No Service Magic

silvertree

Its only Wednesday and I got an offer to accept 2 opportunity leads. Not from Service Magic, but well known competitors.

Mr Paul could you handle anymore work this year? We have a client who wants a sunroom/ 2 car attached garage built. 2 separate jobs, 2 different companies. They can't find a contractor. Yeah, and I can't find my nose. Same pitch always. Its getting old.

I heard this same pitch from another LGS company, but that was awhile ago.
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I also blame the contractors who buy leads. Don't say yes thinking these leads are run the same as leads you get from advertising, different setup and different mindset from clients. Its a FREE easy click to them. You start out with paying for someone who filled out a short form, do you think those people are looking for quality? Use them or not, they are leads but what kind of leads?

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Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

SMsupport

Keep in mind, SM opportunity leads are ONLY sent to our current customers and not used as an outside sales pitch.

silvertree

I kept that in mind. There are quite a few lead services, but some (I believe) are owned by Service Magic, or the Service Magic group of companies.

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Vote for Pedro
Kitchen, bath, St Paul remodeling
Minneapolis Remodel Blog
203K Loan Consultant Minnesota

BSCi

Right, simultaneous phone calls? Amazing if so.

SMsupport

Depending on the Pros' preference of notification - phone call, text, email, servicemagic pro page on website and even pager for those who still use them.

OldSMRep

test

provideus

Paul,

I would like the chance to talk to you, given that you seem to really dislike LGS's with a passion from all of the posts that I have read of yours. Just so you know, I am not going to try and sell you a lead. I am a contractor located over here in Sacramento, CA and am tired of the way things are and would like to talk to you about a solution.

cwatbay

I have used Service Magic with other firms (other than my own) and have had mixed results.

Well guess what - my first lead was a competitor fishing for what we charge for labor and materials. I gave him our standard labor rate and that was it.

I should have known it was a scam lead by the (now apparent) lack of info and mis-leading job requirements.

Anyway, I have turned off leads at Service Magic and I am deciding what to do next.

PS: the only reason I went to SM is because business in NorCal is dead in the water and we need to up our marketing and sales efforts.

cwatbay

Ok, so I had SM for one day, got one bogus lead and got charged 99.00 dollars for my trouble.

However, after doing a search on line of Service Magic complaints from both contractors and customers, I made the decision to cancel this service ASAP before we started racking up multiple CC charges and finding out that SM leads just weren't worth the money.

PS: we get contractor leads (with us as subs) from another source and it is a fraction of what SM charges - and - I already got leads from this source which are bonifide leads.

The fact is: I ran an international marketing and sales firm for 20 years prior to contracting, and, there is absolutely no substitute for getting your name and service out there the good ol' fashion way.

I am curious to know, what everyone else thinks

alanmoore

Post removed by author.

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Alan Moore, Internet Marketing Consultant
"Common Sense Ain't All That Common"

cwatbay

I would like your permission, if necessary, to steal this video for my website. This TV investigation certainly tells it like it is. Watch the so called "contractor" avoid being up front or defending himself, he just slinks around trying to avoid contact - to me that spells C-R-O-O-K.

Also notice how Service Magic avoids any and all responsibility and simply refers every inquiry to the "small print" and disclaimers. This is lawyer talk, and based on how much SM charges per lead, you know they have some high powered attorneys on retainer to squash any legal action or claim against them.

The whole thing is slimy. SM's BS preaching to customers and contractors, then running away and covering up when things happen. Plus, this is just a teeny tiny point of a very large iceberg of screwed over customers and unlicensed/crooked contractors that SM gives the gold star of approval.

heathsteel2

Same type of thing happened to us. Very low quality leads, when they would even answer our phone calls/emails. I think you are better off paying for some SEO work or doing PPC.

