Recommendations

[KikiMac]

Just wanted to air my thoughts on recommendations for tradespeople on this forum. If possible, admin, I would like this post to stay in this section as it replies only to this one.

I tend to read them assuming they've been written spontaneously on receipt of excellent service, but is that always the case i wonder? I have now used many tradespeople who have endless eulogies on here and found some of them to be less than great. The same tradespeople have put me under some pressure to write a positive review.

I don't want to name any names and this isn't true of all those that I've hired, but do feel skeptical now when I read reviews on here... Anyone had the same experience and prepared to put their hand up?

[Peckhampam]

What sort of pressure can they put you under? I have had some who have asked me to recommend them on the forum and if they are good I do, and if they are not good, I don't.

[AJAS]

I understand your sentiment. I have been renovating for much longer than I anticipated due to bad builders and workmen. The challenge is it is really difficult to determine who are genuinely good. Initially most tradespeople come across professional but it is typically half way through the job that you tend to encounter the issues.

I do use the forum a great deal for recommendations and have had a mixed experience. I have found some excellent trade?s people who I go onto recommend and others who have not lived up to their praise. Some have suggested I post review and as with Peckhampam I only do if I truly felt I would recommend them to family or friends.

[east-of-the-Rye]

if I see a good recommendation from e.g Bob Jones, I usually check what other postings Bob Jones has put up. I tend to take the recommendation more seriously if he/she has also done lots of other posts about local things - traffic on Barry Road, selling a cot, local events. If they only recommend tradespeople, I tend to discount them.

[KikiMac]

Peckhampam Wrote:

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> What sort of pressure can they put you under? I

> have had some who have asked me to recommend them

> on the forum and if they are good I do, and if

> they are not good, I don't.

But would you write a bad review? If bad experiences don't get posted then it leaves a rather unbalanced view...

[HHBilly]

I have been looking at the forum for some time and have used a couple of very good tradespeople with recommendations here. Like east-of-the-rye I looked at the posters history and got some comfort if they had a good record of postings. Having used the forum I felt it was only fair to join the forum and report back, this is my 3rd post. I have also had one bad experience (a no-show) and am in the process of using a couple more tradespeople from the forum.

Also I have found that a good tradesperson will also have good contacts so it may be worth asking them.

Now if anyone could recommend a good decorator......

[fatcats]

I guess at least with something like a local builder, for example, you might get their details from here, then go and visit a site that they are currently working on to see for yourself.

I suppose with other tradesmen it is more difficult to just pop round and see one of their previous jobs or works in progress.

I use this forum to find local tradespeople and also the "Which" forum (we haven't actually used anyone from the Which forum just yet but we have had a few around for quotes).

It's obviously not a perfect way to find someone but what is a better way, I wonder? It is surely a potential minefield however you go about it.

[KikiMac]

ElmGrove Wrote:

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> I do remember reading about one particular

> tradesperson, I think it was a plumber, who

> someone said had offered them money to write a

> good review.

Yes, come to think of it, we've twice been given money off the quote with a request that I write a good review on the forum...