Exhausted by contractors not following through & not being able to review this on HomeStars!!!!

by Heather in Richmond Hill North about 4 years ago

HomeStars policy cites that if a verbal or written quote was given, that consumers can post a review. However, this is not accurate. In fact, a review cannot be posted until a service is provided to the customer, and “no show” discussions, according to Brian Sharwood of Homestars, are simply not permitted. I have had two instances in the past 2 months of contractors who are ranked “top” in Toronto (even in the best of ’08 categories) not follow through on quotes that they have given me, and they have backed out providing the service we agreed upon/discussed. Leaving a customer stranded is something I believe that customers DO want to know about! If someone is using these services, it is most like because they need an expert because something is wrong with their home, which most would agree that there can be no worse feeling. When customers are stood up, or treated direpsectfully, it is not good business practice. If I knew a company did this, I would likely avoid contacting them from the start. When I have been in other countries, customer service is treated with so much more dignity. In North America, we have clearly abandoned this practice. It is unfortunate that HomeStars only further supports this lack of human dignity.

by Brian from Ossington Village about 4 years ago

Heather,
I agree with you 100%. Our top ranked customers should be returning their calls and respecting their quotes! It’s just good business practice.
We are working on finding a good solution so our reviews can post something about a company when they don’t show up to a job. It’s really not fair to the customer when they don’t show up.
We’ve worked on the premise so far that reviews should be based on the job performed, but clearly we need a little more nuance to our model. How we solve this is something we are working on and want to improve. Look for some developments in the next few months.

by Cate in Davisville about 4 years ago

I just found this thread, and thank Brian for his response. I agree with Heather, and see also my post on another Forum discussion here about “no shows” and customer service:

http://homestars.com/forums/everything-else/topics/159-unwarrented-negative-reviews-from-customers-we-have-never-done-any-work-for?page=1#posts-551

by Isabelle & Laurence in Greektown almost 4 years ago

Hi Brian,

Need to add my voice to the chorus here. We’ve hired several companies based on their Homestars reviews, and have never been disappointed… until now.

As of tonight, we’ve been stood up by one of the top-ranked companies on this site… no once, but TWICE.

I’d like to think that the way a company handles prospective customers is a very important aspect of their business, especially when you consider that the primary market for Homestars is the prospective customers. When I’m using your site to find someone to do a job, I’m just as concerned about whether or not I can count on them to follow through on appointments, return my calls in a timely fashion, honour the quote they give me and provide me with reasonably friendly service along the way… otherwise, the fact that they scored a 9.5+ for the jobs they actually complete is meaningless.

Looking forward to seeing the upcoming improvements. We’ll continue to rely on your site for recommendations, but we’ll be taking them with a grain of salt from now on.

by Maret's Quality Home Cleaning almost 4 years ago

On the other side of the fence, we have had clients do a “no show”. Please consider both sides. A client finds our listing and our reviews, thus, arranges for a quote. Lately, we have had 3 clients, no show. We arranged in-home estimates as we always have only to find out that the client is not home, nor answers their cellphones. We don’t get returned calls. We spend alot of time working with our clients on the phone so we can reduce this situation. If a client can post a 2.0 review of us because they were angry for suspension of service, I can imagine how our reputation can be reduced by a “possible” client. Homestars, please consider both sides of the business relationship in making your descisions for reviews.

by Footprint Construction Inc. Mississauga almost 4 years ago

In these busy months it can be hard to keep up with all that is asked of us. If we can’t make an appointment a phone call takes 20 seconds, and I could be saving somebody tonnes of aggrivation… 20 seconds well spent. We typically work 9-10 hours, sit in traffic for two, spend at least an hour a night working on quotes from the weekend before, and then spend the first half of Saturday and even sometimes Sunday meeting people. Each quote I do takes a minimum of 2.5 hours of my time, do you know how many people will even call me if they decide to use some one else? Maybe 1 in 20.

by Henry in Don Mills almost 4 years ago

How about a separate rating for “responsiveness”? This would be displayed somewhere alongside the main rating and could be given by homeowners who got a no-show, who never receive the quote that was promised, who have to make repeated phone inquiries without hearing back from anyone, as well as by those who had the work performed and would fill out the main rating.

by Brian from Ossington Village almost 4 years ago

These are great ideas. There seems to be some agreement that the main rating should remain based on the actual work, but we need another flag, or monitor for either pre-sale, or post-sale service so others can be aware. Would I be reading this right?

by Tony from Dura-Lock Inc. almost 4 years ago

I agree with the consumers on here as well as Footprint Consturction. A 20 second phone call does save alot of aggrevation for the client waiting at home. Some weekends, I will meet clients from early morning til dark, it is inevitable that we may be late, or so late that we must cancel and re-book an appointment. My appointments are every 2 hours 7am, 9am, 11am snd so on, with just enough time to pickup a drive-thru meal. Sometimes I run into clients that just need more time than allocated, and if it happen twice in a day, I may have to re-book a client. I typically get negative feedback on the phone, however, this is inevitable, and I just do what I can and roll with the punches. I now call every client before I depart for there house, to make sure they’re home and available, because I have showed up several times and not found anyone. Than I have to re-schedule and drive to there house again to give a free estimate.

by Footprint Construction Inc. Mississauga almost 4 years ago

We have found that a courtesy call one day in advance goes a long way to making sure all parties are present or accounted for. I will call you on ‘Friday’ to confirm ‘Saturday at 10 am’ for example. If I haven’t called you, please call me sometimes I write your information down on a scrap of wood 30 ft off the ground or 200 ft. from the truck…… alot can happen in between. Sometimes that scrap of wood gets lost or thrown out before I have chance to transfer the information to my appt. book.

by Gabby in Riverdale almost 4 years ago

Hi Brian,
Any news or updates on this issue regarding pre and post service comments. I like the idea of adding a category of “responsiveness” as suggested earlier by another poster. I have found that this becomes increasingly more important when you are doing a large reno job on your home which involves obtaining numerous estimates from various companies and trades.