Thumbtack Reviews 

Thumbtack is almost a scam

I am a pro on Thumbtack. The leads seem good. However, thumbtack really rips off its pros as they do not offer any refunds if the customer replies to just one of the many contractors customers contact directly. so if 8 contractors are contacted, we all pay and if the customer only replies to one, we are all stuck with the fee. Thumbtack should verify the customers better as they are just making us pay exuberant fees for customer who never respond. I understand if we get contacted and not hired is something different, but they can tell if the customer replies or not. Doesn't matter how many times we contact the customer and the messages go unread, thumbtack doesn't care about it. It used to be good and for us small contractors those fees add up for not even getting a reply from the customer.

This is one of the most crooked companies that you could ever imagine. As a contractor on the platform, I've got some good clients on thumbtack, but gradually over the years using the platform thumbtack like other third-party home service sites has found a way to create or allow fictitious leads to be pushed through their pipeline and sold the contractors whose profit margins are already razor thin. My profile was one with only great remarks from customers. My lowest review was four stars, and that was only once. My profile was removed due to an “account policy violation.” according to Thumbtack, which was caused by a lead given to me by Thumbtack. I made outreach with this lead as normal, formal and professional when the lead responded and tells me that they never use Thumbtack never put their number on a Thumbtack website I started to become very concerned with Thumbtack legitimacy. This instance has not been the first time Thumbtack is giving me a lead that I’ve made an attempt to contact that did not want to be contacted. After requesting a refund and being denied, I demanded a refund. I reached out to the number that Thumbtack packaged as a “lead.” And made a request that he put in writing that he never requested this lead from Thumbtack. This upset the individual as they were not answering their phone anymore, and I persistently made attempts to contact very professionally and respectively. The individual finally gives in responds with a message saying that I am harassing them. I brought this matter, to Thumbtack attention via screenshot images of the conversation.  Thumbtack later removed my businesses profile from their platform. They claimed I was in violation of “Account policy” due to the conversation that I had with an individual who claimed multiple times in frustration that they never created a request on Thumbtacks platform. Believe me when I say Thumbtack is just another class action lawsuit like Angies List and Home Advisor just waiting to happen. Just another third-party home service website. Unfairly using contractors to fill their pockets and build their positive reputation. I’ve had enough of Thumbtack. Thumbtack if you see this message and feel like you want to do anything to make things right just allow my customers to see the reviews that I’ve gained from your platform. You can respond to my number via text 7863264181 concerning this. You want to make things right you reach out to me. I’m not reaching out to you. I will be continuing my business without you but I also am going to make it my life‘s work to see it that you never scam another contractor/business ever again this is outrageous. Thumbtack does not treat contractors as business partners they’re treated as disposable assets. If you think their reviews are bad now just wait till I’m done fully exposing their misleading greedy business practices. Because I know so many more like me with cases that are even worse. Mind you this happened earlier this year and I’m just now getting the time to write a review on Trustpilot. I will be giving an update on this review in the future.

