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Tradesperson has asked me to pay for the lead for my job

Posted by Nena Lovesey-Morgans, on
I've used rated people before and never come across this. I was under the impression that this was a free service for customers and a way of obtaining jobs for tradespeople. I've received a quote for a job I've posted and within this quote the tradesperson has added £10 for the cost of the lead for the job. Should I be paying him for buying my lead?
Adam Brunger

Adam Brunger

Evening Well I would say that's your personal choice. I've never heard of that before. I could understand if he had paid for large job lead that turned out to be only £50 lock change. But in that case I would say that's down to trade taking things up with rated people.
Jonathan Ireland

Jonathan Ireland

It's really down to yourself to query the quotation as a customer. Some trades people will include and some won't, depending how they manage their business. To purchase customer details just to make contact, whether the job is going to be one or not, is a business accured cost, through Rated People, so in turn this should be applied to the quotation, appropriately and clearly layed out. Most of my customers do not mind paying this, as they know and are happy with my level of expertise and service, and understand the process. This is just a business cost accured for the job in hand, and so is applied like any other business. In my opinion, yes you should pay the trades person for buying the lead if the works are going to be undertaken. J IRELAND PLUMBER
Andrew Pae

Andrew Pae

Hi Nana, When you posted your job with Rated People, I assume you were told the advertising service was free of charge, and should you appoint a successful tradesperson to carry out your advertised job, you would receive a quotation in writing confirming the scope of works to be done. If you agree with the quoted price, that is what you pay. Simple as that. the purchase of the leads is an overhead, and if the tradesperson is successful with his quote, he has covered the cost of purchasing the lead. I work on a success rate of 30% of securing work from leads, so incur the costs of the one I miss out on. I would not expect to be paid for the leads I have purchased and not won. Many thanks. Andrew.
Dalton Thompson

Dalton Thompson

Hi Nena, As John said- this is dependant on the tradesperson themselves and we do not advise a company on how they should quote. It is at your discretion as to whether or not you accept the tradesperson based on the details of the quote. In my personal opinion, they also haven't done anything "wrong" by giving you a clear detailed and transparent quote. I hope this helps! Josh Ask an expert team
Ciprian Enache

Ciprian Enache

Like John Ireland replied " it's a business cost" and it should be added or included in the quote. There's a lot of people using rated people and not understanding how it works. We pay for leads upfront and many of the times customer don't even bother answering their phones .. leave alone getting the job. I hope this helps.
John Orourke

John Orourke

As previous trades have said, we pay for your details and then that gives us the opportunity to quote, sometimes homeowners do put the budget quite high so the cost of the actual work is a lot less so tradespeople will have to recoup that cost as the good people at ratedpeople are inclined to refund tradespeople even on genuine cases. This is a business cost and would need to be accounted for within a job. For example if the budget for the homeowner is under £250 for a lock change then the tradesperson would pay upwards of £10/£12 for your details then would quote maybe £50/£60 for that job, that tradesperson would automatically be £10/£12 down on the quoted job, so it's up to that tradesperson to quote accordingly either as a job as a whole or to give a clear breakdown of all costs involved. I personally do not ever include the cost of the lead but I also do look at the lead cost and homeowner budget before buying so he/she wouldn't need to recover any lead costs as the job would cover this.
David Golden

David Golden

You should not pay for the lead. The tradesman payed for this lead through rated people, which in my opinion is fair enough. If trademen did not use rated people then they would have to pay for adverts including google ect. I never charge my customers a price including leads fees.

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