I'm a consumer AND a business owner~ I like checkbook.org much much better than Angies list.

Angies list has all kinds of ads and seems to be filled with lots 'sponsored' articles. Checkbook.org is from the same company as consumer reports.. NO ADS,NO SPONSORS, just honest unbiased reviews and feedback.

It probably is more expensive, but like with anything.. you get what you pay for!

I've used AL quite a bit....we found the GC who just did our kitchen on AL...in fact all 7 or 8 contractors we interviewed came from AL. I've used them for other things too..landscapers...and now am checking out furniture repair places.

My best friend uses Angie's list and she tried to steer me away from a particular contrator based on a couple of unfavorable reviews. Another friend used the same contractor and loved him. I decided to use him and was so glad I did. He was honest, priced fair, and went above and beyond. I think your best bet is to get reommendations from friends. Angies lists gives you reviews, they dont give you a guarantee on good service.
Good Luck with whatever you decide.

I joined AL just for my kitchen reno. Not a single business that I considered hiring was reviewed there. (DC area.) So for me it was a bust, but it cost me only $25 so I'm not too distressed.

I've heard from people on this forum before (you should try searching) that it does really depend on area. And I suppose how commected you even are via friends. I would think always it would be better to get a recommendation from a trusted friend as opposed to a stranger. If there were a large-enough reviewing base, then the numbers might give you a good gloss of what's happening. But in the end, your best bet would come from honing in on most-relevent-to-you data, which is likely to come from someone you trust.

No guarantees there of course either. This forum is filled with complaints from people disappointed with a "well-recommended" contractor.

I don't happen to know about AL in Westchester -- maybe someone else knows about that area specifically?

I've been universally thrilled with everyone I've found through Angies' List. Since I'm new (relatively) to my current city, I didn't have a lot of neighbors and friends here to recommend folks. So I relied on AL to find an upholsterer, rug cleaner and furniture repair person...all turned out to be fabulous.

I'm now using the list to find painters and remodelers/cabinetmakers to finish the job my GC and previous cabinetmaker (recommendations of friends, not AL) completely screwed up.

I imagine the value varies from place to place, since the more people who use the service, the more reviews and more names of businesses are on the list. I certainly wouldn't rule out anyone who wasn't ON the list, if their references and recommendations from others were great. But if I have to go into the market cold...you bet I use the list.

I used Angie's list in the Baltimore area to find a cleaning service after recommendations from friends and family didn't work out. When a friend or loved one recommends someone and all goes well, it's great. But if anything goes wrong, it becomes awkward. I also found a great landsaper/hardscaper there. Since then I've used Angie's list to find 6 of the 7 kitchen contractors I talked to, including the one we hired. It is inexpensive. It shouldn't necessarily be your only resource but it's a great place to go for comparisons or to get a start in an overwhelming search for services.

I have had really good experiences with the people I have found through Angie's List. (No relation!! ;-)

Regional - I live in the Baltimore/DC/NoVA area and found it pretty useless. Even though we are all one region, AL divides us up into several regions and you have to join each region if you want to cover the area. I contacted them about it b/c in other regions with a similar situation, you get your entire region for one membership (IIRC, Minneapolis/St. Paul fell into this category)...but they do not do the same for the DC/Baltimore/NoVA area. Since those of us who live in this area use contractors & other businesses from all over the region, it makes it useless to us unless we join three regions.

It's very inexpensive in our metro area. I would love to write a bad review of the granite install that is a disaster in my house right now but I am simply not up to any more drama but if I don't then I am not helping the cause of Angie's List. I did NOT find this company on AL but to be a good subscriber I should write a review to warn others. We'll see. I'm so worn out with these types of mishaps and that is why I subscribed. I also find that when I look things up there isn't as much feedback as I'd like so it's people like me that don't write reviews that are to blame!!!

I have used some of their coupon deals such as hiring a window cleaner that advertised inside and outside window cleaning for $100. I have 45 windows so that was quite the deal but when they got here he said no that was just for the first 20 windows and it cost me another $160 dollars but still for $260 inside and outside clean 90 window surfaces (they count inside and outside separately) in all that was under what I was used to paying. Some of our windows are really high and huge so there is no way we can do them ourselves. When I have tried to do them they look a mess. One of the guys was really good the other one looked like they picked him up as a day laborer and had the work ethic to match. But overall the windows look as good if not better than other companies I have used and I was satisfied with the price.

