Downside of working thru Angie's list
So I am a business paying to be part of Angie's list. I have gotten legitimate work but here is my issue as a sole proprietor trying to grow my clientele with mutual trust and professionalism. Angie's has a message board that allows me to speak to leads about getting a job with them. Regardless of if I book these jobs I am charged for the lead I accept. I am given a call or message option to communicate thru Angie's list but I don't get a phone number until the customer accepts. Even if they give me a number many times we still communicate through Angie's job board. I will say, about 75% of the time I get the app scrolling forever or a message that says 'oops, try again.' I paraphrase. This means I lose jobs, there goes $40, I look non communicative, and possibly could get a bad review. I and others could, and do, get frustrated, confused, ect. Everytime I try to communicate this it seems to be during the high volume weekend. The bot can do nothing. Right now a gentleman asked me to give him my contact because he is busy presently. Great! The position is open. Maybe I won't lose money on commiting to reach out on a lead. I can't. I don't have his number. I have a messaging system thru Angie that won't work. I look like I haven't followed up or don't want and need the work. I look like I am not accountable in what I say because I look like I'm not doing it. It makes my word something that holds no worth. It looks like I don't value my customers or possible customers needs or time. It may seem like computer glitches happen sometimes and aren't a big deal, it is a costly huge deal. Every other aspect of this site is great. I have felt safe, customers don't cancel once they commit, ect. But this is like having a clubbed foot. If I were to have any emergencies or problems at the job what would I do? I am really annoyed. Hopefully they figure it out. Their employees r a reflection on the legitimacy of the app. It looks bad on them to.