this particular feedback and trying to address it", etc), just a suggestion.

Please try to understand from not just my side, but majority of the pros as well. We do not want to hear posts like from @JasonB post the other day where some useful tools were taken away from us.

[MR]

@Kameron  regarding your comment "but our goal is for you to earn enough from the jobs you win that Thumbtack is worth it." - I think what a lot of people here are saying is that this is no longer the case and that the pros are now "upside down" when comparing TT fees to their earnings after expenses. Lead generation is only useful if pros are earning more (maybe significantly more) than the lead costs. I know you understand that, so I am not trying to educate - but it just seems as I read all of these messages that TT side-steps the basic issue when responding. I realize there is a lot that goes into all of this, but I still feel some of the basics (that are being well defined and described by the pros here) are still being missed. My biggest frustration is how many people are saying the same thing over and over again since late last year and we have seen no material evidence that TT wishes to change. Just my observation, if others here disagree please feel free to state so.

[trevino-ent]

Why not let us decide when to spend our money on leads we think actually fit us.  I'm not sure what was wrong with that method, and it seems very clearn a lot of people aren't happy with any of the new pricing structures.  I haven't booked anything through TT in a while.  I clicked on an email for the first time in months, and the fee was going to be $37 on a $300 gig.  Do you guys not calculate the financial impact that will have on your members?  You could purchase ad space on a popular search engine for about what I would spend responding to 4 or 5 leads, and, from what I've been reading, those TT leads most likely won't go anywhere.

[Marylyn]

Okay, moderator, I hope you read the post I left a few minutes ago. I am VERY angry and would like an honest answer from you regarding my analogy. I believe that you are not listening. Far too many of us cannot afford to bid blind and have stated that time and again. Creating yet another program where we put our money at risk for little return is not listening. It is price gouging!