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Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: wonderinga ()
Date: February 10, 2016 09:03AM

is Angie's list database available at the Fairfax co public libraries? If not is there a way to access the data without paying $$$?

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: NoTea ()
Date: February 10, 2016 10:01AM

If you are too cheap to spend $10.00 per year to support Angies List, then the Companies on Angies List don't want you business. I'm always amazed that people are too cheap to spend $10. when they are considering spending $20,000 on a project. Absolutely amazing.

And to answer your question, no, Angies List is not available at the library.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: 's List at ()
Date: February 10, 2016 02:55PM

NoTea Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you are too cheap to spend $10.00 per year to
> support Angies List, then the Companies on Angies
> List don't want you business. I'm always amazed
> that people are too cheap to spend $10. when they
> are considering spending $20,000 on a project.
> Absolutely amazing.
>
> And to answer your question, no, Angies List is
> not available at the library.


Angie's list charges service providers A Lot of $$$ to list. So you are getting ratings that are basically paid for by the providers. It is really valuable to the service providers as they do get a ton of business from consumers that think Angies list is some kind of assurance of quality. As to 'supporting' angies list that is a joke the service fees are astronomical compared to consumer fees.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: alternatives ()
Date: February 10, 2016 03:32PM

home advisor, google/yahoo reviews. yelp, bbb are some options.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: NoTea ()
Date: February 11, 2016 01:08AM

's List at Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NoTea Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you are too cheap to spend $10.00 per year
> to
> > support Angies List, then the Companies on
> Angies
> > List don't want you business. I'm always amazed
> > that people are too cheap to spend $10. when
> they
> > are considering spending $20,000 on a project.
> > Absolutely amazing.
> >
> > And to answer your question, no, Angies List is
> > not available at the library.
>
>
> Angie's list charges service providers A Lot of
> $$$ to list. So you are getting ratings that are
> basically paid for by the providers. It is really
> valuable to the service providers as they do get a
> ton of business from consumers that think Angies
> list is some kind of assurance of quality. As to
> 'supporting' angies list that is a joke the
> service fees are astronomical compared to consumer> fees.

You obviously haven't a clue how Angies List works.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: correcttheignoranT ()
Date: February 11, 2016 09:39AM

Why Consumer Reports Says You Can't Trust Angie's List

Consumer Reports studied six different consumer review sites – Angie’s List, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Consumers’ Checkbook, Google+ Local, Porch and Yelp – and found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that not all are as trustworthy as they claim to be.

“[Angie’s List] makes a big point to say they’re consumer-driven, when in fact 70% of their revenue comes from advertising. It’s not advertising Coca Cola, it’s advertising from the companies they rate,” explained Jeff Blyskal, a senior editor for Consumer Reports. While companies do not pay to be listed on Angie’s List, companies can pay to appear higher up in the search results – which Blyskal believes compromises the validity of the Angie’s List sorting system.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2013/09/18/why-consumer-reports-says-you-cant-trust-angies-list/#3f43a220579b

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: NoTea ()
Date: February 11, 2016 10:55PM

So what? How does the fact that companies can pay for greater visibility affect the validity of the ratings? Those ratings are from real people who actually had work done. How much business do you think a company with an F rating is going to get no matter how visible they are?

Do you not understand that all ratings companies are in business to provide a service and that comes at a cost? Do you really think that Angie's List operates on your lousy $10 a year that people like the OP want to circumvent?
Do you not understand that Yelp and Home Advisor do the same thing?

If you think Consumers Report is so great, try calling them to find a local contractor. The BBB does exactly the same thing, they sell ratings. Google Wolfgang Puck and BBB.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: NoTea ()
Date: February 11, 2016 11:13PM

BTW that CU article is dripping with things that "could" happen without citing a single instance of when it did. It also faults AL because consumers might mot search past the first 3 pages. Again, so what? If they find what they are looking for and stop, how does that diminish the validity of AL? A business can provide absolute documented evidence that a consumer is lying and AL will still not remove the review. Yelp will remove reviews just because the reviewer no longer participates in the "Yelp Community".
Angie's List does call consumers who have had work done and get reviews on the phone, another inaccuracy in the poorly researched Forbes article.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Its bogus. ()
Date: February 12, 2016 05:00PM

angies list should be free or pay for reviews by patrons. The only real value they provide is consumer feedback. Yet they have to charge you. Despite the fact they get very high monthly fees from the people that advertise or 'pay' to be high on their list. Its bogus. You dont think AL will weed out a few bad reviews of a service company that is paying it $3,000 per month vs. some little guy paying $500 per month? Come on its not at all believable. The fact they charge people for this list is outrageous.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: ;;;;;;;;;;poo ()
Date: February 12, 2016 05:02PM

