Is ServiceMagic a Scam?

Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on the web. The short answer to whether Service Magic is a scam or not…is no. ServiceMagic has been in business for over 10 years (you can read more abut the company on Wikipedia and IAC). How many scams do you know last that long? They are a legitimate company that connects people to professionals. Sometimes a few bad apples make it through the ServiceMagic network, but they don’t last long. Service Magic removes these bad apples when appropriate. If you are looking for reviews or complaints about ServiceMagic’s network of professionals, you can find them on their site.

Also, competitors like to post poor reviews around the web claiming ServiceMagic scams people. This is simply not true. If you have legitimate feedback, we encourage you to leave your positive or negative feedback in the comments here.

#1 | Written by Tamara Hyland on October 10, 2011. Reply

I am not sure that “scam” is the right word, just not at all focused on the contractor and very focused on the bottom dollar-theirs. I am a small business with one employee, myself. I started using the company when I began my home remodeling business to supplement my leads for home renovation projects. I was told about a process for requesting a credit for leads that did not “match” my criteria. The leads that are provided are not well screened and at times, the consumer is just filling out the online form as a part of another request. I was told by one customer that I called, that she completed the Service Magic lead form as part of a Publisher’s Clearing House request. Anyway, when I received leads that needed “financing” or the use of a credit card to purchase my services, I attempted to follow the process for requesting a credit. Leads range in price starting at about $38.00 each. I wanted a credit for a lead that did not meet my criteria on the website, since I cite that I do not accept credit cards. Bottom line, is no credit given and no solution given so that this will not happen again. All they care about is their business and not the contractors that they say they want to serve. Account closed!
- #2 | Written by mblack on October 14, 2011.
  
  Hi Tamara –
  
  I am sorry that you are frustrated about the lead replacements and some of the leads. We do offer lead replacements on a case-by-case basis and would like to help you submit these for proper review. I have forwarded your information to a customer representative to give you a call today. You may also contact me directly at 303.963.8066 or mblack[at]servicemagic.com.
  
  Thank you,
  
  Mandy Black
#3 | Written by ThomasTrumen on September 15, 2011. Reply

ServiceMagic is not a scam. I have been using them for a long time now. My friends actually refereed them to me because ServiceMagic treated my friends great. No service is always perfect. The customer must understand that things happen and its best to work it out. If there is a problem its important for the customer to talk to ServiceMagic to let them know what they need to fix and its important for ServiceMagic to fix it.
- #4 | Written by mblack on September 16, 2011.
  
  Hi Thomas –
  
  Thanks for the great feedback! We are happy we’ve been able to help you time and time again!
  
  Mandy Black
#5 | Written by Vikki on August 29, 2011. Reply

Service Magic has been calling my husband wanting him to sign up. Of course, they had a “special” that ended that day (and every day since until he finally signed up) that waived the enrollment fee! I have a bad feeling but he still wants to try it! Wish us luck……I would lay odds that this will not be pretty!!!!!
- #6 | Written by mblack on August 30, 2011.
  
  Hi Vikki –
  
  Welcome to ServiceMagic. We are glad to have you as part of our network. If you have any questions or concerns along the way, please don’t hesitate to call us at 877.947.3639 or e-mail customerservice[at]servicemagic.com.
  
  Thank you!
  
  Mandy Black
#7 | Written by susan on August 6, 2011. Reply

The Atlas Sewer and Drain we picked to clear drain clog from your 3 matching pros on 8/4/2011( at 732 cricket lane, woodbridge nj).

He(John 201-960-1426) did not clear drain clog. There is no improvement after his service (8/5/2011).
He said he is not the plummer, could not clear our bath tub clog. Then he charged $50.00 for the service and will send us the receipt by Email that night. So far we have not receiped any receipt from him.
From pass experiences, I thought we could trust you finding the right person to fix the problem. I am very disappoint this time. I wonder do you still is a reliable source to get the pro to do the work for us. Susan
#8 | Written by LucyA on August 1, 2011. Reply

ServiceMagic immediately contacted three air conditioning contractors to provide estimates for my job. The company I selected was Technicair. The owner, Tom contacted me within hours of my email request. He rushed two Technicians out within minutes. They repaired and got my A/C central air system running smoothly in a timely manner. They stayed to monitor their work, were clean thorough, courteous and professional. The owner followed up by calling to see if I was satisfied! Nice Work Technicair…Their email address is: info@technicairnyc.com
- #9 | Written by mblack on August 2, 2011.
  
  Good afternoon Lucy –
  
  We are happy to hear that Technicair was able to take such great care of you! Make sure to submit in your feedback as a rating and review so that other consumers can see what your experience was like. If you need help submitting in the rating, feel free to e-mail us at ratings[at]servicemagic.com.
  
