Angie's Scam
I don’t like Angie’s List. It was recommended by a friend, so I decided to give it a try, and started the signup process. Halfway through, they asked me for money. Apparently there is a membership fee, something they don’t bother to mention in any meaningful way on their website.
So I stopped then and there. I’m not interested in paying for that service… I’m perfectly happy with Google and Yelp and Craigslist and other services that are 100% free and arguably more useful. In fact, I went ahead and found a great plumber on Google that same day.
But then it started. A barrage of emails. So last week I managed to find the “unsubscribe” link in the footer, and painstakingly un-checked each and every checkbox on their unsubscribe page. Wow. I didn’t even become a member, and they had subscribed me to two dozen email lists. Thanks Angie’s list!
But wait. Today, another email. How is this possible? I went back to the unsubscribe page, and sure enough, I’m off all the lists. But still they send me emails? What kind of company does this? Should I expect phone calls soon? Or visits to our office??
So I don’t like Angie’s List. I can’t support a company that behaves this way. I don’t particularly like their business model, anyway, and I think people would be better off looking elsewhere!
Comments
Reading through the commentary that Raymond left about Angie’s List was shocking. I have been a member for the past year. Yes, I pay a monthly fee and I also pay fees for other useful services online such as “Consumer Reports”. I also use free services such as “Craig’s List” for different reasons. Raymond may have over looked the fact that there are people working at Angie’s List to monitor and help their members where as Craig’s List and Google are unavailable for any trouble, questions or feedback you may have. I also get a magazine with coupons for local companies that Angie’s List has seen “eligible to advertise”. All in all, I felt it would be wrong to pass up these negative comments about a service that has helped grow thousands of fabulous “mom & pop” companies and has provided me with something I have not found in any other sources, (phone books, Craig’s List, Google, etc.)-Bottom line though… I love reading those unbiased testimonials before investing my $$$ into someone I know nothing about.
Sure, good point. I doubt my comments will hurt Angie’s List membership in any significant way. But one can hope!
I’ve been using Angies List for a few months now and have come to trust it’s content. As a Realtor I have people calling me all the time asking me to refer a good tradesman. When I go into Angies List I can read comments from people who have had success or failure with a particular vendor. Someone with an overall A rating has received all positive comments on their price, quality, timeliness etc. The people I’ve contacted work very hard to maintain their A rating. Why look to Craig’s List or Google when you can go somewhere and read dozens of comments about someone else’s experience with a vendor before hiring them. It’s priceless information, to me it’s worth a lot more than the small yearly fee I paid. But that’s just my opinion.
True enough. I can appreciate that Angie’s List is aiming for a different market than Yelp or Craigslist. And to some extent, I’m sure the small fee helps to insure better quality content and ratings.
However, my main complaint is the way they pestered me with emails! I’m sure this could be remedied fairly easily.
