my workman ect

andyb30 · 15 Jan 2011

Does anybody on here use any of these types of sites,my workman,service magic,your tradesman and the like.
sick to death of them ringing me now but before i go on the offensive about them do people actually get anything from them for the massive
amounts of money the want?.

Morris40 · 15 Jan 2011

I think you'll find that there are now to many of them for the large sum of monney you have to pay to be any good, a couple of friends have been on them but found them to be of little use, I find the parish magazinee to be very good, i think it helps though that i sometimes go to church ;-( wife makes me

HERTS P&D · 15 Jan 2011

I get loads of these phone calls. What I tell them is that if they give me 1 months free advertising and I get work from it, then I will pay for the month and advertise with them for the next 12 months. Not one company will take up this offer. I tell them that if their 'product' was that good then they would get me for 13 months. They promise the earth and deliver nothing.

Andy

Mw Roofline · 15 Jan 2011

Andy the money you save from all these websites plough it into a couple of nice local newspaper adverts instead.

andyb30 · 16 Jan 2011

i tried my workman ages ago.£20 for 5 credits and evey one of them was a time waster.Im a pointing company and i got a quote from it from sheffield saying they required back of terrece repointing.off i go 35 miles there and the house was rendered.she had a bit of damp in her bathroom.35 miles back so all in all that cost me half a day,loads of fuel and £4 for the privelage from my workman.
Ive also tried the "give me a free month and we will see" tatic but they never do. Thats because there a load of shoite.

Nice idea there with the local parish mag,im going to try that one.
I tried the local paper at £15 per week and nver really got a return on it.
Yellow pages has brought me a lot of work but the main one is google adwords,low cost and loads of work...
I also did a lot of reading seo,thats deffo worth doing if any of you have a website,dont be conned by someone telling you they will do it for £300.
Its easy to do.

flooringman · 16 Jan 2011

Ask mickyg he knows a scam when he sees one !

digdilem · 16 Jan 2011

Advertised a nice little handyman job on one of the bigger of these sites last autumn. Had one guy ring up within a few hours, arranged meeting. He missed it. Arranged another meeting, made it, saw the job, agreed to do the work.
Didn't see him again for 2 months, rang him, got promise to start next day.

That was another two months ago. Job's been done by another now.

Hardly a scientific basis, but as a study of 1 of 1, am not impressed

It's a good idea, and only takes a minute to list a job and can find you a builder. But it's only the first step of selecting a tradesman.

In this area, most good one-man-band tradesmen are always busy even during this recession. It's the old saying; "If he's got time to be advertising, he's either very new or crap. Probably crap."

One of the most valuable things I have in my role of maintenance manager, is a contact list of good trades. I've got two good plumbers, two good sparks, a superb drains expert and landscaper and a good (but expensive) general builder. I make sure I pay their invoices promptly.

HERTS P&D · 17 Jan 2011

digdilem said:
In this area, most good one-man-band tradesmen are always busy even during this recession. It's the old saying; "If he's got time to be advertising, he's either very new or crap. Probably crap."

We all need to advertise, its the insurance companies that are pulling all the work from us tradesmens. Look at Homeserve which offer to cover your plumbing for £80 per year. They have bought up various compaines just to remove them from the market place, then they get rid of all the subbies.

Now the AA have jumped on the bandwagon which left town a long time ago, with their own insurance backed plumbing and heating.
(And before Nige comes on here, we don't mean Alcohlics Anonymous)

Don't forget Coca cola and McDonalds still advertise, yet there on every high street.

Andy

1john · 17 Jan 2011

I wonder how long it will take before you phone McDonalds or Coca Cola in order to have your boiler serviced or electrics checked?

WoodYouLike · 18 Jan 2011

1john said:
I wonder how long it will take before you phone McDonalds or Coca Cola in order to have your boiler serviced or electrics checked?