You can buy coupons from them for other deals besides the window cleaning. I have purchased organizing services, cleaning services. They will offer 4 hours of cleaning for $75 for initial coupon offer and then after that it's the full price but at least you get to interview them without signing up for the service up front. I bought a coupon for 4 hours of organizing and she was a good worker but it wasn't what I thought. She helped me put things in bags to give to Goodwill and we did that together but she didn't do it herself. From watching HGTV I guess I thought she would be doing labels and more or less coming in and deciding where to put things etc. helping me clean and then putting stuff back away but all she really did was put things in plastic bags. She took a lot to Goodwill in her car and the rest I put in my car and took to Goodwill. It did really help me get started but it wasn't what I thought it would be.

It was so cheap I think I got two years or more for $22. They were having a huge discount offer when I signed up. It is only going to work if people are honest and participate so once I get the granite resolved I must write a review or else I have not contributed. I have written good reviews before so I did do my part there, I find writing a bad one to be harder to do.

If you look hard enough or long enough, you can find a negative for just about everything if you need a reason or a positive if you are looking for reinforcement. I looked into AL and was turned off by the cost . . .it's interesting to hear though that there are contractors who actually pay attention to what is being written about them but I live in the NY metro area and no one around here seems to give a hoot.

Buehl....not sure I agree with you. I live in suburban MD and when I was looking for kitchen remodelers, numerous companies from NOVA popped up. Just now I did a search for roofers, just to see if things had changed, and the 5th or 6 th one on the list was from Baltimore. Living in Mont. Co, I would probably never hire a co. from Nova or Bmore just because of the traffic hassles, unless I knew them personally. How happy on the job are they going to be if they just sat in traffic for an hour and a half to get to my house?

I had used someone who advertised on Angie's List and the experience was terrible. I much prefer Consumer Checkbook. They take no ads.

I didn't like it for my area (Long Island). Very few of the contractors, plumbers, electricians, KD, architects, who I considered had reviews on angie's list. I looked up everyone and gained no information.

I was going to add my reviews, but I do not like that they tell the business the member info for the author of the review (they also allow they to respond). I know it is meant to prevent false reviews, but I just don't like that policy. I canceled my subscription without contributing reviews.

I am a HUGE Angie's List fan. When we lived in Cincinnati I used them constantly and for obscure services as well as regular-type stuff. For example, when my mom gave me her grandfather's clock, I drove it to Cincy in the car but had to get it serviced and put back together correctly. Angie's List had several clock repair people, I picked the best grades, and had a great experience.

I've used it for chimney sweeps, car repair, landscaping (big project), remodeling, jewelry repair, leather refinishing (they use a leather paint to cover stains - it's an art), wood refinishing, painters, waterproofing, computer repair, and several other categories - those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.

You get an idea what something costs and the professionalism of the company. I only use people with A grades. It must be popular because the guy I chose for the big landscaping project told me he doesn't have to advertise anymore because of his A grade on Angie's List.

We moved to a community of about 150K in Illinois, and there's not as many reports there ... yet. I'm doing my part. Just love Angie's List.

Joanie...maybe they've changed since 2007 & 2008. All I know is that when I called AL and talked to them they admitted I would NOT see NoVA, DC, or some of the MD suburbs unless I bought a DC membership in addition to "Baltimore". When I brought up the other cities that they combined into one they were very non-responsive and didn't seem to care...I was very unhappy with them and did NOT renew. Bad experience.

Here's why I quit Angie's: I posted a negative review after a plumbing company sent a less than competent guy to replace a defective ejector pump in our basement. He then tried to wheedle us into letting him do the job "on the side" on his own time as long as we promised not to tell the boss. His estimate was obscenely high and we kicked him out.

A few months later, I posted the negative review, and the owner of the plumbing company then started harassing me trying to get me to modify the post. Because of the specific nature of my complaint, he was easily able to cross reference his records and figure out who posted it. The potential, including veiled threats to track down information about my business and post negative reviews there in retaliation, led me to just walk away from Angies. I think there is a fundamental flaw in the concept due to the inability to maintain confidentiality.

I joined and it was a total waste of money, since our area, despite being the largest city in Maine, is virtually ignored by AL's regional scheme. (Similar issues with CraigsList, which has one single list for our entire large-but-sparsely-populated state.) I could find tons of contractors reviewed in the larger urban areas 2 hours south of us, but that's not much use vis-a-vis hiring local contractors.

Buehl---sorry you had a bad experience with AL. Mine has been more like mjtx2. Our contractor is super busy because of his A rating on AL. I must have membership that covers DC/Balt....although I would never consider a Baltimore or, say, Alexandria firm living in Mont Co. I had forgotten about Checkbook....may take a look at them again..

