Google review vs Hipages/Oneflare

I am not sure if anyone has had similar experience.

As my IP needed re-guttering, I screened and collected more than a dozen tradie's names from HiPages and Oneflare and ensured all of them had had at least 4.5 star rating and had at least 20 reviews listed. I then used Google review to double check. But I was surprised none of them had any Google reviews and Google+ didn't have their business contact details.

I understand the difference between Hipages / Oneflare and Google review is the former is highly regulated and the negative reviews are usually not published, while the latter is unregulated and can be published by anyone regardless positive or negative reviews. Most of the reviews on Hipages are standard: "connected with xxx (tradie's name or business name) through hipages.com.au and we have confirmed that they would recommend them."

I believed that if these tradies had been really good, they should have received positive Google reviews as well. I am not sure whether these businesses deliberately don't want to have their business listed with Google+ in order to prevent customers posting negative reviews OR simply they don't know the importance of Google+ business listing.

Any thoughts?

 

Hi pages is a scam, you won’t find good tradesmen on it

 

If you only want to use a business reviewed on Google, best to search their review sites.

There are so many review sites, yet many people rarely post reviews. I don’t unless asked, and only then if I feel like it. We have used HiPages, and after the job was done we were emailed to provide a review on their site. The benefit of their site reviews is that only people who have used the service can review, rather than open sites like google or TripAdvisor where anyone can post anything, and, to me, their reviews can lack credibility.
Marg

 

That’s not true. A friend who is a very competent tradie uses HI Pages.

 

We found an excellent tradesman on it.
Did a superb job at a very reasonable price.
Marg

 

I got quotes for a full apartment paint job on hipages. Mixed bag of prospects ranging from sole operators trying to swingle you ($10k for a 2 b paint job? Fk off) to professionals who seem to have actual processes- one fella took notes on his iPad and gave an itemised quote. Good way to get lots of mixed opinions and quotes if you line em up to come in on the one day.

 

That's true too. But it's hard to believe these days a tradie doesn't want his busniess listed with Google+. There must be a reason behind it.

 

Google plus administrators can make their site only open to certain people e.g. people with a google account. They can also approve comments to ensure people do not abuse the service.

 

HiPages and Oneflare will obviously be prompting users for reviews. I've personally not found much take up of g+ from any businesses let alone tradies. Maybe try Facebook.

 

I think you're reading too much into it and I don't think it's anything sinister.

As far as social networks go Google+ is crap and very few people (does anyone?) actually use it. Writing reviews is difficult and time consuming and people generally don't go to the effort of doing it.

Word of mouth is the best kind of review and advertising. If a tradie is good people generally won't go to social media to comment on it but if they're talking with someone then that's when they'll say we had XXXX do the work and they were good, bad, average etc.

If they do a good job then they will be busy enough with referrals and repeat business that they won't need the likes of written reviews, social media or services that take a cut of your business for giving you business.

 

I had a really bad experience with HiPages. On trying to leave a negative review I found it was not possible. I spoke to their customer service section who advised they would not publish negative reviews, only positive ones, and to take up any issues with the firm concerned. Needless to say this makes Hi Pages completely unreliable if relying on the reviews/feedback.

 

A post on the legal threads sums up many of these "scammer seeks work" sites. HiPages, Gumtree and cards stapled to a tree are all equally unreliable. And a tradie with a Irish accent during our Summer period isnt any better.

Check licenses AND personal ID. Plenty of people borrow a license.

 

Yes, if you hire a tradie based on good reviews on HiPages and later you find the tradie is very dodgy, you are not allowed to leave a negative review because HiPages receives payment from the Tradie. So I always try to find reviews elsewhere to double check.

However if you hire a tradie based on Google Reviews and later you are not happy with him, you have chance to say: "Look, I hired this guy and found he wasn't as good as what other people described".

 

One correction:
I was reading Oneflare during the day (looking for a concreter) and noticed Oneflare does publish both negativeand positive reviews.

 

Thanks for the information guys, the other side of the scam with hipages, is that they have a pay per lead, “service”. So, sometimes you won’t get the right tradie for the job, you’ll get the highest bidder for the job. This being the so, could be shonky and does not care as they will pass lead cost onto you....

 

You don't necessarily get the highest bidder.
The jobs come in as leads and let's say for example at $25. The first 3 tradies who accept the lead pay $25 to hipages and they are the ones who will receive your contact details to provide you with a quote.

All other tradies who accepted the job and weren't the first 3 to accept the job are placed on a waitlist (which you can view if you weren't satisfied with the initial 3 quotes you received)

 

Even if I am prompted, unless I have a very negative experience I never leave any review as a customer.

However, on the otherhand I try not to get jobs through hipages or oneflare for the simple reason that you are likely to compete against a sole operator whose price you wouldn't be able to beat anyway. Only time I attempt to get jobs is after reading the description to make sure it's a sizeable job that a sole operator is unlikely to accept.

When I try to secure tradespeople I try phonebooks, local directories, local papers and third party sites and line them up. When writing a description of the job I write it up so that it entices sole operators to middle size trades to accept the job. Even though I am a tradeperson sometimes it is so difficult to get the right person for the job so at times my work gets delayed by months until I find someone who feels right.
Once I have the right trade person I keep using them and try to get referrals through them as they are likely to have similar persons around them. But every now and then I get quotes from other trades to make sure the tradeperson that I keep using is not overcharging me because he knows that I am not getting quotes from other trades.
How I work out whether I am being over charged is no more than daily rate of $600 per person or $100/hour less materials. For example if doing kitchen or bathroom work out how much the materials are and then divide the remainder by how many days it's going to take to complete the task.