Web gives more bite to word of mouth

WIRED ON FRIDAY: Websites based on assessments by the public can make or break the reputations of service companies, giving a boost to consumer power

Last year when I was expecting a baby, I signed on to a number of parent sites on the Web. If you give them your due date and your e-mail address, they will send you customised e-mail newsletters once a week.

It's a great service that can give you up-to-date medical information as well as put you in touch with shops stocked with baby stuff that have great deals on everything from diaper bags to strollers. You can even read customers' reviews of products they have bought.

Many of the sites, such as babycenter.com and parentsplace.com, also act as networking services for people at the same stage in life: whether juggling motherhood with a full-time job or being a stay-at-home mother with her hands full.

The popularity of the internet has spawned many chat forums on all sorts of subjects. I recently heard about one such company that brings personal recommendations on the Web to a whole new level. Dianna Shandy in Minnesota was moving house and she needed various companies to do some repair work to her new home before moving in.

She realised estimates could vary widely and so, she wanted workmen who came recommended. A home inspector told her about an internet site called Angieslist.com.

A woman named Angie Hicks set up Angie's list in 1995 in Columbus, Ohio. She was tired of getting bad service, so she got together with a group of her friends and family and started a list of good and bad service companies. Angie's List became the only source of independent, unbiased service ratings in the city. It has since spread to 13 different markets, five of which are in Ohio. The others are in St. Paul, Minnesota and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Indiana, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Illinois.

The list basically caters to homeowners who rate companies in 250 categories. For a $35 annual subscription, members can sign up to the list and receive a monthly newsletter. When someone uses a company he is pleased with, he can give an A or a B rating. If he uses a company he is dissatisfied with, he gives an E or an F rating. The site collects these customer satisfaction ratings.

Companies cannot pay to be rated, nor can they put themselves on Angie's List. Today, the list has ratings on more than 10,000 service companies and more than 50,000 members. The categories run the gamut from asbestos to electronic repair to massage therapy to septic tanks to window treatments. The more common categories include roofers, electricians, barbers, computer repair companies, plumbers, landscapers and auto mechanics. The grades ranging from A to F are consolidated into a database, which is then shared by members. It differs from a site like epinions.com which not only allows consumers to recommend products like cars, hot tubs and washing machines but also offers them the chance to comparison shop and buy online. Epinions.com, based in Brisbane, California, has about one million reviews and comments.

Angie's List is strictly based on feedback from thousands of homeowners regarding their experiences with companies they have hired within the last six months. If consumers need a service, they can check the list to find out good companies in their local area.

For example, two services Ms Shandy needed were an electrician and a mason for brickwork, both of which she found on Angie's List. "They were pretty good," she said, "and the mason was the cheapest by far."

When she inquired on the site about getting an electrician, the company sent her an e-mail with some names and phone numbers of people who had received an average A or B rating but no comments. When she called the company at a local phone number, a representative read out customer comments over the phone.

Angie's List also collects negative reports, so consumers can be warned about those companies that have received low ratings in their local areas. The monthly newsletter contains a section called the Penalty Box, which lists companies that have provided lousy service to members. Companies are placed in the box for three months or until they resolve the complaint.

Members can view companies online - although the search is limited to 10 per day - or they can call Angie's List "neighbourhood specialists" who work in the call centres Monday to Friday and half-days on Saturday.

Once work is completed, members contact Angie's list and share their input about the service experience, which will become part of that company's rating. Their feedback is immediately recorded in the database so the list is kept updated.

"I've used the list a few times," Ms Shandy said. "It's been okay. It doesn't have a very large directory of people here in St. Paul. If I know the name of someone but no-one has given him a review, then it doesn't appear in the database. The site can recommend people in lots of categories but it has limited information. For example, their top companies might only have been recommended by four people."