In 1995 Angie's List was created to provide members, who paid to join, with a list of member reviewed construction contractors. In the beginning, the List was membership driven. Members were the only ones who could add a company to the list, and/or, then, review the companies on the list. There was no advertising. When you needed a contractor, you went to the list, entered what you wanted done, and were provided with a list of contractors. Each had a rating with the number of reviews. You could read the reviews and pick a contractor that met your needs. The list was sorted from ‘A’ to ‘F’ by the members ratings only.
Once your company was on the list, you could edit your profile to include what you did, what areas you worked in, and the days and times you were available.
A client put my company on the List in 2001. I also became a paid member. I have used the List extensively both for my business and to get things done at properties I own.
The List was good. Home owners needed someplace to find reliable help with everything from making an addition to your house to making sure your front door closes properly. There, sometimes in lurid detail, were also the ones who failed to perform adequately or absconded with deposits. You could scroll through the list, examine each company, and read the reviews to pick the one that best suited your needs.
All of that has changed.
Over time, the cost of membership went down in order to include more people. A form of advertising was introduced. A contractor could pay them to ‘optimize’ his/her position on the list, giving the contractor, for a fee, the opportunity to get more referrals from the List. This was still not a bad proposition for the home owner or the contractor.
This year, however, other great changes have taken place. There are no longer membership fees. Anyone can go to the list to find and/or review a contractor. Sounds good doesn’t it. However, that is only a small portion of the change that has taken place.
Now, the only contractors that one sees when looking for help are ones that pay Angie’s List to advertise. Adding a contractor to the list because they did an excellent job or because they ran off with your money means nothing. That contractor, or the review, will never be seen by others shopping for help. The shoppers will only see the contractors that have paid Angie’s List to be seen.
Since there’s no membership fee, a scurrilous contractor can have a friend add him to the list and give him an ‘A’ review, then pay a fee to have his company moved to the top and, when the referrals come in, he can run off with an untold number of deposits before the reviews banish him from the top of the list. That contractor can then change his company name and do it again. One of the very things Angie’s List was designed to prevent.
In addition to being there for the members, the List was there for contractors. Those with good reviews got more business. Good behavior and excellent work actually produced results. That is also no longer true. If my company has gotten 100 ‘A’ reviews, no one will ever find me unless I pay Angie’s List because I will be buried deep in the list.
The very reason for starting Angie’s List in the first place is gone: Providing construction shoppers with an unbiased list of member added contractors that have been reviewed by those members and found to be reliable.
I can only guess at why they have made these changes. Somewhere along the way they discovered they could make a lot more money by advertising contractors than by collecting membership fees, in other words, greed. The ‘members’ and their needs are now secondary to the desires and dollars of the contractors.
Angie’s List has become what we have fought so hard to keep the internet from becoming: A place where only those with money benefit. It might as well be the Yellow Pages of the phone book (remember those?).
I will no longer be visiting the List to find companies to help me or to find subcontractors because I will only get to see the companies that Angie’s List wants me to see, those that have paid to be seen, just like what would happen if we allowed a fast lane on the internet.
Let’s make the ‘members’ the most important part of Angie’s List again by boycotting the List until they are.