I found it to be useless for the same reason as circuspeanut. I am in the Providence, RI area (a small metro area an hour from boston). To their credit, I complained to AL that I found them unhelpful and they gave me access to the Boston site for free. Once I started looking around in the Boston one, I realized it could be useful for certain metro areas, but just didn't work for Providence. I wound up cancelling the membership.
Joaniepoanie- i grew up in gaithersburg, my parents still live there and they use checkbook constantly. They've had a lot of luck with it.

I am a HUGE Angie's List fan. When we lived in Cincinnati I used them constantly and for obscure services as well as regular-type stuff. For example, when my mom gave me her grandfather's clock, I drove it to Cincy in the car but had to get it serviced and put back together correctly. Angie's List had several clock repair people, I picked the best grades, and had a great experience.

I've used it for chimney sweeps, car repair, landscaping (big project), remodeling, jewelry repair, leather refinishing (they use a leather paint to cover stains - it's an art), wood refinishing, painters, waterproofing, computer repair, and several other categories - those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.

You get an idea what something costs and the professionalism of the company. I only use people with A grades. It must be popular because the guy I chose for the big landscaping project told me he doesn't have to advertise anymore because of his A grade on Angie's List.

We moved to a community of about 150K in Illinois, and there's not as many reports there ... yet. I'm doing my part. Just love Angie's List.

I have only provided reviews for angie's list, and have never actually used a contractor from them (usually b/c I end up hiring a person that a friend or neighbor has used)
Have been a member for about 6 years.

My concern is like others. I have wanted to write 2 negative reviews, but I fear retaliation from the two companies I want to write about ( bathroom contractor and doctor). Especially, if there are not any other negative reviews written, it is hard to be the first. It would be very easy for the provider to figure out who wrote the negative review.

I wonder what safegaurds Angie's List has in place to protect users from their reviews?

In the meantime, I take all reviews across Angie's with a grain of salt.

I have stopped writing reviews b/c after doing a search with for a service, Anige's List sends an email to ask me to write a review. I am tired of getting so many emails from Angie's List and find their business model has changed over the year ( not for the positive)

I used to find their magazine enjoyable and helpful to read, but lately it seems like the main feature is promoting some type of business, instead of consumer issues.

I joined it and non of our local builders had reviews except one. that one was bad and it was a company that I knew not to build with because they have such a bad rep around town. So for me it was a bust. I suppose it depends on where you live but not many people around here use it

I use AL to check out everybody. I've lived in this city for 8 years and have paid for AL every year since I moved here. For the fee (about $45 a year), I find it very useful.

Once I tried to use Service Magic to find a carpenter because somebody recommended it, and then I checked those contractors against AL and found they all had less than stellar ratings.

Skatermom, I sometimes write a negative review, but the company has to have done something to really deserve it and I feel I need to warn others. If I think maybe somebody was just having a bad day, then I write it off as inconsequential. And when I do make a bad review, I only state the facts about what transpired and try to keep it very short.

Irishlaw1---I'm in G'burg since 1984..kids all went to GHS....small world!

@skatermom: as you can see in my post up above, my experience was that there wasn't any safeguard against retaliation by a vendor. I clearly suffered harassment and some implied threats towards my business after posting said negative review. We could have engaged in an online war, but I elected to cancel my membership and walk away.

I've used AL in the Boston area and DC area, both with mixed results. Like others, I've had bad results with companies getting good reviews. Also, the further you live from a densely populated city center, the fewer vendors you'll find. In the MD suburbs of DC, I have the additional problem of AL giving me lots of "close" (as the crow flies) companies in VA, but driving would take over an hour because we have no bridges!! (another story). My main complaint is the same as clinresga's. I had a couple unpleasant experiences with vendors upset about bad reviews (and they don't have to cross-reference you--AL gives them your personal info). This not only jeopardizes AL members, but because they become afraid to give bad reviews, the entire process loses credibility. Now I use them primarily as a second source and, though their effectiveness depends on lots of reviewers, I only write a review if it's good or the vendor can't hurt me (e.g., a big chain). Also, they seem to be more expensive in both areas compared to what others say they pay above.

wont do AL on principle. Why pay somebody to give them my biz, and THEN, pay again to do the job? I have used Home Advisors with good results so far for housecleaning, carpet cleaning. As someone posted earlier, sometimes word of mouth can be awkward if things go south. Interestingly in my Houston metro community, about 60% of houses use the same landscape service but NOBODY uses the same cleaning service. Wonder why that is.