Service Magic Has Crossed The Line This Time.

carolinaprowash

He predicated his sentences with "I", not they. Fortunately for our company, we have had the same position with Service Magic. We know the parameters and the best way to use the service and it has generated infinitely more money than it has cost us.

I'm not saying that it works for all contractors or that anyone who has a problem with them is at fault - heaven knows the we've had our share of BS with everycontractor.com (a far bigger rip off than ANY other program out there). It comes down to it being a tool for your company - if it works, great, if it doesn't - don't use it. At least with them you don't pay a lump sum up front! You don't have a time sensitive contract. All advertising is a risk but as businesses we have to take them, right?

Just my .02

Celeste

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acarrothers

Great post, I totally agree. All business must take calculated risks to succeed. We have used SM for a while and probably have lost money overall. You can't win every battle

cincylawn

I would give them a try, it is all free, and I have received two jobs from the service so far. ************.com

ultimatetouch

I am not one of thes guys who thinks every lead is a sale or I get discoureged. I will take the good with the bad. My problem with SM is when you shut down your leads because you are to busy and they fire it back up with out talking to anyone and start billing you...How in the world could that be justified as ethical business. I am not paying 400 dollars for leads that I dont want and specifically told them I wanted it paused until they hear otherwise. Then you spend countless time on the phone with morons who talk you in circles like your stupid. Long story short, I shut the acount down indefinitely and they still sent me emails that I have to call and cancell. UNREAL.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

localtradesman

I have been in the construction business for twenty years and I have always been looking for great local contractors. Well, I could tell you stories for days. I have been doing research on lead generating companies. They are mostly all out of state...they are on the internet preying on homeowners whom have no clue that they are just calling people out of the yellow pages to give them leads from a computer somewhere. I have had the same idea as they have of finding local tradesman.....but being local is the only way to monitor these people.....everyone in the local construction industry knows that local contractors are hard enough to manage locally...let alone from a franchise in another state...on a computer.....I am working on a franchise that will be local only....if anyone out here is interested in getting this going...give me a call......Rob 608-3954403

localtradesman

I have it pretty much figured out with ServiceMagic....as everyone else here has figured it out. They have a small Army of empolyees....like 800 people. The unsuspecting home owner has no clue about construction and they are victoms also. What a mess this internet is!!!

northeastunion

Hi,
I worked with different leads services, but the best i ever used is
estimatemyroof.com
They charge $300 a month and i get 20-25 roofing leads from them. Plus I get some phone calls from their web-site.
Not all leads are 100% good, but at least half of them is workable. I usually do 4-5 roofing repairs and 2-3 roof installation.
Plus no contracts, phone calls, rating, good web-site.
Minuses: not confirmed leads, do not work in all states, no siding and windows leads yet.
I am using it over a year. So far so good. You can see my profile at estimatemyroof.com if enter 19020 zip code - Northeast Family roofing.

skyhook

Yesterday a guy offered me a job, said he would pay me 1/3 of his contract, after materials if I would do all the labor. Looked him up, guess what, Service Magic.

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primarygr

Ok, I am coming from the other side of the table. I hired a "contractor" to do work on my house. The crew he hired to do the job with him included homeless people among other things. My question to you all is do they REALLY screen people? What is the verification process? All the claims they make to us, the homeowners seem to be false. This guy had a lengthy felony record (spent time in the Pen) no license, no insurance, not bonded etc etc etc.

Any replies would be helpful as I prepare to file my own law suit.

Teetorbilt

Some varition of this subject has been going on at this site for years. Personally, I'm tired of hearing about Service Magic, I suffered through Ms. Valesquez hounding me for a year.

MY experiences and comments can be found within the archives at the bottom of the page.

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You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

Mark Daniels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ServiceMagic You can edit this page for service magic.

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Mark Daniels
Bathroom Remodeling Fairfax Va.
Recessed Shower Shampoo Soap Shelf
Shower Shampoo Soap Tiled Niche Niches

Jude

If you think about it, the whole idea of selling leads is flawed. It not only makes contractors pull their hair out worrying if the lead is real or not (or if it has been sold 10x's already) but it also makes a customer wait to get responses until their info is sold.

I believe that all leads should be FREE and customers should be given the ability to turn off a project after they get the answers they were looking for.

What do you guys think about an open forum (free leads) model?

kevjob

your on it!

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Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

Mike Finley

"When contractors compete for your business"...

I guess they are competitive by using the homeless.

ultimatetouch

No, they dont really screen people. Besides asking for a couple of references. I would like if they did screen contractors a little better so I come out shining like a diamond.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

primarygr

So they really dont do sh** as far as their "10 point background check" Nice.

Mike Finley

I've only been thoroughly checked by one company, and it wasn't any of these bullsh*t online lead services types. They did a full back ground check, criminal, history, credit even sexual offender list. They charged me $250 to do it too.

These lead services aren't in the business of providing screened contractors anymore like they were when they started, now it's just a machine gun it out there numbers game to them cause their customers (homeowners like yourself) use the service to get low prices not qualified contractors where quality doesn't equal the lowest bidder. Back ground screening consists of do you have insurance? Yep. Okay, I need your credit card number to start charging you.

wizendwizard

Yep, there are 4 count em now... 4 guy's on service magic's forum that swear by service magic.

wizendwizard

Not, Service magic refused me doing remodeling because i don't carry a full GC license. I carry a RC license and they say that i only qualify to do clean up, site prep gutter cleaning and mobile home repairs.That's ok i was only looking at who my compitition was anyway. I do keep going into their forum to watch the b/s flow.

HalC

After several battles with Service Magic over the deceptive business practices they use, I finally severed the seemingly unlimited access they enjoyed to my credit card. After 3-4 months of CONTINUED bogus and fraudulent leads(about 60 all together) and damages to my credit card of around $2000 I finally told them to not contact me again EVER. Imagine my surprise when checking my E Mail the very next day I found an E MAIL saying my leads would be turned off for two weeks"at my request" then turned back on. This was after I told them in the strongest possible terms to remove me from thier account list as my account was CANCELLED. I am waiting for the credit card statement for last month because I have intentions of disputing every single bogus lead charged to my card at least
40 of them. In fact of all the leads I got one actually panned out to the tune of $235. My story appears to be a very common one, so maybe it falls on our shoulders to warn all our contacts about the very shaky and outright fraudulent business practices these people use. If enough of us start speaking up others will not have to deal with this blatent, outright theft our hard earned money.