![]() ![]() That's especially true if reviews are anonymous and unregulated. But they are probably the most unreliable too. The upside of free-ratings Web sites is they don't cost anything. For usability and credibility, though, Angie's List is superior to free Web sites that offer ratings of service companies.įree Web sites. The service does not allow anonymous reporting, it reviews reports that go into the system, and it limits the number of times consumers can report on a company.Ī potential drawback is that Angie's List has a relationship with some service providers, including allowing companies to respond to negative user reports and selling highly rated companies the right to offer discount coupons on the site. It lists every report online for you to read, rather than only compiling results into ratings. Angie's List ratings are based on user reviews. Whereas Consumers' Checkbook is deep with information, Angie's List is wide, covering 120 metropolitan areas and 300 categories of service. It also offers a complaint-resolution service, where Angie's List personnel will try to help resolve a dispute with a service vendor. Membership to the service includes access to the Web site, a monthly magazine, and a phone-in service if you want a staffer to search the site for you. A nearly nationwide reviewer of services is Angie's List, found at Its subscription fees vary depending on home region. However, its ratings of doctors, hospitals, and health plans are for metro areas nationwide.Īngie's List. The main problem - and it's a big one - is that Consumers' Checkbook is available for only seven metropolitan areas: Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, Minneapolis-St. It not only surveys patients about hospitals but doctors too. When it rates hospitals, for example, it examines risk-adjusted death rates and complications, based on millions of discharge records. Consumers' Checkbook won't officially list or evaluate a business until it has 10 ratings. It also actively surveys consumers about the quality of service firms, rather than simply allowing anonymous posters to comment about firms, as some free Web sites do. It has a staff that does undercover price shopping, so it has apples-to-apples price comparisons, rather than asking members for their impressions about price. It accepts no advertising and has no business relationship with firms it rates.Ĭonsumers' Checkbook doesn't just collect user reviews. This is perhaps the most credible resource for unbiased reviews of local service companies. Membership in the nonprofit group Consumers' Checkbook, established in 1974, includes a semiannual magazine with articles and ratings, as well as access to its Web site, which has the most recent ratings of local service firms. is $30 or $34 for a one-year or two-year membership, depending on region. But they don't give you objective advice on whom to choose and why.īecause choosing wisely means you might receive a better price and better service, here are some better resources:Ĭonsumers' Checkbook. Listings in the phone book and online can give you an idea of some of the providers available, as can advertisements in local media. For example, you could ask a lawyer to help find a good accountant. Or you can obtain referrals from related professionals. Talking with neighbors and local friends can work, but opinions come from a very small sample of customers, often one. Trial and error is an inefficient, and potentially expensive, way to find good service professionals. But where do you go for reviews of local service companies, such as plumbers, electricians, and photographers? If you are new to an area, you will need a slew of service providers, from a doctor and dentist to, perhaps, a dog kennel and dry cleaner. Seek Reviews and Referencesįor products available nationwide, finding reviews is relatively easy. If you look carefully, the steps are basically the same three Rs: Review, research prices, and reevaluate. But you have a few different resources and tools available to you, along with some concerns that are specific to services. The three-step process for buying services is very similar to that for buying products. Reevaluate and review contracts carefully.Research prices by getting three price quotes.We hire and subscribe all the time: home contractors and plumbers, mail-order movie services, gym memberships, airline flights, and hotel rooms. Many purchases we make today aren't things, but services. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |