Although I had a poor experience with one of the professionals I hired through Thumbtack, I want to give credit to Thumbtack itself. After filing a complaint and making several attempts to resolve the situation, Thumbtack ultimately came through and corrected the issue.
The app is easy to use, convenient, and makes it simple to find and communicate with professionals. Most importantly, I appreciate that Thumbtack took my complaint seriously and worked toward a resolution.
While my experience with the particular professional was disappointing, my experience with Thumbtack as a platform was ultimately positive because they stood behind their customer and helped make the situation right.
As a professional using Thumbtack to market my business, I’m extremely dissatisfied with its lead-generation and billing practices. It has recently come to my attention that customers may not be shown contractors’ base pricing before selecting professionals to contact.
This can result in customers contacting multiple contractors, only to discover afterward that the available services exceed their budget. The customer may hire no one, yet each selected contractor can still be charged for the lead. In that situation, the customer’s request goes unfulfilled, the contractors receive no work, and Thumbtack still collects its fees.
In my opinion, this creates a serious conflict of interest. Thumbtack benefits financially from generating contacts, regardless of whether the customer was given enough pricing information to make a realistic selection or whether any contractor ultimately gets hired.
I believe Thumbtack should display meaningful base-pricing information before customers select contractors and should not charge professionals for leads that were never financially viable. Contractors deserve transparent fees and genuinely qualified leads—not charges generated from customers who were unaware of the likely cost.
Based on my experience as a paying professional, I consider these practices unfair and lacking in transparency. I would caution other small-business owners to understand exactly when Thumbtack charges for leads and how little control they may have over whether those leads represent realistic opportunities.
A lot of of us feel like we were getting ripped off and customers are choosing “open to other dates” which screws up any sort of refund for us. It has gotten worse and prices have gone up. Thumbtack needs to think about their vendors and reassess how they feel when it comes to refunds.
Extremely disappointed with Thumbtack. I was charged for leads while my calendar was BLOCKED and I was unavailable. One lead even had a response deadline while my availability was closed.
I contacted support and they still refused to refund me. Thumbtack is charging professionals for leads they cannot reasonably accept. In my opinion, this is unfair and feels like stealing money from hard-working professionals.
Be very careful using this platform and monitor your charges closely.
Angi
Taskrabbit US
Angi Leads
Networx
Bark
HomeAdvisor
American Home Shield
Handy