Looks like you are changing the subject, but I’ll follow along

There are plenty of sources where you can get reviews of questionable reliability other than Angie’s List. Yahoo, Yelp, Judy’s Book, Amazon, Google (I think), InsiderPages Zipingo, many online yellow pages, someone’s “preferred contractors” list, to name a few. Except on those sites, I don’t have to pay anything to see them. If I couldn’t get a recommendation from someone I trust, I personally would use one of Home Depot’s guaranteed contractors rather than the yellow pages or Angie’s List I know the contractors pay to be on that list, but at least I get a guarantee from Home Depot if things go bad and they do sometimes, but Home Depot does make good on its guarantee. I doubt Home Depot would keep problem contractors on the list very long if they kept having to payout when they screw up.

I think you are really naive if you think those coupons make it worth $50 a year. It reminds me of one of those people that thinks they get a good deal by buying something “on sale” or “half off the ‘regular price’ of $20” only to discover another place has the same item for $9 everyday. On a side note, Ebay is a pretty good source for measuring how good a deal is, but that just works for goods, not services.

The coupons don’t make it worth it for several reasons. First, they are mostly repeating the same offers in other sources that you don’t have to pay for. I’m a homeowner and I get tons of coupons and similar offers in my mailbox every day. Second, Angie’s List lists service providers which typically give quotes for specific work. If you are using a coupon, they just won’t be as flexible in their quote, thus your coupon is worthless, or least you have know way of knowing whether it actually saves you money or not. As you said, the point of Angie’s List is to find reliable service providers, not necessarily the ones with the most money (the correlary to that is the ones that can afford to make the best offers). If you think it’s worth it for the coupons, fine, but that’s a tough sell, and Angie’s List only brings that up when people point out the shortcomings of their main service.

I’ve logged on to Angie’s List with a friend’s account to checked it out (she tells me she’s not renewing it). I saw about six contractors I’m was already familiar with. All had A’s and B’s, but three of those contractors absolutely “sucked” from my experience. I would never recommend them and know of several others in my neighborhood with similar problems with them. Needless to say, I would not purchase an Angie’s List membership, (especially while my friend’s membership still works). Maybe my experience with these contractors was unique, but it does tell me that a good rating on Angie’s List probably doesn’t mean much.

Are you part of the “Rapid Response Team”? Chad