Thumbtack Pro IS A SCAM. They will steal your money. There are 2 categories on the app, one is ‘Direct Leads’ and the other is ‘Oppportunities’. Direct leads are leads that Thumbtack decides how much they are worth based on categories. A kitchen remodel lead is the highest and costs $250. A kitchen remodel could be anywhere from 5,000 to 100,000$ so paying 250$ for that makes sense, but it all depends on whether the person (homeowner/potential client) knows what category to check off. A fencing lead is apparently 48$, once again it’s a huge range for the actual job size and how much the contractor can charge to do the job. And it also depends on whether or not the customer know what box to check off. The day my account was activated I received several direct leads from people that apparently didn’t know which category their project applies to. Someone wanted “less than 50ft of chicken wire attached to their fence”. Chicken wire is not fencing. Less than 50ft of chicken wire might cost 40$ and installation might take an hour. How much can you charge someone for that? You’d be lucky to break even.
The other direct leads that were sent to me without my knowledge that I was being charged for, were also sent to other contractors. So, if you aren’t able to respond immediately you have no chance of getting those jobs. And if you’re not instantly an expert on how to use the app you can kiss your money goodbye. The system is completely backwards. If a client sees your response and messages you back it’s hard to tell if they’re responding to you or if thumbtack is just showing you that you started a conversation with them. And if you don’t respond back immediately you can kiss your money goodbye again. By the time you realize what is happening half or all of your deposit is gone and it is non-refundable.
If that’s not bad enough even with direct leads turned off you will still have your money stolen because even though they say you won’t be billed unless a customer responds to you, you will absolutely be billed. “Potential clients” if that’s what they actually are can respond to every contractor that expresses interest and every single contractor will be billed. You have almost zero chance of landing any of these jobs. I have more to say but I’d be typing for days.
Once you see what is going on and your deposit is gone you can do nothing about it. Customer service is non existent. No one will answer the phone, no one will return your messages and you will be left high and dry.
You don’t have to take my word for it, check other reviews. They have a 2.1 rating and I expect it to only get worse. STAY AWAY FROM THUMBTACK UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE ROBBED.

THUMBTACK’S PLATFORM IS BROKEN, AND PROFESSIONALS ARE PAYING FOR IT.

Our company has spent thousands of dollars with Thumbtack. The problem is NOT simply “bad leads.” We deal with problems involving lead tracking, refunds, AI, notifications, service settings, and support on a DAILY BASIS.

Problems are normal. Technology has bugs. AI makes mistakes. That is a given.

What is NOT normal is reporting the same financially consequential problems for months, being told “engineering is aware” or “we're working on it,” and continuing to experience the same problems while professionals lose their hard-earned money and Thumbtack continues profiting from the very system failures being reported.

One of the worst examples is Thumbtack’s AI/customer-response tracking. Their system has repeatedly indicated that customers responded when they did not. On a daily basis, we call a lead and reached an automated voicemail greeting. Thumbtack’s AI apparently interpreted the automated recording as the customer speaking and recorded it as customer engagement.

WE DID NOT SPEAK WITH THE CUSTOMER. THE CUSTOMER DID NOT RESPOND.

Yet that activity affects refund eligibility. A platform error can cause a professional to lose a refund while Thumbtack keeps the charge. This means multiple pros can be charged, and no one gets a lead!

We have also contacted customers within hours only to be told they already hired someone. We were still charged and the refund was denied. Other leads never responded to our texts or multiple calls, later cancelled the project entirely, and multiple professionals were still charged.

Thumbtack advertises automatic refunds when a customer doesn't reply within 72 hours. That becomes difficult to rely on when Thumbtack’s own systems can incorrectly record activity as a response.

The website also does NOT reliably refresh when new leads arrive. A lead can come in without being visible until the professional manually refreshes the page. We have discovered leads after the fact, only for our response time to be used against us.

The decline process is equally frustrating. There is no clear option for “Fake Lead,” “Invalid Lead,” “Customer Already Hired Someone,” “Platform Error,” or “None of These Apply.” Professionals are forced to choose predetermined reasons that only hint at the pro being the issue, not the platform or lead.

We have also experienced services disabled without notification, false “new job” and “new message” notifications, inconsistent “Direct Lead” labeling despite other professionals appearing on the same inquiry, and charges involving services we had disabled.

Support is another problem. We have waited approximately 40 MINUTES on wait for support weekly, only to have the call disconnected after someone finally answered. No callback. We have repeatedly been told engineering is aware of these issues. We have also been told to submit refund requests because support could not resolve them. We did. DENIED.

We even discovered Thumbtack’s AI-generated message feature creating a customer-facing message using ANOTHER COMPANY’S NAME instead of ours.

These are not isolated incidents. They happen constantly.

Most professionals do not have time to investigate every lead or catch every platform error. Many never realize these errors are happening. They lose money without even knowing it, and that is why i'm creating this.