And then call Sainsbury or Tesco to get your car fixed, home painted, garden made-over?

tilerman · 18 Jan 2011

I have used Myworkman in the past when worked dropped off and have again used them recently. Total waste of time, money and effort. I looked at 3 jobs on Saturday and whilst its not Myworkmans fault, i can tell within minutes of walking through the persons door wether i will hear back from them. I looked at a bathroom re-fit last week and the bloke was save money this, save money that, save money here, save money there. Wanted to re-use old copper, re-use anything i could. He even asked me that he would tile the 1.5 metre floor himself if i showed him how to do it (to save money) He called me back 3 days later and said he had had 7 other quotes and can he have mine. Told him no he could not and dont call me back. He called back every night for 5 nights begging for an estimate. 7 quotes my arse.

andyb30 · 18 Jan 2011

Nice one tilerman,i like your style

Any one here a member of FMB and if so what are they like?

s1962a · 28 Jan 2011

I have used the mybuilder site to request various jobs around the house. These are real jobs and have eventually been done by someone from the site, or another person recommended.

The ones that got the job through the site were the ones who took a little time out to read what you've asked for and ask some basic questions before coming round to give a quote. They were also the ones that weren't afraid of technology and know how to use email / look at diagrams etc.

I've had some real time wasters and also some good genuine guys who I have trusted. One in particular who i've asked to come back and do some other jobs for us too (we're renovating the whole house).

The problem I see for the tradesman, is that sites like these put everyone on an equal footing, and not all tradesman are comfortable with having to compete like that. You also get the timewaster customers i'm sure who just want lots of quotes at the cheapest possible price, but having used the sites if a tradesman asks a few basic questions before coming to see the job then they can get a fair idea of whether it's worth chasing this one up or not.

vv2806 · 28 Jan 2011

As a customer I am disappointed by these web sites. Placed a request on myhammer for repairing a leaking gutter. The first 2 who replayed requested site visit.

The first one came before the agreed time and dropped a note in the letterbox that he can replace the gutters for a certain sum.

The second one came in time, had a one-second look at the gutters and said he would replace them. Couldn't give me a good explanation why they can't be repaired though. All he said was that there is a gap between the gutter and the roof (yes, there was a gap because the bracket was broken, the 2 pieces of gutter were apart and that is what I wanted to be repaired). I asked him how much of the price quoted is for materials. Then went to B&Q, calculated that all the materials if I buy from them (including screws, bolt, nuts, etc) would cost about 30% of what I have been quoted for materials.

Then a neighbour gave me contact details for a handyman who did several jobs for them. He came and fixed the old gutters for a tiny fraction of the sum quoted by the other two.

There was a third man from the web site who asked questions and seemed interested to do the job, not to reap me off but unfortunately he was too late, the gutters were already done.

I suppose the bad thing about such web sites is that decent trade people have to compete with not so decent ones. Don't think I will waste my time using such sites again.

s1962a · 31 Jan 2011

vv2806 said:
As a customer I am disappointed by these web sites. Placed a request on myhammer for repairing a leaking gutter. The first 2 who replayed requested site visit.

The first one came before the agreed time and dropped a note in the letterbox that he can replace the gutters for a certain sum.

The second one came in time, had a one-second look at the gutters and said he would replace them. Couldn't give me a good explanation why they can't be repaired though. All he said was that there is a gap between the gutter and the roof (yes, there was a gap because the bracket was broken, the 2 pieces of gutter were apart and that is what I wanted to be repaired). I asked him how much of the price quoted is for materials. Then went to B&Q, calculated that all the materials if I buy from them (including screws, bolt, nuts, etc) would cost about 30% of what I have been quoted for materials.

Then a neighbour gave me contact details for a handyman who did several jobs for them. He came and fixed the old gutters for a tiny fraction of the sum quoted by the other two.

There was a third man from the web site who asked questions and seemed interested to do the job, not to reap me off but unfortunately he was too late, the gutters were already done.

I suppose the bad thing about such web sites is that decent trade people have to compete with not so decent ones. Don't think I will waste my time using such sites again.

I never got on with myhammer. Try some of the other ones and you might find one you like.

my workman ect

Morris40

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