Donna of Granbury, TX on Feb. 3, 2016

"I am so disappointed in Angie's List. Beware!! After spending $18,000.00 over the course of two years we cancelled our Business Membership. Needless to say: Two weeks after cancelling we received a bad review from an unknown "customer". Please read details. "Review Date: January 13, 2016, Member: Stephen **, Category: Remodeling - Kitchen & Bathroom, Services Performed: Yes, (More Weight is given to a review where work has been completed.) Work Completed Date: September 12, 2015, Hire Again: No, Approximate Cost: $8,500.00, Description of Work: Poor workmanship on install. High price., Share on Band of Neighbors: No."

Company Response: "Hi [Member Name Removed], I cannot locate your name or address in our files. Did you order under a different name, or possibly from a different company? We would like to resolve any issues with our product as soon as possible. Please respond or call 682-205-3532. Thank you." We contacted our salesperson because we did not recognize the reviewing customer's name. After 10 days of Angie's List "attempting" to contact the customer, this was the response we received from our sales rep...

"It sounds like you are pretty frustrated that the Angie’s List review from Stephen ** will remain on your profile page moving forward. I know that you work very hard to maintain a flawless reputation so even a B grade is probably not up to your standards. If it is any consolation, without the advertising, your profile will probably be buried on the 5th or 6th page. It is unlikely that many of our members will come across this review, let alone the Best Buy Walk-In Bath Tubs profile now that you no longer have first-page placement on Angieslist.com. Regardless, Angie’s List is not in a position to take sides or make a judgment as to whether a review is right or wrong. Our goal is to provide a forum for consumers to share information with one another while staying neutral. Our members own their reports and are responsible for the contents of the reviews, just as companies are responsible for their responses.

We don’t mean to be unhelpful. In fact, we will do everything we can to help you manage your reputation on the list. However, because we are foremost a consumer-oriented service, we must first uphold our member’s ability to express their opinion. In large part, I believe that consumers trust us because we are unwilling to unilaterally change or remove reviews. Because consumers trust us, we in turn are able to provide an advertising product that is worthwhile for the companies on our list. Our policies are not intended to spite you, only to preserve this delicate ecosystem. I would encourage you to not get bogged down in the individual comments our members submit. Our members make hiring decisions based upon trends within reviews. So long as your ratings remain as strong as they are now, and recurring themes do not emerge in your negative feedback, you should be able to maintain a positive presence on our list."

I am absolutely blown away by Angie's List. As long as you pay to advertise, your reviews will not be affected. I feel certain this "poor customer review" was placed by Angie's List. The reason I believe someone at Angie's List wrote this is because of the email."http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/angies-list.html

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: WNk7M ()
Date: February 12, 2016 05:05PM

of Charlotte, NC on Feb. 3, 2016

"I have many very satisfied customers who recommend my work on high-end additions and remodels. Over past 12 years I have a repeat clientele... so I got repeated solicitations from Angie's List. I finally gave in. I sent in many of my top rates from customers... had to send Angie's list their reviews to go up in her ratings. Come to find out she doesn't really rate their reviews until they pay for a membership. My reviews lay buried until they pressured my customers to join. What an embarrassment. I literally set up my faithful customers to be pressured to join her list! Doesn't matter what they said. It wouldn't make top of list until they joined. What a scam. If she was looking for top contractors w/ unbiased reviews he didn't take those views until they registered as paying customers!!!"

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: phantom postings ()
Date: February 12, 2016 05:19PM

just go to http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/angies-list.html to read how much a scam ANgies list is. They shake down advertisers, bury businesses that dont advertise with them. And then there is the case of phantom postings. If someone posts that they were a customer of a company they have no obligation to prove it. Service Co.s get 'bad' listings from people that never hired them. This mysteriously happens after you drop advertising with them. Amazing it has not been shut down.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: NoTea ()
Date: February 12, 2016 07:00PM

Complete and utter Bullshit. Any business on Angies List has access to the name, address and phone number of anyone who reviews them. If a business challenges the review and can show Angies List the review is bogus, A.L. will call the member and verify the review. Any A.L member has the ability to research every review on Angies List. The only thing a business can pay for is better positioning. No different than Google, Yelp, Home Advisor or any place else a consumer can research.