Whether intentional or unintentional, the result is the same: professionals lose money while Thumbtack collects the charges. After the same problems are reported for months, “we're working on it” becomes very difficult to accept.

We are not upset because every lead isn't a sale. We understand lead generation.

We are upset because we repeatedly encounter dead, invalid, incorrectly tracked, improperly categorized, AI-affected, or otherwise problematic leads and in many cases are auto charged and denied refunds with no solutions or explanation.

Thumbtack is a massive company generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue. Professionals deserve a platform where charges, customer engagement, AI activity, notifications, and refunds can actually be trusted.

Based on our experience, Thumbtack has not provided that, and in my opinion they are absolutely profiting from these "bugs". We even received a lead today where when I contacted the customer, the customer denied our message because they didn't want to work with us, and we were charged immediately with a message stating this lead isn't eligible for refund?!?! This means that we were charged immidately and thumbtack didn't even know if the person wanted to work with us, and then they told us the lead isn't eligible for a refund, keep in mind this lead was over $100.

If I could give negative stars I swear I would. Thumbtack is so, so frustrating. As a contractor I am going to be fully transparent. By no means am I mad at the customers for this, it is the platform, but I am tired of customers being able to reach out to 5 pros at once. I am in the electrical trade so I know that quotes are expected from the customers point of view. But for the platform to be able to make $50,$75, and sometimes $120+ from 5 contractors just for the customer to only respond to the first contractor to respond and for thumbtack to profit $200 to occasionally $480 from 4 other contractors that never even get the chance to be competitive and speak with a customer is outrageous. It is a cash grab for sure. If customers want quotes then it should not hurt the other contractors as well. Or if the customers have an emergency situation they should only be able to contact one pro for a certain amount of time. Please spend your money elsewhere if you are a contractor thinking about onboarding. Learn from my mistakes.

I recently created an account on Thumbtack hoping to connect with clients and offer wellness coaching services. Unfortunately, the platform's pricing structure feels predatory toward small business owners and independent service providers who are trying to build their practice.

Thumbtack charges extreme upfront fees for leads—in my case, over $130 for a single lead—with zero guarantee that the potential client will even respond, let alone convert into a paying client. Expecting a small business to pay the full price of a typical session up front just for an initial lead inquiry is completely unreasonable and unfeasible.

Small business owners turn to lead-generation platforms for support, but charging exorbitant, non-refundable fees regardless of conversion creates a massive financial burden. The current model feels greedy and unsupportive of the very professionals using the platform. I strongly caution other small businesses and independent coaches to carefully evaluate the costs before signing up.

Thumbtack is hands down one of the most predatory platforms I have ever encountered as a service provider. I genuinely cannot say enough bad things about this company. Even their responses to negative reviews are filled with corporate talking points that completely miss the actual concerns being raised.
When you really look at their business model, it becomes pretty clear who their customer is: the service provider—not the customer. Yet the providers are the ones who seem to have the least protection. Their entire model depends on vendors paying for leads, and they have created a system where you can be charged repeatedly for customers who were never realistically going to hire you in the first place.
For starters, Thumbtack does not make it particularly obvious to customers that service providers can be charged simply for receiving a lead or message. Their platform also encourages customers to automatically “reach out to the top 3 pros in your area.” So with one click, Thumbtack charges three different businesses for the exact same customer inquiry. They also conveniently recently removed the ability for customers to see your actual pricing when submitting inquires to service providers upfront unless they read your profile. But with the feature to “message the top three pros” they simply do not. This means customers with budgets far below your minimum pricing can contact you anyway. They obviously aren't going to book you, but you are still be charged for the lead.
I've also had customers contact me about jobs that required special licenses or qualifications that I do not have. Thumbtack still charges for those leads and provides no meaningful protection or refund for situations like this.
Recently, Thumbtack changed its refund policy so that if a customer doesn't respond to any pros within 72 hours, you may receive a refund. Sounds great, right? Not really. The customer only has to respond once—even if they don't book anyone—and you no longer qualify for a refund. So if a customer responds to you with a simple “thanks” and never hires anyone, you've still paid for that lead.
At the same time, Thumbtack significantly increased lead prices. They tell providers that they can “choose lead prices that fit within their budget,” but there is an obvious catch: if your lead prices are too low, you receive little to no leads. I recently increased my lead prices significantly, yet my leads still decreased, and I'm still being flagged as “less competitive” even with the slider set roughly three-quarters of the way toward the maximum lead price selector.
And then there is the issue of fake or bad-faith leads. What's stopping a competitor from creating a fake profile and contacting multiple competing businesses simply to make them spend money on leads? What meaningful oversight is in place to prevent this? If businesses are being charged simply because someone sends them a message, there needs to be serious fraud protection and accountability. Instead, providers are essentially told: you pay us because someone clicked a button. That is not a sustainable or fair business model for service providers.
I understand that Thumbtack is a business and needs to make money. But there is a huge difference between charging for a legitimate customer acquisition opportunity and charging businesses for inquiries that were never viable customers to begin with.
If you're a service provider considering Thumbtack, I strongly recommend doing your research first. Read the reviews across multiple platforms, understand exactly how their lead charges work, and think carefully about whether the potential return is worth the cost.
As for me, I've had enough. I genuinely hope service providers eventually have better alternatives and stop supporting a platform that, in my experience, takes far more from vendors than it gives back.

