Angie's List--Great Idea or Waste?

[House on the Prairie]

Hey guys! It's been a while since I posted on here, but I wanted to pick all of your well-oiled and educated brains about Angie's List. For those of you unfamiliar, it's a subscription-based service where people post feedback on contractors, doctors, really any business that provides a service. It can be great for newcomers to a city as well as natives who are venturing into work (like a new roof or a kitchen remodel)--like getting a word-of-mouth referral.

I have an Angie's List account and, in general, love it. I recently renovated my kitchen, and my contractor is hounding me daily to give him a good review on Angie's List so that he looks good to other potential customers. Truth is, while I am relatively happy with the job his crew did on my kitchen, I'm not all that excited about him. I want to be fair, but there will be no mistake about who I am in my "anonymous" post, and there are several things I feel like his future customers should know. I would consider using him in the future, but I'd definitely alter how I interacted with him knowing now that his crews may not show up as expected, that I'd have to outline again (and again) what my expectations were, and that I would have to think of most of the details myself (difficult, especially when I'm not sure what roadblocks could come up).

I don't feel like I can give him a glowing review, but at the same token, he knows where I live. Any advice?

[flippinout]

It seems to me that you have a couple of choices here. While you cant give him a glowing report on Angies List, you could point out the good points about him and his crew. With a footnote that there are some improvements that can be made in their work.

Or, you can just come out and tell him that you had a few problems with his work and just wouldnt feel comfortable putting your thoughts on Angies List.

And to be quite honest, if I had hired someone to do contracting work at my home and was not totally satisfied with their work I wouldn't put anything at all on Angies List, and I sure wouldnt have a problem telling the guy why.

Lucky for us, we have a great contractor available in our area so we dont have to use people that wont be there on time or just dont perform properly on the job.

[House on the Prairie]

Thanks, flippinout. This remodel was certainly a learning experience--I wasn't sure what to expect or what the industry expected, for that matter. Turns out, I just need to learn to speak up.

I did end up submitting a report to Angie's list praising the workmanship, and I pointed out that it was unfortunate that the lack of communication as well as the unannounced delays put a shadow on the experience. Luckily, Angie's list allows you to break down the "grade" with individual scores on things like punctuality and professionalism.

After reading other recent reviews of this guy, it looks like he's either having a hard time keeping up with the amount of work he's getting or he's ridiculously unorganized. Either way, if he can't get on the ball, he'll end up having enough free time to set himself straight.