  Thank you,
  
  Mandy Black
#10 | Written by Halfon & Parcells on July 21, 2011. Reply

CreativeResurfacingSolutions,PO Box5151,Largo,FL, resealed my stamped colored concrete driveway in January & it developed large blistering areas which they tested small areas of to see if sealant could be removed. These were unsuccessful.The owner PetarPitesa, will not answer phone calls nor certified mail & refuses to remove faulty sealant.A $6,556 driveway is ruined.He has been reported to Better Business Bureau &
Pinellas County Consumer Services. He claims NO RESPONSIBILITY. He was Service Magic Screened & Approved. Can you offer any help in having him correct his faulty resealing?
- #11 | Written by mblack on July 21, 2011.
  
  Hello Halfon & Parcells –
  
  I am sorry to hear that your experience with Creative Resurfacing Solutions did not get your project taken care of. We take these situations very seriously and if you found them through ServiceMagic we can look into helping mediate contact to find a resolution. I would like to speak to you directly in regards to this situation to get more details. Please contact me directly at 303.963.8066 or mblack[at]servicemagic.com.
  
  Thank you,
  
  Mandy Black
#12 | Written by Elaine on June 21, 2011. Reply

Does anybody knows what types of works Saul Sanchez does. He seem like he knows what he talking about But, after I read all the comments about this company. Well I not sure if I want him or his teams to do any work in my home
- #13 | Written by Mandy Black on June 22, 2011.
  
  Hello Elaine –
  
  Thanks for coming to ServiceMagic! I could try looking up Saul in our system if you know his company name. If he is not in our system I will not be able to tell what kind of work he provides. If you are looking for a contractor to do some work on your home you can go to http://www.servicemagic.com or call us at 866.390.1030 and ServiceMagic will match you with screened and approved professionals in your area to help with your home improvement project.
  
  Thank you again!
  
  Mandy Black
#14 | Written by Chris Bartholomew on May 19, 2011. Reply

Service magic is not a scam just a very poor and misleading non professional business practice.
They have thousands of complaints from both contractors who buy their expensive no guarantee leads and home owners who never get return phone calls when the complaint is sent to them from the home owner about the contractor they furnish. They got away with it for ten years because they never get involved with either party when there is a problem. At $36.00 for a lead they don’t have to. They have a “I don’t care” attitude and in their book they are number one, they truly do not care about the other persons or businesses involved. Ive been scammed by both service magic and the contractors they provided as I am out several thousand dollars and the contractors are still with them. However the ceilings their contractors replaced and repaired a year ago are falling apart.
The 8’ fences they replaced are lying on the ground again, the electrical work is incomplete though the concrete is dry and will have to be removed before the electrical can be redone. The paint is flaking off the house and the basketball goal and other places. All this work was done in the summer of 2010. The contractor took 2 months to replace a ceiling in a small bathroom and the drywall dust is still in my lungs. I wrote to service magic and called them several times and they ignored every single letter as did the contractors they provided. In the beginning I requested quotes from 4 service magic contractors and only one of those contractors gave me a quote.
Two of their contractors did not show up and one never came back to quote.
I have to this day never received a call back from service magic.

I called service magic and posed as a contractor see how they signed people up to see if they had any special requirements. Not only were they willing to take me in they called me many, many times to sell me leads. All I ever gave them was a company name and a phone number. What they did do is use the name I gave them as well as the phone to market for home owner leads. In fact my company name showed up all over the internet as a service magic recommended company but if you clicked on my name or phone number it would go directly to service magic where my name was not present, only the names of my competitors. So they were using my business name and phone number to draw in leads from home owners to sell back to me and to my competitors. How crooked is that?
I’ve been on both sides of the coin with service magic. You should go to your better business bureau and stay away from companies like service magic, especially service magic. I hope you can learn from my mistakes I sure have. They should be out of business. I have to believe that anyone who puts a comment down here promoting Service Magic’s honesty is either getting paid to do so or works for them. Good Luck if you trust them!

I recommend you stay away from companies that supply contractors and let them get a real job. Go to the BBB local and get your businesses. If you use them and they don’t show up you can then bug the BBB. The internet is good for information but I wouldn’t trust it when big bucks are involved. I’ve been ripped off a few times there.
I was ripped off on Ebay twice. I also tried Angies list for contractors and the two that I called never showed up so I checked into what would it take for me to be on Angies list as a contractor and all I had to do was have a friend call and say I did a good job for them and that got me on the list. Folks things are not as they seem. Be careful.
- #15 | Written by Mandy Black on May 19, 2011.
  
  Good afternoon Chris –
  
  I am very sorry that your experience and the final product did not meet your expectations. We would like to speak to you more to see if there is something that we can do to help resolve this situation. Please contact me at 303-963-8066 or mblack@servicemagic.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
  
  Thank you,
  
  Mandy Black
#16 | Written by Kate on May 7, 2011. Reply

I recently used ServiceMagic and it worked fine. I hope I wont regret it after a couple of years.
#17 | Written by Rosa Gerth on April 6, 2011. Reply

I live in Brentwood, TN. I’ve recently been victimized by a fraudulent contractor, Tom O’Connor, owner of “A Dream Come True Renovations”.
How can I bring this crook to justice?
I’ve already contacted the “Better Business Bureau” and the “Tennessee Board of Contractors”. All they do is to have the crook’s name on file for future customer’s benefit. But this scum bag really belongs in jail. Or, at least out of business!
#18 | Written by John L. on November 9, 2010. Reply

I have used Service Magic for four different home repair and improvement jobs over the past seven years. Three years after I had some electrical work done, I encountered a minor problem with the work. Other than that, I have no complaints about the quality of the contractors that Service Magic has sent my way. I live in San Jose, California.

