06/08/2018
The following info might be of interest to potential customers.
We have been members of CheckaTrade for I think… 8 years.
Our business, Acer Property & Landscape Services, is a father and son operation.
However, this month we found ourselves between a rock and a hard place…
The new Check a Trade membership renewal fee.
It has gone from £864.00 to £1440.00 that’s quite a percentage hike I think you’ll all agree.
A Cost of inflation rise…Ok…but 65/70% no way.
Therefore, we have decided we’re not paying… I think it’s outrageous, if we increased our prices at that rate we’d soon be without work.
However, I do have to be fair, and give a balanced opinion, check a trade in general has been Ok for us.
We needed a platform where we could get customers to register feedback, and display pictures of our work.
Check a Trade allowed us to do that.
It was working, and to be fair the site does seem to give customer a feeling of security when considering a tradesman.
Opinions on feedback score I know are a bone of contention, but I can only speak for us, and I’m guaranteeing ours are genuine.
We did have one negative feedback a long time ago which I responded too…if it’s still on there I have no idea.
So, will I regret our decision to not re-new? I have no idea…we will see.
But I’m prepared to take the risk.
The new owners of check a trade are Home serve, who I believe paid millions for the site.
Well I object to being informed that my increased membership fee will now enable them to increase their marketing budget.
Sounds like they want their money back to me.
Well I don’t want to become part of a company, who it seems from their initial involvement have little or no regard for the financial implications their decisions will make on small business’s.
In fact, I’m extremely annoyed at the feeling of being fleeced.
Whether they sponsor this, or that, their increased market share is irrelevant to us. We can’t do anymore work, it’s physically impossible…we’re busy. So any extra costs we incur at present come off our bottom line….simple.
And before budding entrepreneurs raise their eyebrows… no, I don’t want to employ more people, I like to control the quality and do what I’m doing now…and just enjoy it.
So, we’ll continue with our own advertising, and we’re going back to old ways of references…and I think we’re going to do something on face book, which will allow feedback for customers on our page if they wish.
What do other trades…and customers think.
