Service magic has crossed the line this time. - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

ultimatetouch · 09-10-2007, 08:20 PM

Excuse me if this has been posted before. I am venting man am I hot.
I paused my account since we were to busy in july. Since then they turned it back on and sent me leads. I then emailed them back and told them I was not excepting leads and not paying for this lead. Since then it happened numerous times. I called and paused and it got turned back on. I called and demanded credit since it was supposed to be paused and the guy kept repeating policy as if I was not there. I am going to contest these charges throught my credit card since it is theft. Its like you buy a pizza and with your card and they keep sending you pizzas every week and its to bad...thats theft.

kevjob · 09-10-2007, 09:16 PM

dump them

Danno6102 · 09-11-2007, 05:44 AM

I have mine set that I'm on vacation. Have to redo it every two weeks, until I decide to dump it. Which is inevitable. $800 in crap leads from them & RR. Have not landed one job. Quality of leads sucks, most HO never return phone calls or are looking for the lowest bidder or price shopping. I have requested credit for probably half the leads I've recieved from them.

HUDSONVALLEYEXT · 09-11-2007, 08:17 AM

When I signed up they hit my credit card 5 times a day for $50 each. Every lead was bogus or someone was hired before I even got the lead. I had enough after fighting for credits on the leads. They talk to you on the phone like your an idiot that does not know how to operate your business.

Floordude · 09-11-2007, 09:18 AM

ServiceMagic is a scam. They do not qualify the leads they charge you for.

Noah's Ark · 09-11-2007, 01:09 PM

Service magic is junk, I have spent way to much money getting nothing but mad. First, they did a background check on me?, that is crazy, second the leads are just not worthy, and I hate the fact that they have all sorts of different aliases on the net, like 1800contractor and a ton more. Why do they need some many other names and links? The answer is it is a scam that always leadsyou back to the unavoidable crap. I am a little mad, will not ever use Service Magic again.

I learned the hard way, my pocket book.

Grumpy · 09-12-2007, 11:37 AM

They used to allow you to pause indefinetly, which I used to do when their lead quality would drop off or we would get too busy. Now if you do it online you can only pause for a certain ammount of time.

I would write a calm letter to every email address addressing it to the management of some sort, but to every email address. Explain your situation, explain you will be contesting if they refuse to resolve this to your liking within X days. Then if you don't hear back from them, call your credit card company.

Floordude · 09-12-2007, 12:04 PM

Threaten a class action law suit!! You are definitely not alone. There are 10's of thousands, just as mad as you and have been scammed.

HUDSONVALLEYEXT · 09-12-2007, 08:19 PM

We should all file a joint suit against them

firemike · 09-12-2007, 08:22 PM

Make that 10,001! I quit them a couple years ago, crap leads, poor service, and no qualifying of leads. Over half the ones I got I could never get ahold of. NEVER again!

TNGHomes · 09-12-2007, 08:26 PM

I love when they tell you they cant tell that its a competitor so you cant get a refund, or better yet when they sey "they may call you a year from now" what a Fn joke. Over 2k in voicemails left unreturned. Great investment

L. B. Condulet · 09-13-2007, 07:41 AM

Just cut them out of the loop. All they do is advertise on Google Adwords, it's easy enough to put your own ad on Google Adwords. For awhile when you searched for "Electrician", my ad would appear above Service Magic's.

vinylguy · 09-13-2007, 04:28 PM

make that 10,002 for your clas action i'm in. nothing but a big scam, its all in the #'s they say. heres your # go wait in line right? i think the soup nazi works for them!

ultimatetouch · 09-13-2007, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danno6102

I have mine set that I'm on vacation. Have to redo it every two weeks, until I decide to dump it. Which is inevitable. $800 in crap leads from them & RR. Have not landed one job. Quality of leads sucks, most HO never return phone calls or are looking for the lowest bidder or price shopping. I have requested credit for probably half the leads I've recieved from them.

did u get the credit?

ultimatetouch · 09-13-2007, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpy

They used to allow you to pause indefinetly, which I used to do when their lead quality would drop off or we would get too busy. Now if you do it online you can only pause for a certain ammount of time.

I would write a calm letter to every email address addressing it to the management of some sort, but to every email address. Explain your situation, explain you will be contesting if they refuse to resolve this to your liking within X days. Then if you don't hear back from them, call your credit card company.

I did it.. got credit our credit card company agreed it was a scam.

Susan Betz · 09-18-2007, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ultimatetouch

I did it.. got credit our credit card company agreed it was a scam.

You did the right thing to dispute it through your credit card company. It's called a chargeback, and a retailer has to pay for every dispute they lose. The cost is pretty high, if I recall correctly, it's in the $50 range for every dispute. It's a simple thing to fill out the paperwork for your credit card company, a real headache for the retailer to deal with it. More chargebacks might convince them to change their ways.

Noah's Ark · 09-20-2007, 06:37 PM

Is renovationexperts.com another Service Magic junk site, anyone know? I will not be fooled again by this facist comapny.

**Cole** · 09-20-2007, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noah's Ark

Is renovationexperts.com another Service Magic junk site, anyone know? I will not be fooled again by this facist comapny.

From my personal experience, I wouldn't use them again.

Dibs · 10-03-2007, 09:22 AM

color=blue][/color]
I just posted this on S/M boards.
Service Magic Has A New Rating!!! * Thats One Star.... Here is Your Review.
While working on a large deck job the homeowner and I start chit chatting as per the normal stuff. Things like the weather, the condition of the deck and how fast Service Magic was in getting him contractors. He picked my company not only on price but because I took the time to walk through the whole process and informed him of exactly what to expect if we did the job.
Then I almost dropped when he says" I think you should know that Service Magic was pressuring him (homeowner) to sign with one contarctor over the others. They kept calling me (homeowner) and reccomending one contractor, saying they where a 5 Star rating company and it would best to use them over the others.". I was in shock, I was told beore siging up with SM they generate leads only and do not endorse partiular contractors. Sham, I smell kick backs...There got to be something illegal in this, I'm no lawyer but I worked in law firms in the Trade Center prior to 911, I smell something fishy. Makes me womder how many other bids I have lost due to pressure calls from SM!! How many other contacrtors have lost bid because of this? Before I seek what steps to take next I'm looking for feedback.Has this has happend to any other pros out there? Maybe instead of chasing down dead leads I'll contact all past leads as a follow up and pose the question"Did S/M contact you the homeowner as to promote one contractor versus another".
Losing all respect for Service Magic,
Ticked Off!!!

**Cole** · 10-03-2007, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dibs

color=blue][/color]
I just posted this on S/M boards.
Service Magic Has A New Rating!!! * Thats One Star.... Here is Your Review.
While working on a large deck job the homeowner and I start chit chatting as per the normal stuff. Things like the weather, the condition of the deck and how fast Service Magic was in getting him contractors. He picked my company not only on price but because I took the time to walk through the whole process and informed him of exactly what to expect if we did the job.
Then I almost dropped when he says" I think you should know that Service Magic was pressuring him (homeowner) to sign with one contarctor over the others. They kept calling me (homeowner) and reccomending one contractor, saying they where a 5 Star rating company and it would best to use them over the others.". I was in shock, I was told beore siging up with SM they generate leads only and do not endorse partiular contractors. Sham, I smell kick backs...There got to be something illegal in this, I'm no lawyer but I worked in law firms in the Trade Center prior to 911, I smell something fishy. Makes me womder how many other bids I have lost due to pressure calls from SM!! How many other contacrtors have lost bid because of this? Before I seek what steps to take next I'm looking for feedback.Has this has happend to any other pros out there? Maybe instead of chasing down dead leads I'll contact all past leads as a follow up and pose the question"Did S/M contact you the homeowner as to promote one contractor versus another".
Losing all respect for Service Magic,
Ticked Off!!!

You have to be kidding me?

I smell a lawsuit forthcoming.