Rated people for tradesmen

I've just used Checkatrade for a scaffold company and they were excellent as described. Also had a gas-hob fitted by one of their guys a few months ago and he was OK too. The builder who took my chimney down though, was recommended by a neighbour, which I prefer really.

I've used Check a Trade with considerable success. I wouldn't definitely decide to employ someone based on the site, but it's a very useful way of building up a shortlist.

Bert

In message , Bert Coules writes

" I have no doubt there are many fine tradesmen on the site; I have spoken to people who?ve had good experiences with Checkatrade.

However, I began to wonder where the less-than-glowing reviews were; even just the average ones. It was then I looked further into how Checkatrade operates. Workmen pay more than £800 to feature on the website.

?Members?, as they call them, are interviewed before they are accepted, they are required to hold current public liability insurance and the correct qualifications for their trade. Checkatrade also checks ID and takes five references from previous customers.

Once on Checkatrade, a workman is issued with feedback forms to hand out to customers. The forms ask customers to rate the worker on different criteria on a scale of one to ten. The scores are collated and an average given. In theory, customer comments are published straight after each job.

But I discovered that only applies to the positive ones, as Checka-trade makes it very difficult to post negative comments. In fact, the complaints procedure appears weighted in favour of the trades. "

Many thanks for the comments - I will have a look at Checkatrade.

It looks as though the south-west does not feature strongly in the Checkatrade listings. I put in plasterer within 30 miles radius of Torquay and there were no listings - without the 30 miles there was one recommendation in Somerset and the rest were in Hampshire or further afield. Just tried again with joiner and that produced 2 local recommendations.

I will use google to look for similar services.

The trouble with scemes like this is who funds them? If you aren't paying for the service, it's probably being paid for by a vested interest, which makes impartiality challenging for a company which is looking to grow and be profitable. That's not to say it's impossible, but you need to vet the recommendation just as much as the company you pick from them.

Good question...

Tripadvisor has become the defacto go-to place for hotels, restaurants and things to do.

But they are probably funded by referral kickbacks when someone books a hotel or flight through them. Everything else can ride on that.

And they seem very good at maintaining editorial control - eg you do not get the same place submitted 3 times under slightly different names - as was so common on some of the product review sites.

Amazon is my "go to" place for product reviews - but then they sell the products!

So - "Tradeadvisor" - how could it be funded, and yet make it open to review any trade and not just paid up members? Advertising?

Yet a search for "tripadvisor" AND "fake" shows they're no more immune to problems than the next review site

Exactly. But because they carry such a large number of reviews for any given place, fakes are usually obvious - eg if you get a load of 5 stars but there are also many 1-2 stars then the 5 stars are probably fake. Plus you'd have to register a lot of accounts to put in many fake positive reviews without being trivially spotted.

Despite all that it is still the most useful site of its type that has ever been in existance, so I think it's safe to say "good enough".

The last roofer we used made a big point of being on Checkatrade. I mean

1) Job was delayed by 3 days because the tiles he ordered were >50% broken

And this guy has 10/10, 10/10, 10/10 on Checkatrade.

So from personal experience, these sites aren't worth a candle.

The guy we used before the Checkatrade guy was top-rated on RatedPeople. He was less than satisfactory too.

The only tradesmen we have ever used happily have been personally recommended by friends and family. Sadly they've all retired, or moved into other businesses.

I had a personally recommended one who turned out to be a corner cutting numpty. He used to do good work, but buggered several things up for me. Funnily enough he then buggered a later job up for the recommender.

So nothing is bombproof.

Think Andrew had it with got to review the reviews...

Went to a recently opened chain pub food place, reviews on Trip Advisor , strangely polarised, quite a few 4 and 5 star reviews but a large number of 1 stars.

Unusual for somewhere to get a lot of 1 stars, generally unhappy people seem to leave 2 or 3 and a long complaint.

Further reading including the response form the manageress of the new establishment showed what was happening, nearby establishment that had seen a drop off in trade and was retaliating.

Number of reviewers had rated 1 place 5 stars and the other 1 star with extensive comment and then a given third random review with one line comment.

Roofers with 15 google reviews, as one reviewer commented , number of reviewers were so delighted with roofer was only thing they had ever reviewed via google...

Amazon isnt much good for product reviews. Their official policy is that th e review is for the trader, not for the product, and when you're critical o f a product they delete the review when the trader asks them to. So disastr ous & illegal products go uncriticised.

NT

I have not found that to be true at all.

I have seen a *lot* of scathing comments on products - enough to doubt what you claim.

I've always read Amazon reviews as being fairly accurate - they always publish mine, whether good, bad, or (a few months ago[1]) alleging borderline criminality.

I picked a roofer from the "Which" local services site. He was fine, but it's not particularly well populated.

It's simply a worthless marketing gimmick.

Public Liability Insurance is cheap as chips. You could take it out, then cancel it a month later. And the references - are only going to be from highly delighted customers, mates, relatives etc. Nobody is going to provide references from unhappy punters.

If the customer is obviously delighted, you give them a form, if not, you don't. Simple.

Because the 'trades' are paying to advertise.

t the review is for the trader, not for the product, and when you're critic al of a product they delete the review when the trader asks them to. So dis astrous & illegal products go uncriticised.

Well, that was their stated excuse for pulling mine. So the comments on tha t product don't reflect user experience.

And there are plenty of illegal products on Amazon, fwiw

NT