service magic exposed on fox news segment - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

handyhands · 09-15-2009, 09:46 AM

I was just tooling around on youtube, and found a link on some woman getting screwed by a hack that service magic referred to her.

SHOCKER? No, but I figured I'd put the info. on here for you guys (and gals) to have a little laugh with.

Go on youtube and type in "Homeowner picks shoddy contractor from website"

Now to just get Chris Cuomo or Diane Sawyer to put it in the national spotlight is all we need.

Mike Finley · 09-15-2009, 09:57 AM

Poor Deon.

He told them he had a license, he thought they meant the one of the back bumper of his car.

angus242 · 09-15-2009, 10:48 AM

Well hey, at least servicemagic stepped up.....they deleted Deon from the list of available contractors. But about fixing the problem...sorry Katie, we're only a 3rd party advertiser. Although, we'll help you find a new contractor!

Merbs · 09-15-2009, 11:11 AM

Let me guess.... Homeowner never asked to see verification of license or insurance....Never asked for any referrals....but was happy to have the work done at such a low price!!! I havn't seen the clip. For all I know she may have. Just venting.

SelfContract · 09-15-2009, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merbs

Let me guess.... Homeowner never asked to see verification of license or insurance....Never asked for any referrals....but was happy to have the work done at such a low price!!! I havn't seen the clip. For all I know she may have. Just venting.

Yep, HO trusted Service Magician 100%!!!... No question asked.

JonM · 09-15-2009, 11:42 AM

+ YouTube Video

bert0168 · 09-15-2009, 08:10 PM

Lets hear what SMsupport has to say now.

davitk · 09-15-2009, 08:19 PM

Wow. Nice deck. Do nails really rust? How do I hook up with Service Magic?

CCCo. · 09-15-2009, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bert0168

Lets hear what SMsupport has to say now.

Where that Turkey at?

No he won't respond to this.

They call and bug me all the time.

I don't want your shatty leads

Not gonna do it.

But they still keep calling!

More evidence of just how shoddy they are!

kevjob · 09-16-2009, 09:24 AM

I love where she asked the supervisor what checks were performed and they told her the only way the info will get out is a supoena!

Hey Smsupport here is more good news for your company!

SMsupport · 09-16-2009, 10:13 AM

CCC, I have removed Crow Contracting from our sales contact list and placed on the do not call list as I have for other pros from CT and other social networks. Please feel free to contact me if the calls continue. As far as the deck video, I have been aware of the video posted on youtube a couple of years ago. I don't have all the info as far as what happened there, but we have a very experienced team that communicates with every state licensing dep't and sometimes we run into multi-state licensing issues.

AJAX · 09-16-2009, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMsupport

we have a very experienced team that communicates with every state licensing dep't and sometimes we run into multi-state licensing issues.

That's not true at all. At least where I in MN. As far as I'm concerned your company will put anyone up that has the cash. My flooring neighbor signed up and all he got was a chance to bid on jobs that 13 other guys got a chance at as well. He doesn't have a license, nor does he need one for flooring, how does SM know if he's any good? He never got a job from SM and has since told them to take a flying ****.

That poor lady got screwed through your sites false advertising. I think Tom Brokaw would have called that "the Fleecing of America".

SMsupport · 09-16-2009, 11:39 AM

Ajax, I've personally spoken with many pros that didn't get approved because of licensing and other issues. The quality of work rests with the pros and the ratings and reviews from the homeowners. If you're friend signed up with SM for a task that the state didn't require a license for, then of course we wouldn't require it.

AJAX · 09-16-2009, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMsupport

Ajax, I've personally spoken with many pros that didn't get approved because of licensing and other issues. The quality of works rests with the pros and the ratings and reviews from the homeowners. If you're friend signed up with SM for a task that the state didn't require a license then of course we wouldn't require it.

A state license doesn't mean someone is credible. Heck I know of licensed builders that have been shut down by the state and then only to find out the next day they open shop under a new name

. With that being said how can you vouch for any companies credibility?

SMsupport · 09-16-2009, 11:51 AM

The individual company is resposible for their credibility and the ratings and reviews should reflect that. We use a ten point screening process to approve professionals, not including "vouching for their credibility".

BKFranks · 09-16-2009, 12:00 PM

Every time you turn around it's bad news about SM. I can't believe that anyone would still use them for anything. If I wanted to throw away money, I'd flush it down the toilet. I'm not going to pay SM to do it for me and have a headache too.

kevjob · 09-16-2009, 01:19 PM

More run around from SM if they had any intention in being a legimate company helping us, who BTW we pay for all the marketing etc... they would show us how they check out licensing etc... yah right that will happen.

SMsupport · 09-16-2009, 01:55 PM

Kev, I'm not sure how you would like for SM to show you how we check the licensing. Sorry for the long post here but here's our 10 point screening:

1.Verify Trade License ServiceMagic checks to see if the business carries the appropriate state-level license.
2.Verify Insurance We contact the insurance agent of the pro to confirm general liability insurance (bonding information for maid services, or cargo valuation coverage for moving companies).
3.Verification of State Business Filings For business types that require a Secretary of State filing, we confirm that the business is in good standing in the state in which it is located.
4.Criminal Records Search ServiceMagic uses 3rd party data sources to conduct a criminal search for any relevant criminal activity associated with the owner/principal of the business.
5.Sex Offender Search We confirm that the owner/principal is not listed on the official state Sex Offender web site in the state in which the owner/principal of the company is located.
6.Bankruptcy Search We use 3rd party data sources to check the history of the principal/owner of the business for bankruptcy filings by or against them.
7.Legal Search for Civil Judgments We use 3rd party data sources to check the principal/owner of the business for state level civil legal judgments entered against them.
8.Liens Search We use 3rd party data sources to check the principal/owner of the business for liens placed against them.
9.Identity Verification (SSN) ServiceMagic verifies the social security number(s) of the owner/principal for identity check purposes. This check applies primarily to smaller business entities.
10.Identity Verification (Reverse Phone Lookup) We conduct a reverse business phone lookup to identify records matching the phone number information provided by the business.

handyhands · 09-16-2009, 01:58 PM

But if Deon got through the "10 point screening process",..I can't help but to wonder how many others did as well.

In all actuality, I'm thinking service magic DOES screen one thing,.....and that's to make sure you're credit card is valid so they can hit it as many times as Mike Tyson's head's been hit.

handyhands · 09-16-2009, 02:08 PM

Another thing,.....www.ripoffreport.com has numerous filed complaints from contractors who've been burnt by SM.

LOTS of them.

With that being said, and as I see SM has a rep. in here posting with what I'm assuming to be legitimate concern about their clients (

), you'd think something would, or SHOULD be done considering the complaints are very similiar from contractor to contractor.

SM support, let me ask you this....If I pay you $50.00 for a VINYL SIDING LEAD,.....and after 2 weeks of trying to call the homeowner,...2 weeks of emailing the homeowner,...finally get in touch with "said" homeowner only to find out that this particular "homeowner" is only looking for "skirting" for the bottom portion of their mobile home,.....Shouldn't you give me my money back?

Don't ask me to respond in private, or ask me for my information. I've already hashed it out numerous times with multiple people at your organization, only to get the same ole song and dance.