Many online platforms also offer customer reviews and claim to do background checks. But here’s a warning from a homeowner in South Philadelphia. She has a story that will break your heart and make you skeptical about online recommendations.
“The ceiling was supposed to be finished. The floor had to be supposed to be,” Linda Bonigut said. “He destroyed my house. He destroyed my bank account. He destroyed everything emotionally. And the worst part is that it could all be avoided.”
When Bonigut needed a contractor to update her new home in South Philadelphia, she went to a website called Thumbtack.
SEE ALSO: How reliable are the sites that match professionals for hire?
“They linked me to Hodgden Property Services, Tim Hodgen,” she said.
“Did the contractor you hired have a five-star rating?” asks problem solver Nydia Han.
“Yes. He was judged very well,” she said.
Bonigut paid Hodgden $ 48,000 in the summer of 2019. She showed Han what her house looked like before work.
“It was really nice, definitely a lot better than now,” Bonigut said.
“How do you feel when you see it today?” Han asked.
“Very upset,” she said. “It’s very different when you walk in. Now I have no floor, ceilings, no lighting, no functioning bathroom.”
The work should have been completed within six to eight weeks. But six months from the signing of the agreement and after doing demolition work, Bonigut said Hodgden had disappeared.
“He raised my money and slowly but surely he stopped coming,” she said. “And I just stopped hearing from him.”
“I look around and just get angry,” she said. “At this point, my bank account is empty. I just need to pick up the pieces. I have nothing.”
Han asked Hodgden about Bonigut’s problem.
“She said she gave you $ 48,000 and that you walked away from work,” Han asked.
“I know nothing about that,” Hodgden replied.
“Why did you not do the work? We saw the contract. We saw the checks she wrote to you,” Han asks.
Then he got into his truck, closed the door and drove away.
The story of the contractor accused of bad deeds is not unique. What makes this story different is that Bonigut also blames the website that recommended him.
“I thought I did what I had to do,” she said.
“You’re as mad at Thumbtack as you are at your contractor?” Ask Han.
“I’m furious about Thumbtack, they put me in this position. They propose me for failure,” she said.
On Thumbtack, Hodgden had a 5-star rating and is a ‘top pro’ with listed reviews and a background check. Thumbtack said he did investigate a criminal background in 2018 and had an active registration of the home improvement contractor in Pennsylvania. But Hodgden appears to have been convicted of several crimes dating back to 1996 and 2003.
“Like bad checks, theft by deception, assault. I do not understand why it did not raise a red flag,” she said. “So it all had to come up. And if it didn’t come up, it’s a terrible background test.”
Our problem solver, an action call volunteer, Lance Haver, reviewed how Thumbtack works.
“Thumbtack does not investigate the quality of the work done,” Haver said.
“I enrolled as a life coach, something I have no experience with. I gave myself a fake degree at a fake institution, and Thumbtack hired it,” he said.
Thumbtack has sent Haver more than 1,000 customer leads. And as for reviews?
“Our Call for Action team wrote reviews and the reviews were completely deceptive. Thumbtack posted it anyway,” he said. “You think they’re looking at you. You think they fit you in with the right person, while it’s clear they’re just trying to make money by selling clues to the contractors.”
Thumbtack said, “We have high standards for professionals in the service … In the rare case, we receive a negative report … our team will investigate immediately and take appropriate action.”
It also says: ‘Thumbtack customer reviews are rated’ verified ‘.’
“That they allowed him to go through, I think is shameful,” Bonigut said. “You bring someone into my house who has been convicted of something I pay them for, just like they were convicted. I want people to know not to use Thumbtack. I think the company is terrible,” she said. . said.
After Bonigut’s complaint, Thumbtack did remove Hodgden permanently from his platform. In 2019, it also offered her $ 2,500, which was the maximum amount allowed under the Thumbtack guarantee at the time.
Meanwhile, Bonigut has now filed a lawsuit against Hodgden.
And please note that Hodgden has had several business names and is currently offered by T&B Property Services.
Read Thumbtack’s full statement released to Action News:
“We have high standards for service staff who use Thumbtack to find customers and expect them to provide excellent customer experiences.
In the rare event that we receive a negative report about a professional, our team will immediately investigate and take action.
When the client, Mrs. Bonitgut, making contact in November 2019, we responded immediately and immediately started investigating what happened. In response to her report, Mr. Hodgden permanently removed from the Thumbtack platform in November 2019.
Here is for reference what we get from mr. Hodgden knows:
On 21 April 2018, he took a criminal background test done by a nationally accredited provider of background tests
He had 13 reviews and an overall rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on Thumbtack
At the time of the complaint, Hodgden Property Services had an active HIC through the state of Pennsylvania (# PA139828)
It is very important for us to promote trust and safety for pros and cons. We have a dedicated team of trust and security specialists who constantly monitor the platform and act where necessary.
Reviews and ratings appear on the profile of a pro for future customers to read and consider when making a rental decision. We ask customers to rate and rate benefits they work on Thumbtack. Reviews from Thumbtack customers are considered ‘verified’.
You can learn more about how to empower our customers to appoint with confidence on Thumbtack by visiting our safety page. ‘
For more information:
Attorney General of Pennsylvania
Home Improvement Improvement Information
Copyright © 2021 WPVI-TV. All rights reserved.