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Max

Chief Metal Building System
Prefab Steel Building Colorado

pdxjobs

I found this forum because I am so totally disgusted with Service Magic that I was trying to figure out if I was the only one.
My partner keeps wanting to give this service more time but the leads are deteriorating not improving and I am convinced that Service Magic is only benefitting Service Magic.
Thanks for being here, I'm obviously not the only one.

alanmoore

Post removed by author.

__________________
Alan Moore, Internet Marketing Consultant
"Common Sense Ain't All That Common"

JEBAQCINC

SERVICE MAGIC?......NEVER EVER AGAIN!!.

I just subscribe in this web, and I am glad I found this forum, to express myself about these services, that stall my money, and I am with all of you guys...They riped me off with almost about 1,000 dollars in leads and from about 25 leads I recieved...NONE, have return calls, some their numbers do not exist, some never anwser or return the phone calls, and some customers they told me: ..."DO not call me anymore people"! (in a mean way of course)...why?...because these customers received so many calls that they got so angry, on top of that service magic, make a lots of money from us...Should we do something about it?...should we get together and close this company?...what can we do to stop this once and for all....who owns this Company or web?...Please we should Stop this big Scam, thank you.

J.J.

pdxjobs

Frankly, I am committed to forcing them to look at their customer service and business model. I do not want anyone in this economy to fail but I am so darn mad and feel completely ripped off that at the moment I am just happy if I can prevent another company frrom firing a 1000.00 down the Service Magic rathole.
You might as well just gift them the money, it is the same thing.

THEHANDYMAN

Here is a great example of the smoke blowers I have talked about.


Sounds like he got carried away NONE answered the phone yet some complained about so many calls. Now let me get this straight no one answered but yet he talked to some. Hmmmmmmmmmm Whats that old song title: SMOKE GETS IN YOUR BROWN EYE!

Am I alone in seeing the smoke being blown up your backside from a competitor? I have no doubt that there are some that have had unresolved problems with SM. But for me the time and money have been well spent. When I have turned in a lead request that was denied I called back and most time it is reversed. The ppl I have talked to have been helpful, friendly and courterious. There is a record kept of all contacts and what was said, seen this first hand. One guy I had to finially ask for his supervisior but he has been only one.

sst104siding

I see service magi is still in business ripping people off, when will the government step in and shut them down for false leads.....the only thing magic about service magic is that your money dissappears

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The two happiest days for the homeowner, the day we show up to start and the day we finish....

carlsguide

No contractor wants to pay for bogus leads. That's why I would suggest any contractor who is interested in receiving the kind of quality leads they had hoped to receive from ServiceMagic to take a look at QualitySmith. The difference is the leads QualitySmith provides are of much better quality because they contact the customer and confirm an appointment before they offer you the lead. To me this makes a big difference if you're interested in buy leads, but I know a lot of contractors who won't buy leads from anyone because they think it's a scam.

Whether you buy leads or not, I say stick with the tried and true old fashioned methods of finding your own customers. And you don't always have to be good at marketing and sales. If you do good work and are friendly towards your customers you will receive free word-of-mouth advertising that is absolutely priceless. And your business will grow in proportion to the quality of your work.

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new roof cost

TNTSERVICES

I am a contractor who uses SM. I would start off by saying that you, as the (HO) home owner, always have the responsibility to ensure that the people coming into your home are: 1) Fit to do the work 2) Have the capacity to do the work 3) and are safe for you and your family. With that being said SM is a great place to start, but relying solely on them to be your bull dog is a bit naive.

They do background checks, but that doesn't mean that this contractor didn't skirt the check some how.

So the first mistake you made was allowing SM to do your screening for you. The second mistake was going with the lowest bidder. Too often HO's chose based on price and it ends up costing them more $$$ than if they had gone with the middle or top bid. There is a reason guys bid low and it usually isn't a public service.

I say all of that to say this, SM is not a perfect process, we as contractors have our issues with SM as well, however as we say here all of the time, SM is a tool. If you know how to use it, it will do it's job and do it well. SM should not take the place of a personal referral or your responsibility to ensure that a SM contractor is who they say they are.