When there are only 22 spots on the first page of Angise List, how should they determine which 22 businesses show up?

Anyone who thinks Angies List is in any way a guarantee of a good job is sorely mistaken. Angies LIst is simply a resource, that's all. You still need to do you due diligence and ask for previous customers etc.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Alexander Smith ()
Date: February 13, 2016 01:09AM

Angie's list is for suckers.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Scamalert ()
Date: February 13, 2016 09:58AM

NoTea Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Complete and utter Bullshit. Any business on
> Angies List has access to the name, address and
> phone number of anyone who reviews them. If a
> business challenges the review and can show Angies
> List the review is bogus, A.L. will call the
> member and verify the review. Any A.L member has
> the ability to research every review on Angies
> List. The only thing a business can pay for is
> better positioning. No different than Google,
> Yelp, Home Advisor or any place else a consumer
> can research.
>
> When there are only 22 spots on the first page of
> Angise List, how should they determine which 22
> businesses show up?
>
> Anyone who thinks Angies List is in any way a
> guarantee of a good job is sorely mistaken. Angies
> LIst is simply a resource, that's all. You still
> need to do you due diligence and ask for previous
> customers etc.
Losing money isn’t new for Angie’s List. The company has been in the red for each of the past five years, according to its 2012 annual report. The company hasn’t yet reported its 2013 financial results.

"In order for Angie’s List to grow, consumers need to feel they are receiving unbiased, honest reports in exchange for shelling out fees that can be as high as $40 a year. But the site is increasingly coming under criticism for failing to prominently disclose its biggest revenue source: advertising fees from the service providers who are rated by consumers.

…the Company was consistently deriving more than half its revenues from the service provider side of the business.

For Angie’s List, growth is a necessity given its massive spending on marketing. In 2012 alone, the company shelled out $80.2 million in marketing to convince people to sign up for the subscription-based service. Total operating expenses that year far outpaced its $155.8 million in sales. The result was a $52.9 million loss.

Losing money isn’t new for Angie’s List. The company has been in the red for each of the past five years, according to its 2012 annual report.
"http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-angies-list-is-getting-a-rash-of-bad-reviews/

lots of law suits http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/angies-list.html

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Hold on there.. ()
Date: February 13, 2016 12:01PM

NoTea Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The only thing a business can pay for is better positioning.
> No different than Google, Yelp, Home Advisor or any place else
> a consumer> can research.

It's different from Consumers Checkbook. Very different.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Sounds idiotic ()
Date: February 13, 2016 06:57PM

so they charge you to rate businesses for them so you can pick from their list of companies that advertise in their database. Sounds idiotic. Yelp seems more straight forward. No fees for users and my reviews for business always show up.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Angies List apologist. ()
Date: February 14, 2016 12:35PM

What no retort from the Angies List apologist. PWND? But, but but...

Angies list is for chumps.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Yelp = FFXU ()
Date: February 14, 2016 06:40PM

Sounds idiotic Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yelp seems more straight forward. No fees for
> users and my reviews for business always show up.

Yelp is full of reviews written by Beavis and/or Butthead.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: yelpy ()
Date: February 14, 2016 07:03PM

Yelp = FFXU Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds idiotic Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yelp seems more straight forward. No fees for
> > users and my reviews for business always show
> up.
>
> Yelp is full of reviews written by Beavis and/or
> Butthead.

yelp is actually pretty good in my opinion. So long as there are enough reviews you can usually get a pretty good read on a business. You just drop the reviews from people pissed about absurd stuff and average out the rest.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: True but ()
Date: February 14, 2016 07:10PM

yelpy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yelp is actually pretty good in my opinion. So
> long as there are enough reviews you can usually
> get a pretty good read on a business. You just
> drop the reviews from people pissed about absurd
> stuff and average out the rest.

Yelp lost much of its credibility with me when I wrote a fair but mdoerately scathing review of a restaurant a few years ago. The owner saw it, contact me via email, and asked us to return so he could make things right. We did, had a nice meal, and I was prepared to update the review. However, we were traveling and I didn't get to it for a few days. When I went back to do so, my original review was gone. Yelp was not part of the discussion as to whether we would return, nor had I contacted the owner yet to say that we were now happy.

