Be aware when using on-line review sites to select a landscape lighting designer builder

Be aware when using on-line review sites to select a landscape lighting designer builder

By Mike Gambino

buyer_bewareI recently consulted with a homeowner who had found their landscape lighting service provider through Angie’s list. The reason I was called was because this homeowner was already looking for what he called a new landscape lighting design after only 2 years.

When I arrived I found he needed a whole lot more. He needed a completely new system from top to bottom. What was wrong?

1- The wife had fired the previous service provider 90% into the project so some fixtures were just laying on the ground where they were left 2 years earlier not properly mounted or aimed at desired subjects.

2- Fixture placement was improper creating hot spots on bushes. Fixtures in lawn were placed too far from the trunks of trees and too weak to light any part of the trees they were intended to light so the light (or the very little that exited the fixture) reflected onto nothing.

3- 50% of the LED lights had failed or shifted color and brightness. This after 5 visits from a different service provider changing failed ones that had failed again and again until he stopped coming because he told the owner he would no longer change them since it was useless because the fixtures were filling with water.

4- More than 50% of the fixtures were broken and taking on water ruining the LED lamps.

5- Fixtures were undersized and not designed to dissipate the heat created by the LED’s that were installed inside them causing them to color shift, lose brightness and ultimate stop working.

This comes from and October 2, 2014 article in Money magazine

Perhaps an even bigger problem is that the trustworthiness of Angie’s List is increasingly being called into question. Critics point out that a growing portion of Angie’s List revenues come from service providers paying for advertising on the site—the same service providers that are supposed to be rated in non-biased fashion by members. “Almost 70 percent of the company’s revenues come from advertising purchased by the service providers being rated,” a 2013Consumer Reports investigation explained.

CR called out in particular the practice of allowing advertisers with B or better ratings to be pushed to the top of search results as questionable at best. “We think the ability of A- and B-rated companies to buy their way to the top of the default search results skews the results… They get 12 times more profile views than companies that don’t buy ads.”

To be fair, many Angie’s List competitors also actively solicit the businesses reviewed on their sites as advertisers. Yelp is known to flood restaurants, doctors’ offices, and other small businesses with pleas to advertise on the site, to the point that one restaurant in the San Francisco area launched a bizarre “Hate Us on Yelp” campaign to undermine the user-review site. (Despite claims that it engages in what amounts to extortion, Yelp has repeatedly stated that advertising doesn’t affect a business’s ratings in any way.)Porch.com, an online network created to help homeowners find contractors and other home improvement services, launched a partnership referral system with Lowe’s this year. While businesses don’t pay to be listed, the website gives extra visibility to contractors that pay for a premium membership, such as making it easier to see their phone numbers in search results. (Full disclosure: Porch contributes articles on home improvement to Money.com.)

For the time being, Angie’s List seems to have figured out how low it must cut membership fees in order to keep increasing subscriber numbers. But the strategy hardly seems sustainable, especially if the perception that the service’s ratings aren’t trustworthy continues to spread. Convincing consumers it’s worthwhile to pay for a review-and-ratings service when there are free alternatives is tough enough. It’s borderline impossible to convince them that doing so is worth the money when there’s reason to question whether the ratings are entirely legitimate.

I can tell you first hand that I have been the victim of at least 2 unfair on-line reviews ( one of them from someone who never did business with us) both of which were posted after threats were made that if they didn’t get their way they were going to smear me online.

Gambino landscape lighting like the US government does not negotiate with terrorists and so be it. We have hundreds of satisfied clients and testimonials on our own website. We have also been contacted by various on-line review sites to advertise, one such site that contains the two negative reviews told me in no uncertain terms that they would “bury” the unfavorable ones for which amounted to a monthly ad fee to their company. I rejected their offer and the two reviews appear above the 5 positive ones even though e positive ones are much more current that the 2 negative ones. A friend of mine whose business was affected by this particular review site agreed and pays $1,200 every month in “ad fees” and now his positive reviews are much more prominent then the negative ones.

In regards to another on-line review site, service provider names are taken from public records and are on the site whether the service provider wants to be or not. If you don’t pay them monthly membership fees when someone wishes to contact you through their site they are given a paying members contact info instead without making it clear that it is one of their members that you are contacting and not your service provider of choice. In other words, if you choose to contact my company on their site, you will not reach me but someone else who pays them and you won’t be notified of this. Talk about deception at the finest and the ultimate bait and switch.

Buyer beware !

Facebook-iceThis landscape lighting blog is published by Mike Gambino of Gambino landscape lighting inc. all rights reserved. Mike is a professional landscape lighting system designer/ builder and has been designing, installing and maintaining landscape lighting systems for more than 20 years. Mike resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 sons. To visit his website go to www.gambinolighting.com . To inquire about hiring Mike please click here .

Blog articles may be published with permission on other websites without editing or removing links.

 

 

 

 

1Comment
  • Mark Carlson
    Posted at 02:12h, 01 November Reply

    It’s pretty sad that so many use Angie’s List and Service Magic for this type of work selection. The problem is that these service models have nothing in place to determine true standards or qualifications for specialists like us. And, it really comes down to a bidding war of who is the lowest priced provider, which is all wrong. They are nothing more than a provider of handymen at best…..so, buyer beware is correct!

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