Thread: Service magic / Home adviser

So has ANYONE ever had a good experience with these scam artist and thieves?

Id advise to run, hang up, block and ignore any communications with home adviser!

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I have dealt with them and it was not a good thing for me. We have parted ways.

Why are they scam artists and thieves?

Originally Posted by Mike Lamb

Why are they scam artists and thieves?

They take money for services they fail to provide.

When you receive non-legit leads they refuse to give you back your LEGIT money!

I was never dealt with unfairly. I knew more or less what it was all about. I paid no money up front (they wanted $100 to get started but waived that when I balked at the fee) which was why I gave it a try. I was told I could quit at any time and they honored that. I found out after two referrals it was not for me.

I found Home Adviser (they used to be Service Magic) is for buyers who are basically looking for the cheapest bid. All HI's are alike. Right?

I am consistently the most expensive inspector in my area and I book the cold calls I get by convincing someone over the phone to use me and not by competing with 2 or 3 other businesses on the cheap through emails. My business is not about cold calls.

If you are one of the cheapest guys around and you respond to the leads immediately this could work.

I only paid Home Adviser for one lead, $14 or so. They waived my second referral fee. They were cool when I cancelled and offered me five free leads to give them another try. I declined.

I too did not have a good experience with them. I used them for several months. The very first lead I received turned into a job but the very next one was not a legitimate email or phone number. They "gave me credit on the next one" but every lead since then has been either people just shopping around for lowest price, outside my area (which you can't change yourself - they messed up my provider area when we set it up) or people who haven't even found a house yet, but are just seeing what stuff will theoretically cost (I've actually had several of these).

My return rate on leads was something like 8%. I currently have it suspended and plan on canceling completely. I think HomeAdvisor itself isn't necessarily the villain here, but it's just the type of people who use them are not a reliable lead. I know I have used them before when finding contractors, and the nice part is you can usually get someone to call you back for a quote or set up an appointment, but for what we do, it is just not working out for me.

Oh, one other thing.

When I had the leads on hold I would get an email saying how many leads I was missing and that I had a review waiting as well. The review stated "Paul was extremely helpful.." The problem is that my name is not Paul, and I had already received a review from the one good lead that I had gotten. So who in the heck wrote this bogus review?

A best friend of mine was on the team that started Service Magic. I was one of the first HIs to sign on with them.

My buddy moved on and so did I. My association with Service Magic is long, long over, but didn't end soon enough. It was a one way street for my money and going the wrong way. I am amazed that they are still around, but I'll never risk finding out if they changed their ways.

Just cancelled them. They are not worth the hassle.

Service Magic is masters at internet marketing. They use multiple “company fronts” that pop up at the top of most internet search requests for home services. All lead back to Service Magic, or Home Advisor if they are changing there identity. So, as a member you will receive many leads, at a cost for each one. (To be fair you can control how much you give to them each month.) Let’s say SM gets a request for an HI in your area early Saturday morning. You and about 9 other HI’s get a request to respond to this potential customer. Now at least 5 HIs respond quickly cause they know its best to be the first to sell their service. Only 1 gets the job.
Been there, done it, and dumped it.

Total waste of time and money, you get major bogus leads, I had a person wanting a roof inspection, got charged and credited, got a guy that lived in my area and was looking for an inspector in a totally different state and put all the right info in the system and I still got the lead and charged and again a credit which is all you will ever get, you won't ever get money back just a credit for other bogus leads.

I had one guy that actually was looking for a home inspector and he wanted all kinds of info, referrals etc which I gave him and never heard back. Its actually worse then advertising on Craigslist because it costs you but Craigslist is a total wast of time too, you get price shoppers that all they care about is the cheapest price and really they prefer free if they can get it and you will work your ass off on the worst possible houses so to me don't bother with either, there just not worth it.

I just emailed them to cancel my account. Like most here, I have found many are just looking for the cheapest price and/or they don't really have a job ready. I also suspect many are competitors trying to feel out the market. At a price of around $15 and they are contacting 6-8 companies here that are listed with Home adviser...Home adviser is making a killing.

I received two leads Saturday morning, 2 AM and 4 AM. I called them both at 8:30. Neither answered. Neither called back. Experience tells me they won't return my call and I'm obligated to pay . I'm canceling tomorrow. My success rate is about 2%.

I gave Service Magic a shot when i first started inspecting 10 years ago. My experience mirrors many of you. Wrong phone numbers and people not calling you back. The way it worked at the time, they notified you of a lead but didn't charge you until you requested the buyer's contact info. Paying $9 per dead end lead was it for me. I might have gotten one paying job from them but the hassle and frustration wasn't worth it.