The Problem with Angie's List
Barriers to Entry: Angie's List charges a fee for these reviews. That means if you are a disgruntled consumer who has been wronged by a bad service, you have to pay to mouth off about it. It would seem that just going to Yelp or any of the other free consumer websites would be a better end than having to pay a membership fee just to get your point across. Angie's List says that "consumers pay a membership fee to...help ensure reliable data..." Okay, but why is someone's experience any less valid because they didn't pay the host website for it? People could just as easily come on to a site like Associated Content, open an account, mouth off about whatever they want, and get paid for it. Angie's List seems to have it favored towards the more positive reviews. This leads to a second problem with Angie's List.
People Lie: To keep out the liars, Angie's List says they use human staff to "...screen out service companies and health professionals who are self-reporting, or people who are trying to report repeatedly on the same company." But really, all anyone with half a brain needs to do to slide by the Angie's List submission process is just watch any of their commercials. The negative and the positive attacks are never too far from the truth. "My plumber does a great job and walked my dog! He's a great plumber!" or "My electrician does good work, but it took him a long time. It was because he was watching porn on the job. I'll never use him again." Two very legitimate reviews; one positive, one negative. But if the companies, doctors or service providers just write reviews in that same voice; truthful-objective-omniscient, then they will be able to set up as many different accounts from different email addresses (and/or different computers) and speak positively about themselves no matter how bad a company they are. I could set up a company where we did that and call it "Jesse's List." I could be the anti-Angie's List. Not that I'd want to do that. But it seems that Angie's List needs to live in the real world and less in this idyllic fantasy land of no one lies. It's a pay to play system and services are coming to bat. This raises another interesting point.
Retaliation is Inevitable: People are going to start getting upset about this and they are going to retaliate. Even if customers do have a bad experience they are going to be less likely to voice off about it after hearing of situations like Monica Hammock and Edwin Castillo in 2003. According to a Washington Post article, these two hired a contractor, SCS Contracting, to work on their home. They had a very lengthy, very expensive nightmare of an experience which was only just beginning. Monica voiced off about the experience on Angie's List...and was promptly sued for libel by the SCS owner. What ensued was probably worse than just taking their lumps and walking away. The suit was not dismissed until 2009 but still, to consider that you could be sued over your opinion on a website really takes the virtual "protected" anonymity of the Internet and drives it home to a lengthy and probably very uncomfortable court case of years.
Angie's List may be alright for some and if folks get a collective joy out of spending money to read what others think, that's fine. However a free site like Yelp or even Associated Content requires nothing from you and still gives you a similar outlet for your cares and joys.
Source:
http://www.angieslist.com/angieslist/visitor/faq.aspx
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/12/AR2007031201548.html
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.
Published by Jesse Schmitt
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7 Comments
Post a CommentThe customers that go off on business owners are most likely bad customers...so put them on http://businessbeware.biz
We also gave honest reviews but they were allowed to lapse if we did not put our name and experience in the "doghouse" section of Angie's list brochure. After having the contractor act so aggressively, we felt it was not worth the danger.
P.S. We followed the legal advice of our attorney and didn't push it any farther. However, we also were told that this contractor could work for Angie's List, in spite of our notifying them of the criminal record!
While Angie's List may not allow anonymous reviews, in our experience they make it hard to report unscrupulous contractors. We used a recommendation from Angie's List and when we complained about the poor service, the contractor called us up and cussed at us on the phone. We did an online search and discovered that he had been taken to court for forgery, counterfeit! None of this was discovered by Angie's List, we assume, since they recommended this person. In order to submit a negative review, we'd had had to agree to put our name and the contractors in the "doghouse" part of Angie's list, in their publication. We were so scared by this contractor that we did not do this. I hope that no one else has this person working for them and we did file a police report as well as contact the BBB.
including exclusive discounts and other services. Our reviews are highly valuable, but they're only part of the service our members receive.
We don't believe in or allow anonymous reviews. We do believe in accountability whether your review is good, bad and mediocre. Our members affirm they'll give us an honest account of their own experience when they first sign up. With each review they submit, we ask them re-affirm they're telling the truth. We also remind them at that time that their review - and their name - will be available to the company or service pro they are reviewing. We encourage service companies to give their side of the story, as well, so members get the whole story of any given review.
It's also not a simple matter to game our system. We don't divulge the specifics, but we use a combination of proprietary technology and human review to ensure maximum reliability, and we take swift action when we find violations.
The Internet offers a great venue for consumers to comment about anything they want. Angie's List encourages a free flow of information - the more consumers know before the hire or buy, the better off they are. But it's becoming increasingly difficult to know the origin and reliability-factor of the comments gleaned from the thousands of search results you can find on any given subject. Angie's List - by investing an enormous amount of time, talent and resources - takes a lot of the guesswork out of that search and helps members more quickly and easily find reliable help.
Angie's List is not a rant site, and we don't want to be. Angie's List is a membership site. In general, our members don't just join, rant or praise and never return. They become part of our community and quickly come to understand the value in both reading and offering reviews. It's a collective experience that allows members to learn from each other's experience. Our members are privy to a lot of perks, includi
Three great reasons not to use Angie's List. A fourth... their commercials are annoying. Why is that plumber walking the dog???