Why I am not using Checkatrade ...

I have looked at Checkatrade, and decided that any company that needs to join such a group is probably not very good. I have done very well here by asking for recommendations, from people or businesses whom I already know, and also by looking in the local Parish Magazine. Anybody doing a bad job will soon find that word-of-mouth works for good reports and bad reports. I don't do 'social media', so I can't comment on that.

I hear this a lot, but I must say It served me well when I wanted the internal unit on an Air Conditioning installation re-sited. All my searches turned up zilch. No one wanted the job. Checkatrade found me an F-Gas qualified business who was prepared to do the work...

Dave

All you need to know is the traders pay to be listed on CheckaTrade (and all other listing sites). This means that all feedback is "curated" and any bad feedback has to be approved by the trader before being posted.

I leave it to you to decide on how useful it is for securing competent tradespeople.

You appear to be contradicting yourself.

You had a workman who was a sub-contractor to a firm from Checkatrade and did some good remedial work. You then contacted the workman direct and he ignored you. And this is a reason for not using Checkatrade ???

I have a few tradesmen that I have used more than once BUT often they cannot do the jobs immediately and there may be a wait of 4 weeks or so because they are so busy.

The problem with dating sites is that all the good ones are already taken, and what's left are the loonies...

If you found a good'un, perhaps ask if they can recommend someone in another trade? They might be more willing to if they've verified you're not a loony, since customers can be just as difficult. They might also know which of their mates are busy and which aren't, and they'll know that if their recommendation is bad it might cast a bad light on themselves.

Theo