Inescapable conclusion: the owner told Yelp "We made him happy, take down the review". Which they did on his say-so.

So...yes, bad Yelp reviews are presumably meaningful; good ones without bad ones, not so much. I mean, the place could be loved by all, but you can't tell.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: poof ()
Date: February 14, 2016 09:14PM

True but Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yelpy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > yelp is actually pretty good in my opinion. So
> > long as there are enough reviews you can
> usually
> > get a pretty good read on a business. You just
> > drop the reviews from people pissed about
> absurd
> > stuff and average out the rest.
>
> Yelp lost much of its credibility with me when I
> wrote a fair but mdoerately scathing review of a
> restaurant a few years ago. The owner saw it,
> contact me via email, and asked us to return so he
> could make things right. We did, had a nice meal,
> and I was prepared to update the review. However,
> we were traveling and I didn't get to it for a few
> days. When I went back to do so, my original
> review was gone. Yelp was not part of the
> discussion as to whether we would return, nor had
> I contacted the owner yet to say that we were now
> happy.
>
> Inescapable conclusion: the owner told Yelp "We
> made him happy, take down the review". Which they
> did on his say-so.
>
> So...yes, bad Yelp reviews are presumably
> meaningful; good ones without bad ones, not so
> much. I mean, the place could be loved by all, but
> you can't tell.


I got fucked by a auto repair shop and wrote a bad review on Yelp.

The shop made zero effort to make things right, yet my review disappeared within hours.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: clean my duck ()
Date: February 14, 2016 09:46PM

The proprietors' web sites generally display the Angie's List seal on the front page. If that's all you're going to go by, it's not that hard to do a locality search for duck cleaning companies and find one with the seal of approval.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: True but ()
Date: February 14, 2016 10:42PM

poof Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I got fucked by a auto repair shop and wrote a bad
> review on Yelp.
>
> The shop made zero effort to make things right,
> yet my review disappeared within hours.

Wow. That's even worse.

This has come up in the press before; Yelp claims they use AI to detect bogus reviews and thus some of the vanishing reviews were bogus. But given that mine was coherent and pretty simple (allegedly elegant restaurant REEKED of Pine-Sol; maitre d' shrugged when we asked "What is that SMELL?"; service was very slow, despite not being busy -- hardly the work of a troll, and objectively relevant), if it WAS AI that killed mine, then the AI is inferior. And it didn't vanish for at least a day, so...

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: PineSol? ()
Date: February 15, 2016 08:46AM

True but Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> poof Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I got fucked by a auto repair shop and wrote a
> bad
> > review on Yelp.
> >
> > The shop made zero effort to make things right,
> > yet my review disappeared within hours.
>
> Wow. That's even worse.
>
> This has come up in the press before; Yelp claims
> they use AI to detect bogus reviews and thus some
> of the vanishing reviews were bogus. But given
> that mine was coherent and pretty simple
> (allegedly elegant restaurant REEKED of Pine-Sol;
> maitre d' shrugged when we asked "What is that
> SMELL?"; service was very slow, despite not being
> busy -- hardly the work of a troll, and
> objectively relevant), if it WAS AI that killed
> mine, then the AI is inferior. And it didn't
> vanish for at least a day, so...

Interesting because I have left scathing reviews and they always post. You can see which posts they have suppressed on Yelp by going to the bottom of the reviews. There will be a list and explanation of why reviews are suppressed. If you look suppressed reviews are usually glowing positive reviews sent in by the owner (most likely sharing an IP address so its obvious they are bogus). Which restaurant were you saying smelled like PineSol?

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: seal of approval ()
Date: February 15, 2016 08:49AM

clean my duck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The proprietors' web sites generally display the
> Angie's List seal on the front page. If that's
> all you're going to go by, it's not that hard to
> do a locality search for duck cleaning companies
> and find one with the seal of approval.


Duck Cleaning? Guess you need to be sure of that.

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Elvis ()
Date: April 07, 2016 09:32AM

ANGIES'LIST LAWSUIT.
Attachments:
a list lawsuit.jpg

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Bill.N. ()
Date: April 07, 2016 01:18PM

So why does that merit a law suit?

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: tdT9M ()
Date: April 12, 2016 11:23AM

tdT9M

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Re: Angie's List at Library?
Posted by: Angies is a fraud ()
Date: April 12, 2016 12:03PM

Bill.N. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So why does that merit a law suit?


False advertising. Angies is a fraud pure and simple.

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