[Emil Dinev]

I am expecting their rep to turn up at 9.30 am today to tell me about their free membership for 9 months as mentioned by their telesales guy on the phone 2 weeks ago. I just wonder what the catch is...a guess I'll find out soon
Is anyone member of Checkatrade? Has someone been contacted by them with the same offer. I read some very bad reviews about them on Moneysavingexpert.com.
Any comments please...

Cheers
Emil

[Emil Dinev]

Right, all seems good. It really is free membership for 9 months, they didn't take any card or bank details. They say they get so many enquiries for my area that they either have to turn some away or get another carpet cleaner on board  Let's see how much work it will get me 

Cheers
Emil

[JetVac Cleaning]

Right, all seems good. It really is free membership for 9 months, they didn't take any card or bank details. They say they get so many enquiries for my area that they either have to turn some away or get another carpet cleaner on board  Let's see how much work it will get me 
I was offered the same deal and finally went live yesterday and yes there is no catch. Check out Jetvac cleaning rm17
Cheers
Emil

[Buckland]

Emil

Go for it - I would have liked a free 9 months  just coming up to renewal and have to say I will probably renew although the fees are going up substantially now.

It does not produce work for me like some people seem to experience - but make no mistake it does produce leads depending on how much TV advertising they are doing in your area - you will find they will step up adverts for your itv region now - its not like turning on a tap but then very little is like turning on a tap except turning on a tap!

I did get seriously hacked off recently when they apparently ignored my request - sent three times - to change a customers review which had a word clearly mis-spelt or mis-typed - the customer meant to say "conscientious" but it was on a review on the site as "contentious" - anyway they have changed it now after someone else took over responsibility for my account - usually if you ring them to speak to a person you get just that - someone who responds to requests and takes an interest in your account

Also it is decision time for me to see if I want to go into the mailshot leaflet that they send out to (i think) 70,000 or so homes in my area - expensive but possibly worth it? Anyone do these leaflets with CAT can comment?

dave

[JetVac Cleaning]

Mines been live for 8 days and not even one call yet !!

[Ian Gourlay]

If there is no catch . ie  9 Months Free but locked in for Two Years , you have an excellent deal.

When people phone me up trying to sell me a promotional concept, I ask if I can try before I buy.

I point out if it works I would be fool not to carry on with it .

Funny no takers

[ian harper]

dont waste your money Derek has much more value for you.

[Neil Williams]

Mines been live for 8 days and not even one call yet !!

You are having a laugh aren't you?
8 days and you think you diary should be filling up with something that was free 

Good to see some things don't change

[heritagecleaning]

What does membership cost?

[Neil Jones]

It's different for most people. I think they go off competition in the area. I just paid £539 all in. I got £100 discount for being with TACCA, £25 for paying up front and another one for something (can't remember).

I think it's worth a punt, I offer a range of services so it wouldn't need that many jobs over the course of a year to pay for it.

[M W.]

Sighned up for 6mths free. give it a whirl. also on checked and vetted for past 14mths, fills in gaps nothing else occasionaly 

[Carpet Dawg]

is it liked ratedpeople where you pay per lead as well as a yearly fee?

[Emil Dinev]

Carpet Dawg, you don't pay anything for leads. Prospects call you directly. You only pay £500 + VAT a year
I forgot to mention, i got free insertion in their directory that is to be sent out quarterly to 50,000 homes in my area. It's full of different trades, 2-3 per trade per area. This i think cost around £200 a year on top.
My listing hasnt gone live so no experience as yet, will update in due course.

[Carpet Dawg]

cheers Emil

[bennymon]

I've noticed that in my area even the cheepies are on check a trade so it's not even offering an edge on the opposition . why would I give them £500 odd quid ?

[davep]

Why indeed.  Especially when some get it for free!

[Neil Jones]

Silly me! I've rushed in to it, I've done no research into it and I've not thought about it at all. Let's face it I'm ping in the wind. Oh well. Thanks for the advice.

[hasti]

We have been a member since 2007, and it works brilliant for us now, but, and there is a big but, you need to build a lot of feed back from customers you serve and that will take a few years to build up, and only then you will see results.

I would say at least 3-4 years before you can see good result.

[peter maybury]

I have done it for a year and I have only been able to identify 2 leads that were generated from the site. Both of these enquiries were from outside my area so did not bring any revenue.
We are getting traffic to our checkatrade page but I would think that it is from the links we have put on our stationary and website rather than internal hits from checkatrade itself. It is a lot of outlay and we have put a lot of work in building feed back etc but have decided it is too expensive to keep on. We now have the work of taking links off sites etc and off all our paperwork. I did take it on with an open mind but despite the efforts put in to make it work, it has not. The outlay would be better invested into adwords or something else. 

Peter

[Steve Chapman]

You'd get a better return from facebook for free than them, save your money, the people who run these schemes are the only winners !


Steve