Important information

• Customer Complaint:

  On April 12, 2022, BBB recognized multiple patterns of complaints regarding billing and customer service issues. They were grouped into 2 categories:
  
  Business Owners/Contractors allege signing up with HomeAdvisor and setting a monthly expense budget; at the end of the month business owners find out that HomeAdvisor's charges are exceeding the agreed upon expense budget. Contractors/Business Owners also allege signing up with HomeAdvisor under the impression that they will only be charged for leads or “Opportunities” if their business actually gets the job. Business owners further claim  they are being charged each time they press “Interested” in the opportunity, even if it includes incorrect information on which they can’t follow up with. Additionally, business owners assert these issues are leading to high unpaid invoices that eventually get sent to collections and/or are settled with a discount.
  
  Consumers allege being charged for more than the agreed-upon rate or being up-charged from their pre-paid rate. Consumers also contend having issues with contractors not showing up to the appointments, changing appointments last minute, and/or receiving minimal or no assistance from the business when incidents occur. 
  
  On May 25, 2022, HomeAdvisor provided the following response to the Business Owners/Contractor’s allegations:
  
  “HomeAdvisor’s enrollment process requires pros, before joining the network, to review and affirmatively agree to an “Agreement to Key Terms,” which instructs the pro to review, and provides direct links to, the Terms and Conditions and Key Provisions page on the website. It also clearly and conspicuously explains that, among other things: (1) Project leads are not guaranteed jobs; (2) Standard leads will automatically be deemed accepted by pros and carry automatic charges going towards a monthly spend target set by the pro; (3) Once a pro is approved to join the network, the pro will be billed a membership fee; and (4) Opt-in leads are available and will incur additional charges. By checking the box to confirm the Agreement to Key Terms, the pro indicates that it agrees to these provisions, as well as to the other terms and conditions. The Key Provisions page describes how leads work, including costs; how to receive credits; what a spend target is; that pros are charged for leads regardless of whether the lead is converted to a job; and that there are no guarantees about how many leads a pro can convert to jobs. The Terms and Conditions (which have always been publicly available on HomeAdvisor’s website) provide even more detailed information about how HomeAdvisor works and how various homeowners may submit service requests that are then provided to one or more pros as leads.
  
  To increase opportunities for jobs for pros and to improve the prospects that homeowners will find a pro to complete their projects, HomeAdvisor provides “Opportunity Leads,” which either are slightly outside the pros coverage area or involve tasks pros aren't currently buying leads for but are likely within its area of expertise. Pros are provided with a “free look” at these Opportunity Leads, and the pro is not charged unless it affirmatively accepts the lead. When Opportunity Leads are presented to a pro for consideration, HomeAdvisor conspicuously identifies them as Opportunity Leads that may fall slightly outside the pro profiled tasks and/or location.”
  
  Since the business disagreed with the Business Owners/Contractor’s allegations; on May 25, 2022, BBB requested information/documentation to validate the business’ perspective. 
  
  On May 26,2022, the business declined to provide the requested information and provided the following response:
  
  “We are very confident in the process of pros accepting terms and conditions, especially when it comes to pricing and material terms. They must physically check a box to agree with those main points that allegedly they "didn't know about".” 
  
  BBB requested a response from the business regarding the second pattern of complaints about Consumer’s allegations. However, as of June 13, 2022, the company has not responded to BBB's request to address the pattern.