Who You Gonna Call? Ask Angie

Angela Hicks started Angie's List in 1995.

Checkbook President Robert Krughoff readily concedes he considers Angie a rival. He also points out that some of the service providers included on Angie's List have just one or two reports. Checkbook, he says, strives for many more. "For auto body shops, we have 150 with at least 10 ratings. I wouldn't even touch a place with just one rating."

Still, Hicks contends that the privately held, for-profit Angie's List -- expected to generate revenue of $14 million this year -- provides a much-needed, grass-roots service. "In the bigger cities, it becomes so complicated because there is so much choice. . . . It takes a lot of time to aggregate all that information."

Hicks says recommendations come strictly from members. "Companies do not pay to be on the list. They cannot put themselves on the list. We very much protect the integrity of the rating."

Members are urged to grade contractors from A to F in six areas: overall score, punctuality, price, quality, responsiveness and professionalism. A grade of C or below allows the contractor to write a rebuttal. Angie's List staffers, who work six days a week at Indianapolis headquarters, try to resolve complaints. If a member feels that a service was inadequate or shoddy, the staff will seek the company's side of the story before determining whether to request a follow-up visit or determine whether the disgruntled member might be a crank.

To be sure, there are complaints.

Take Richard's Tree Service in Annandale, recipient of 14 Angie's List reports, several of them straight As. One happy member notes that "they are always on time, send a big crew & clean up after themselves, which is a big plus." Another gushes, "They did a great job. . . . I always recommend them."

And the negatives? One says a tree not slated for removal was taken down anyway (Richard's apologized and deducted all charges for the casualty); another was irked that an initial $700 estimate for limb removal doubled with the crew's arrival. The firm would not compromise at $1,200, so the member sent them away. Two other reports said there was inadequate cleanup, and a fifth complained the company cranked up noisy mulching equipment at 7:30 a.m. on a weekday.

Kay Gossage, Richard's office manager, says, "We have made mistakes. We definitely go back if there is a problem." She cannot tell whether being on Angie's List has helped business because the firm advertises heavily elsewhere. "We do hand out an Angie's List brochure for prospective clients. If they want to look us up, whether it's negative or positive, they can make their own decision whether they want to work with us."

If firms don't respond to complaints, or if they break subsequent promises, Angie's List drops them and sends them to the magazine's "penalty box" for three months.

Conversely, a company with only As and Bs can pay Angie's List $100 to $200 a month to advertise in the magazine. (In fact, ads take up about half of each issue). For another $100 to $200, companies can offer Web site coupons to members and be highlighted in yellow ahead of firms that do not; two Cs will kill the coupon option.

There are, Hicks says, safeguards against ballot-box stuffing in support of listed service providers. Subscribers "have to join and give your name. You can only give one report on a given company once every six months. So you can't stack the deck."

George Perkins, who heard of Angie's from a brother in Boston, joined when he moved from Northern Virginia (where he was a Checkbook subscriber) to rural Finksburg, northwest of Baltimore. The Checkbook does not cover this part of Maryland, says Perkins, a retired aerospace executive. Besides, he likes Angie's folksy tone. "It's more for the users, by the users."

Susan Braverman, a Boston member who joined the Washington list after moving to Bethesda, cites the leverage. "Every time I said, 'I got your name from Angie's List,' it was a kind of warning that if you don't treat me right, people will hear about it.' " recalls Braverman, a life coach who helps clients reach their goals.

Angie uses her own list back home in Indiana, recently snagging herself a mover and an exterminator. "I found a company that will pick up dog poop from your yard for $10 a week."

But when it came time to deliver her second child three months ago, she had to go elsewhere. "We don't do doctors," she says. "Or lawyers."