I do make a point to oversee all the work that contractors do on my home. I would recommend to everyone that they be on-site as much as they can, whether they hire contractors through a service like Service Magic or not.
#19 | Written by Carmen Santora on August 17, 2010. Reply

I don’t believe any consumer should use any contractor that pays for leads from a fee charged source that doesn’t check the contractor’s reputation with the Better Contractors Bureau when looking for a contractor in Rochester, NY.
- #20 | Written by Christopher Brown on May 16, 2011.
  
  I agree. As a contractor, ServiceMagic courted me and asked only if I would be willing to pay $12 per lead for seamless aluminum gutter installation. They never sent anyone to review my work or business practices. That’s right, contractors, you can negotiate them down, even. It may not be a scam, but it is a “skim” operation.
#21 | Written by doug heath on July 28, 2010. Reply

The tools that they give you to work with are great. I am a contractor and have been with them for two years. the cost of yellow pages compared to service majic. is about the same. If you hire a contractor that does not do a good job, falls back on the customer for not picking the right one. PROBABLY WERE THE CHEAPEST bids and thats why you got burned.
- #22 | Written by Alicia on March 14, 2011.
  
  Wow, i completely disagree. We rely on Service Magic to screen people. you aren’t very nice
#23 | Written by mike on July 23, 2010. Reply

im a contractor with service magic & this company is dishonest! i get leads from them & 80% of the time unable to make contact with customer (false lead) that i still have to pay>angie list is better
#24 | Written by Sandra Rollins on June 20, 2010. Reply

We contracted with a company referred by ServicePro.Com. to do a bathroom remodel and two tile jobs, plus change out the lights in our kitchen. The biggest complaint I have about the company we hired is that they don’t return calls or emails, they show up when the spirit moves them, and they are not responsive to valid complaints. We had our entryway tile replaced. The replacement tile was slate, which is very uneven in terms of thickness. Then they removed the old tile, they found it had been placed directly over the original hardwood. Instead of consulting with us regarding removing the hardwood, they put down hardi-backer over the hardwood and then the tile over that. No supervisor was on the job, just the workers, and all they were told was to replace the tile, so that’s what they did. The result was the entryway is higher then the floor that it flows into on two sides. Therefore, the threshold does not work. The work has been done for weeks, and they still have not corrected the threshold problem. It is a serious trip hazard, and it looks terrible sticking up a good inch above the floors. We still owe them money, so you would think they would be more motivated to finish, but since they’ve already gotten the lions share of the money, I guess they have no intention of fixing this in a professional manner. The other jobs were done satisfactorily, they seem to just have fallen apart at the end. The boss promises the fix, and yet has never actually seen the job himself, and send workers who don’t know what they’re supposed to do. We’re at our wits end at this point. We are planning on listing our house for sale, and this floor is just unacceptable. We are very unhappy with their lack of response, and with your recommendation,
#25 | Written by steve L on June 13, 2010. Reply

I used service magic 3 months ago.I found a mason in Pittsburgh pa.I called sanpietro construction who said he could fix some broken bricks on my house,he gave me price of $2,169.I asked him if he could replace the 60 yr old brick with a similar brick or close to it ,he said yes no problem.I told him ill be out of town for a few months he told me no problem 2 months later i had to call to make shore he was coming to do the job.he said he was so busy he would be there soon.he finally was able to start the job originally he said it would take two days but it only took one day.When he finished he called me out of town.he was asking for his money asap.i told him i have to see the job first so i called my sister asked her to TeX me a pitcher,and when i got the pitcher i was so shocked he used new orange brick on my red brick house.i called him up and asked him why he used the wrong bricks he replied with i cant find 60 yr old brick.he told me he and his buddy did a grate job.at that point i had no choice but to pay him.i tried to get him to change the bricks and he refused and would not return my calls.now I’m left with a botch job.
- #26 | Written by lynda Cords on February 7, 2012.
  
  We chose Servicemagic because we interviewed several people from Servicemagic for a construction project we were doing. I carefully read everything on their bios’. Then, I interviewed the carpenters myself and often asked for more photos and references myself. Buyer beware; do your homework! I did have to weed out who were the best. Then, I asked them how they liked Servicemaster. They were happy with the company so we decided to give the company a try for our own company’s advertisment. There were some minor mistakes in that my husband does not make cabinets, he only installs them so we got some incorrect leads. We were always quickly refunded for those leads without question. My husband hasn’t responded to many jobs yet because his work has picked up. Our only complaint is that the website is limited in what one can write and where it can be placed and I am not sure how effective it is.
#27 | Written by Michael Cox on March 30, 2010. Reply

I’ve used ServiceMagic twice and have found a contractor and an architect. It worked just fine. I don’t know why people would say they are anything but decent. They are owned by the same people that own Expedia and Ask.com and are publicly traded.

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