Terrible service. I have been receiving leads that are supposedly certified, but they are scams. I pay between $70 and $ 90 per lead, and these people turn out to be scams. I contacted Thumbtack, but they never respond and seem unable to find a solution. I don't understand why Thumbtack has chat and conversation logs if they can't see the real scam situations. Last week, I worked with a lead who refused to pay. I called Thumbtack, and they said they need to investigate. But with all the conversation records, why isn't there a resolution? This app does not provide PROS with security or trust because I spent hundreds expecting good service, but there are no guarantees at all.

I’ve been using Thumbtack for a while, and unfortunately the quality of the leads has gotten much worse. Lately I’m paying for leads where clients never respond at all, even when I reply within minutes. Many of these leads are also sent to several professionals at the same time, so you can easily spend a lot of money without ever getting a real conversation with the customer.
It used to be a useful platform for my business, but now it feels like I’m mostly paying for dead or low-quality leads. The refund system doesn’t make it much better either. I really hope Thumbtack changes how they charge professionals and improves the quality of their leads.

Thumbtack is a rip off. I sign up as a Thumbtack Pro and I use a prepaid card and I’m glad I did to pay for leads and I might put $20 or $10 on the card you know just in case lead come in or something but if a lead come in and you response to it you might not get a response back but you still get charged for the lead. It’s seem like every day I wake I have to put more money on the card. Sometime the job is already taken. You won’t know if the job taken unless you respond to it but if you do you get charged for it . straight ripoff

I would rate negative if I could. Absolute shit. They just steal your money. Lead prices are ridiculous. Most the time the leads don't even respond but you still get charged. Got 3 different leads outside of my service area. Paid a total of $100 bucks for all 3. Instantly refused service and requested a refund. All 3 got denied. Do not use this shit company unless you want to waste money.

They have sent me three leads which I couldn’t reach because no one respond on calls or messages and they charge me $300. They refused to give any reimbursement.

I employed a Thumbtack employee to paint my condo door. All was great at first...arrived on time, put full effort in the job, and I gave him cash. He said in his broken English (used his cell phone to translate) that he needed to come back the next day to finish...very little left to do...that was fine. Well, he never came back...did not respond to emails, texts, nor calls. As I thought about it afterwards, recalling things he said and he let me read his phone translations, I suspected that he was an illegal. I finished up the job. No, I will not use the service again...too risky...

Thumbtack is just another annoying provider who overcharges leads across the board in all service sectors.

Their MOST RECENT (5/30/26) is ridiculous and I expect other operators to drop out of using the service like flies along with me.

Without access to client's phone numbers, we cannot accurately fill out the systems we use which require accurate numbers to enter a client information.

