Home Advisor has a long-standing reputation as being scammy. The digital marketplace for home builders, remodelers, roofers, and other contractors has had thousands of accusations of faking their leads for the contractors signed up on their site.
So, have these accusations lead to a class-action lawsuit against Home Advisor? It sure has.
But there is more to the story than just fake leads. Let’s dive into why exactly Home Advisor is dealing with this class action lawsuit.
Why Is Home Advisor in Trouble?
At a glance, Home Advisor is a fairly basic concept. Home Advisor allows contractors to market themselves on their platform. In return, contractors must pay Home Advisor for the leads they receive. Sounds simple and fair enough, right?
Well, here is the issue. Home Advisor obviously makes more money if there are more leads coming in. As a result, they have been accused of sending fake leads to some of their contractors. So, Home Advisor makes more money from the contractors, but the contractors aren’t getting any new business in return because there is no actual person behind the lead.
Over 1,300 contractors have come forward to join a class-action lawsuit against Home Advisor, all of whom have claimed that they have received an influx of leads, only to follow up and receive no response in return. Some have even said that they’ve reached a homeowner who has said they never submitted anything to Home Advisor. A few have even said they’ve never even heard of Home Advisor. You can watch this video to learn more about some of the contractors who have been wronged by the digital marketplace platform.
In addition to fake leads, other contractors have said Home Advisor began to exceed their monthly leads budgets without telling them.
One contractor said that HomeAdvisor began exceeding his set monthly budget of $400 and billing him for a service called instant bookings. He says he was billed an estimated $8,000 over three months for instant bookings. When he tried to contact Home Advisor to set the record straight and get a refund, they wouldn’t oblige. He asked them to show where he had agreed to these new terms, and they replied by telling him to get a subpoena.
It’s an absolute shame when a company comes forward saying they are here to help out big and small contractors alike, all of whom need some help getting leads, and then they just try and take advantage of them.
So, what can contractors do instead of using Home Advisor if they want to get more leads? Let’s talk about it.
What Contractors Should Do Instead of Using Home Advisor
At Hook Agency, we always preach that home builders, remodelers, contractors, roofers, and anyone else in the construction or home improvement industry should own their marketing and to watch out for budget stealing lead generation zombies.
So, what does it mean to “own” your marketing? Essentially, it means that you should be in control of your marketing systems. Sure, you may outsource your SEO to an agency like Hook, but you still have a clear and transparent process with that agency. It’s a partnership as opposed to working with Home Advisor, where you may be getting scammed out of spending more than you need to.
You can still work with partners and marketing agencies to help you bring in leads, but you just have to make sure that you’re involved in the process. Paying a website to help you grow your business just isn’t going to cut it, as we see over and over again with accusations of scam behavior from platforms like Home Advisor.
Attending local events, working with local influencers, and running an effective social media marketing account are other ways in which you can own your marketing.
Ready to Own Your Marketing and See the Leads Come in? Reach Out to Hook Agency
At Hook Agency, we specialize in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services. Essentially, we help our clients appear higher on Google. We do this in a variety of ways, including SEO-friendly web development and design, on-page SEO, content writing, and more.
Our proven SEO process does just that by creating relevant content and improving your website visibility, so business owners can feel relieved and excited about their business again. Interested in learning more about how we can help you own your marketing while bringing in more leads? Hit us up today to get the ball rolling!
