We’re all about ratings, it’s even in our name! And because ratings are so important to our customers, we spend a lot of time making sure they are reliable and trustworthy. Tightening up our ratings system is as important to our homeowners (who want to know that they can trust our tradespeople), as it is to our tradespeople (who as members of our service want Rated People to be known for quality, local tradespeople).
Our service connects homeowners and tradespeople. The contract for each job is between the homeowner and the tradesperson being employed, but we believe we have a duty of care to both parties.
We have a very low complaint rate – less than 1% – but when a complaint is made by either a tradesperson or a homeowner it’s our job to act as a mediator, to try and ensure that they are both happy with the outcome. It’s in both parties interests to rectify any problems; the homeowner wants a quality job done and the tradesperson wants to protect their reputation.
We understand that problems occur and disagreements happen. Once dealt with and resolved, that’s a true reflection of the tradesperson’s commitment and professionalism towards their Rated People customers. Once both parties are happy, the homeowner can post a subsequent rating.
Negative ratings
We investigate ratings with an average score below 3-stars for quality of workmanship, reliability and value for money. Thousands of ratings are posted each week and every day ratings matching this criteria are investigated and resolved on a case by case basis.
Suspicious ratings
We also check out ratings that are deemed suspicious, just in case. If a rating is thought to be suspicious, numerous checks are carried out on the job posting, the person who posted the job, and feedback left. We nearly always end up speaking to very happy homeowners singing the praises of the tradespeople they’ve found using our service, but our ratings advisor are trained to spot the fakes!
Fake ratings are very uncommon and we do our up most to prevent and identify them. In addition to manual investigations, as of April 2012 we have implemented automated processes to catch tradespeople who try to rate themselves.
The investigation
We have a dedicated Performance Audit Team (PAT) who under take all investigations.
Rated People is are here to offer advice and support but first, we encourage the tradesperson and homeowner to remedy the situation between themselves. Should that fail, the PAT team contacts the homeowner and the tradesperson and both parties are made aware that an investigation is under way.
Each case is different so we review a number of different factors before we come to a resolution: how long the tradesperson has been with our service, their previous ratings and previous complaints against the tradesperson.
The resolution
We are for quality, local tradespeople. If the tradesperson has failed to deliver quality work they may be permanently suspended from Rated People. Please see our professional code of conduct. If a tradesperson has repeatedly failed to resolve issues or has received 3 negative ratings within a given time period further action will be taken. Depending on the severity, that tradesperson will receive a warning, or in the worst case, they will be removed from our service.
These procedures have been put in place out of a duty of care to protect our customers: homeowners and tradespeople. The majority of tradespeople who use our service do so honestly and professionally and these spot checks will only improve the value of our service by allowing homeowners to feel confident when hiring.
