FTC charges HomeAdvisor of misrepresenting leads to businesses

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed an administrative complaint against HomeAdvisor over allegations that the company misrepresented the good quality and the supply of job potential customers to enterprises, as effectively as the odds that those sales opportunities would outcome in actual positions.

The agency alleges that HomeAdvisor has been making false, deceptive, or unsubstantiated promises about the high-quality and supply of the sales opportunities the firm sells to provider vendors due to the fact 2014. Those people assistance vendors involve standard contractors and modest lawn care organizations that used the firm’s services to lookup for potential customers.

The HomeAdvisor product is dependent on gig economic system employees who offer expert services like reworking, cleansing companies, and small appliance installation. When provider providers be part of HomeAdvisor’s network and pay out an yearly membership payment, the company provides leads that assistance vendors use to get hold of potential buyers.

“Gig overall economy platforms really should not use false claims and phony opportunities to prey on personnel and little enterprises,” claimed Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Client Defense. “Today’s administrative grievance from HomeAdvisor displays that the FTC will use each individual device in its toolbox to beat dishonest commercial methods.”

Misrepresenting sales opportunities

The FTC accused HomeAdvisor of misrepresenting the high-quality of its potential customers to provider vendors by informing them that they had a better possibility of landing extra residence advancement careers by making use of its system than its in-property facts essentially confirmed. Officials also alleged that HomeAdvisor possibly deceived assistance suppliers about the price tag of an optional just one-month membership to a software package platform that HomeAdvisor pitched as an incorporate-on to the qualified prospects it offered.

The FTC said service vendors ended up told that they would get to use that system for free of charge for their initially thirty day period with an annual membership package deal. In fact, the initially month was not absolutely free and resulted in a package deal that cost $59.99 extra than “properly informed” services providers could possibly have in any other case paid.

The FTC stated that service providers ultimately wasted time following up on leads that were below the excellent that HomeAdvisor guaranteed. They also allegedly wasted time searching for refunds from the company for all those less-than-favorable leads.

In reaction to the FTC’s accusations, an Angi spokesperson advised ConsumerAffairs that the agency’s promises were meritless and that it options to “vigorously combat” the allegations.

“The FTC allegations from HomeAdvisor are primarily based on a untrue narrative using a smaller handful of cherry picked, incomplete, and out-of-context recorded income calls – to serve their agenda,” the spokesperson said.

Shopper queries vetting of professionals

HomeAdvisor scores a pretty respectable 4.4 stars out of a possible 5 stars from ConsumerAffairs reviewers, but there were some scenarios in which the method fell apart for individuals.

“I was hunting for a person to provide and set up mulch. A Google lookup gave me a number of possibilities with 800 numbers and when I named all of them (3), they were being all to Residence Advisor,” Deborah from Orlando mentioned in her ConsumerAffairs evaluation. 

“Finally I gave my job details to Residence Advisor and they gave me 4 pro referrals. I termed all 4. Two (2) did not present the service I required. 1 (1) did not return my phone calls. I did communicate with a person (1) landscaper and we engaged in text dialog about the task for a pair of months, which include his availability and rate. When I verified the quote and requested for a scheduled day, he stopped responding all with each other. When I requested him for the courtesy of a reaction regardless of whether he could do the job or not, absolutely nothing.”

Deborah’s reported there appeared to be a deficiency of transparency on HomeAdvisor’s part when she wanted to write a evaluate about her predicament.

“When I experimented with to compose a overview for Hector on Property Advisor, mainly because I did not hire the professional, Home Advisor sends my evaluate to the pro (Hector) but does not publish it on their web page. What good is that? I did not employ the service of him mainly because he ‘ghosted’ me when it arrived time to commit to the task,” she explained in her evaluation. “Texting was his ask for, not mine. Beware of House Advisor using various cellular phone numbers on look for engines to generate small business their way. Their vetting of professionals is evidently not satisfactory in all scenarios.”