Hank Tokarz sent a message to Marco Zappacosta that said:
Good evening Marco,
I am a DJ service pro & have been using Thumbtack since 2009. I am also an Air Force veteran. As I would hope you have been seeing in the Community Forums & even the comments from your Thanksgiving message there are many upset service pros including myself who are disappointed with the Promote product as they were with the Instant Match product. My complaints are that I get auto billed before even having a chance to look at the job. I never get notified until AFTER the customer reaches out with the conversation starter. Leads provide very little information. Also the prices I am being charged when the lead reaches out using the conversation starter templates are outrageous. Why is TT using algorithms to determine what to charge me when a lead reaches out? Why not have one flat fee for each size job? Another issue is the fact that I can't pick & choose the jobs that I want to respond to. TT in essence is doing that on my behalf which I don't like. That's why I'm using the manual way of sending out quotes & have been for a couple of months now. I will not be using Promote until I see improvements. One of which is the same complaint I've expressed dozens upon dozens of times to customer support over the years & recently in the Community Forums. The lead doesn't provide a phone number & e-mail address after they reach out with one of the the conversation starter templates, I'm auto charged & all I have is their name. A "future business lead" as you folks at TT like to call them. Those templates by the way need to be modified. I offered my suggestion for that in the Community Forums. Speaking of those forums the moderators do not know the TT product & do not represent your company very well in my opinion. I have made suggestions & yes I have expressed my anger & disappointment with the product. I have had several of my posts edited for not meeting the so called community standards. I asked one of the moderators named Kameron who heads up the DJ service category. It used to be Aanchal Ramani. He wouldn't tell me. I also suggested having one standard template in the DJ category. Kameron said he would pass that suggestion along. When I asked him who is he passing that on to he indicated that it was passed on to the appropriate group. What kind of an answer is that? When I asked him who that group would be he again provided no answer. I have now been banned from the community forums by Kameron for one month which I totally disagree with. I would like that ban lifted. I have a right to be heard! He can't answer my questions which upsets me to no end. I called him out on that & he doesn't like that. Sorry but when I spend my hard earned money on leads that wind up going no where because they don't provide contact information then I'm going to get upset. Not only am I a service pro but I am also a consumer. My money along with all of the other service pros helps keep TT in business which seems to be forgotten by many at TT! I also suggested to Kameron to have the folks who head up the categories for each line of business be part of the community forums & the moderators to step aside. Guess he didn't like that idea & another reason he banned me, Look if you are going to have community forums then there should be no limits as to what can be discussed. The moderators & for that matter customer support do not go outside the box to look for answers. They provide scripted answers or send you video links both of which I can find myself on TT. I know how to use the product. I don't need to be coddled like that. I could go on & on but I will stop here. I thank you for your time & I would really like to hear what you have to say.
Best wishes,
Hank Tokarz