If we are required to call from only our registered device, my employees who reach out from different phone number can no longer handle my leads for me.

If I no longer have access to the client's phone number, my outreach flow within my CRM has been interrupted.

If I not longer have access to the client's phone number, now I get double notifications from my app and CRM which I have already connected with Thumbtack.

This was an ill-informed, dumb mistake of an update by this company. I expect this to be QUICKLY reversed as I'm sure the market will respond to this idiocracy.

As a homeowner looking for a concrete contractor to build out a small slab for a shed, I decided to give Thumbtack a try. I reviewed several contractors, selected one that sounded good, and reached out to (what I thought) was that single contractor to get an estimate for the work. Not only did that contractor never respond, but instead, dozens of others have inundated me like car salesmen on a used car lot. I've been spammed, texted, incessantly called to the point where I've had to turn my phone off to avoid interruptions at work. And they're mostly pushy call center people that still call again and again even when I tell them to stop. One inquiry has turned into a nightmare. I didn't sign up to be harassed like this. I thought, and the platform seemed to indicate, I was agreeing to talk to one contractor, not sign up to be harassed by dozens. Never, ever use this service. It's a joke.

DEFINITELY DO NOT!!! Recommend thumbtack if your looking to get leads, they’re a scam if you ask me, constantly wanting to charge your card for leads that you’re not even getting majority of the time, and half of the people don’t even respond once you do message them back, it’s a bunch of B.S!!!!!

Long-Time User Disappointed with Lead Quality and Support

We have been using Thumbtack for over 10 years, and unfortunately the platform has significantly declined.

Recently, the majority of leads we receive are cold and unresponsive. We are being charged for contacts that never reply, despite multiple attempts to reach them.

We have contacted support several times to report these issues and request refunds, but we have not received proper responses or resolution.

At this point, it feels like many of the leads are not real or have little to no genuine intent. This raises serious concerns about the value being provided.

How can we confidently recommend this platform to other small businesses when we are consistently paying for leads that do not respond?

We hope to see improvements in lead quality, transparency, and customer support.

Thumbtack has become unreliable for professionals.
We are being charged for low-quality or completely invalid leads, including disconnected numbers and customers who never respond.

Multiple pros are assigned to the same job, making it extremely difficult to secure any work and recover the investment.

This system is unfair and results in constant financial losses.
I strongly request a refund for these invalid leads and immediate improvements in lead verification and quality control.

If these issues are not addressed, this platform is not worth using for serious professionals.

I am very disappointed in Thumbtack Pro. While I understand there is a fee for connecting services with customers, they take money EVERY TIME someone emails you. These potential customers often email 4-5 others at a time, so the reality of you getting your $$ back is slim. If you are providing a cleaning job, you cannot even limit the size of the house, so someone with a 5-bedroom house can message you, and you pay a minimum of $80 the "lead", which they say is less competitive! The current fee system feels unfair and discourages honest service providers from continuing to provide services.

As I was setting it up, leads were coming in before I even understood how to use it. I was seeing charges fly in! It was odd that in the first moments of setting it up, I had 5 leads, but then there was radio silence the following day.

If you're starting and facing financial strain, it can be very stressful to see your bank account deplete with every job request, especially when you respond promptly but still don't hear back. I am exhausted by large companies taking advantage of hardworking individuals. There needs to be some middle ground! The current fee model, in which you are charged every time someone emails you, can lead to significant financial loss, making it difficult for providers to sustain their businesses or profit from their efforts.

It is a shame, as I did find it easy to set up, and liked the platform. Much easier than Task Rabbit, which I am still figuring out.

Pay a lot of money for an unqualified or illigitimate lead. Clients will give a generic response, to which you have to pay money for. Then you respond to the message and nothing. Customer service is slow and rigid and will not give refunds even though it's an obvious scam. They really need to reevaluate their model. It is scammy and they give preference to those that will pay more per lead, even when you don't get good qualified leads. DO NOT USE THEM.