I used ServiceMagic for a couple of years! My disappoint comes from the fact that consumers cannot contact me directly and being apart of ServiceMagic does not promote my website! I paid a lot of money and only received 2 jobs in a couple of years. They ate away at my profits monthly! I tried Angies List and got a few jobs, but the money issue again. Also, homeowners could not find me unless they paid! A friend told me about another company, Contractor Community. I signed up with them and it did not cost me anything. So I figured I had nothing to lose. I got a free website that they host and the leads were free. I have to admit I have not received a lot of calls, but I have a free website and I did get a couple of jobs. They were smaller, but what the heck it is free. I am also in the Yellow Pages. That is very expensive but I do get a few calls from that. I guess you should be in multiple areas. I recommend Contractor Community.

Recently I was looking to do some work on my home and saw a commercial for ServiceMagic. ServiceMagic is a company that helps you find local contractors to help with your job. They claim to have a "10-point" screening process that all contractors go through to be a part of that network. This is a very sore subject for me as I know some people who have had their trust "violated" by those who have been let in their home to do work. Unfortunately, ServiceMagic's process is mostly style over substance. There are many independent contracting companies out there that do not background screen their employees for such simple things as a criminal record, whether they are a registered sex offender, is their drivers license valid, etc. One of the reasons I chose to look at ServiceMagic was this 10-point claim of theirs.
However, when I actually looked at what they do it is nothing like what they advertise. In reality ServiceMagic, "ServiceMagic uses 3rd party data sources to conduct a criminal search for any relevant criminal activity associated with the owner/ principal of the business." What a load of crap this is. They check the criminal record of the owner of the company...ha. How does this ensure my safety as a consumer when the owner sends his employees into my home to do a repair? Why aren't the service men/women being screened? I don't care if the owner has a record I want to know about the person being sent into my home. They say the same thing about their sex offender search. You want a reason why knowing the background of those being sent into your home is important read this link http://www.sueweavercause.org/ . There are hundreds, if not thousands, of companies out there that can do a background check on the employees of these companies and the only reason why a company like ServiceMagic cuts a corner like this is to save a few bucks. Nice to see the safety of their customers is more important to them then saving a few bucks. Here's an idea ServiceMagic either do what you claim and check all employees of the companies in your network or don't bring attention to your lackluster system. It might not have caught up to them yet, and I sincerely hope they fix it before it does and we have another tragedy like what happened to Sue Weaver.

I have been with service magic since Oct 2007, In all these months I have had leads but 95% off them are bogus .All service magic does is steal your money.I urge all contractors and other service people to stay away from this fraudulent conpany.You cant talk to them they talk over you and will not give an inch.All trhey care about is how much money they can steal froim you.Once again be ware and dont get involved with servicemagig, You will be dissapointed and ripped off.