Rated People

[Spanner2k7]

Hi, has anyone tried Rated People recently, just signed up with them as work is slow. First coupler of leads I have got, I think a joke, can you tell me what you think.

Replace a boiler, with a new combi in a 5 bed house. Budget under £2000.

Replace bathroom suite, with wall and floor tiling. Budget under £1000.

Any replies would be much appreciated,

 

[gaspastemania]

joke mate total joke . i tried my hammer as was struggling got jobs out of it to pay bills but not the best . although it pasys the mortgage

 

[CES]

In my experience of these sites they are not worth it. Lots of people looking for jobs to be done on the cheap. They expect top notch work at rock bottom prices and to be honest a lot of them aren't living in the real world. I don't go anywhere near them now, plus the fact the website expect you to pay a fee.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

Avoid at all costs as you will just get under cut by bodgers is my opinion

 

[metaldust9]

ive been using it, rated people done about 5 jobs the price its never what u end up getting gunner give it a miss from next month when the membership runs out found it good at first but not wining anything on it now ok if you got nowt on but loosing to much money now trying to win jobs at first i won more than i lost but there must be loads on it so prices really cheap

 

[moony]

use it when desperate - any decent jobs get snapped up - but if ive not got anything booked in i would rather work for something than nothing - 3 kids and four bed house to support.

combi for a combi - budget 1000 price of lead 14 pound - u know your either gonna work for next to nowt or lose your 14 quid - if its a job in my town then i will go for it... other than that i stay away.

but if works tight and you dont mind working for minimum wage then it comes in handy - and use the 10-10-20 rule with your business cards or flyers on every job - do a good job and the referalls will come in.

 

[CES]

One I use when works tight is Boilerguide. You pay for the lead (approx £12-£14 each) but Ive had a lot of work from it, I can usually tell by the description if someone is only using it to get prices.

 

[Spanner2k7]

just had another one.
Bathroom refurb, remove suite, wall and floor coverings, replace in suite with a shower enclosure, reposition pan and basin, fit and extractor fan, all with a budget of £1000. Does not say with they are supplying materials or not, I'm guessing the plumber is to supply.

Is it me or is this just impossible.

 

[grahamgas]

Used it when it first started. Cost me a tenner a month, with 5 free leads. Have got a lot of repeat work from the customers that I got via rated people.

But in the whole, a total farce. Just one of many parasites in the food chain, trying to relieve us of our hard earned!

Graham

 

[metaldust9]

i used them for a bit but just cancelled it as waste of time paid out loads to quote and just get beaten all the timecos if your the first to quote people just go in cheaper dont one were had £400 profit on boiler fitting tf1 aswell someone went in £150 cheaper so cancelled it been trying boiler guide that seams the same paid for 3 jobs £14 gone in reasonable price not got any of them you give advice and they dont listen one woman was adamant about the boiler having good flow rate so went for 28he baxi/potterton heatmax she ends up going for a 30si worcester which is a lower flow rate unbelievable

 

[markfxy]

The worst one is workbidder where the custard posts a job and you bid lower than the previous quote lowest bid wins.
Must lead to some high quality installs not!!!
If you are tempted to use any of these sites always use a prepay credit card that way you can control the amount these parasites take off you.

 

[cdodds2004]

stay away man i would rarther subbie to some one for next to nothing that downgrade our trade even more than it has been over the last few years doing jobs for a pittance, if we all stuck by our prices years ago would have no problems today

 

[bcp]

The principal behind sites like these is not bad - marry-up customers and professionals (us), BUT where it all goes wrong is that Jo public expects buy one get one free for anything. Add to that, a mentality by media led frenzy to always get multiple quotes with the expectation of driving price down, and that particular site allowing no budget/cost figures, then its going to be a loser for us, unless you are content just to fill the book and take minimal profit (that has it's place too for certain times). Any 'decent' jobs now cost a fortune to bid for, you might be at £40 + for a bathroom refurb on an unrealistic budget and will, like as not, be undercut. Any bidding site (either visible or otherwise) is doomed for the professional and in my view, totally against the notion of being professional. At least if you can make contact with the prospective client, you have some chance to make an impression over your rivals. I have had work from the site, albeit at low margin but it filled downtime. Now however, I am unconvinced, given the lead costs. Multiply up these costs by the number of leads you expect to bid for (or need) if this was a main source of income and you may well find it more cost effective to do your own marketing campaign.