By Annie Groer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 13, 2006; H01
"One of my pet peeves -- and I know this is a generality -- is that in Northern Virginia, customer service is terrible," says Stephen J. Boykin, who has lived in Herndon since 1987. "You call folks, they don't show up."
So on the enthusiastic advice of their daughter in Ohio, Boykin, a Commerce Department program manager, and his wife joined Angie's List when it debuted here in January. They quickly found recommendations for two pressing needs -- a mechanic to service his aging Volvo (Chantilly Automotive) and someone to sell and install Silestone kitchen counters (Home Depot).
Now, he says, "Every time I have a problem, I go to Angie's List."
So who is this Angie, she of the recent radio, TV and newspaper ad blitz promising names of reliable tradespeople in 255 categories, from air-duct cleaners to funeral homes to wrought-iron fabricators? And what is her list?
Angela Hicks, 33, is an Indianapolis entrepreneur with a Harvard MBA who, over the past 11 years, has helped create what she calls a Web-based "homeowners' grapevine." The first was in Columbus, Ohio, where she went door to door in 1995, trolling for subscribers for the venture originally called Columbus Neighbors.
Since then, she and CEO Bill Oesterle have steadily built the online network to about 430,000 members in 53 cities. Washington (15,770 members and 4,756 listed companies) and Baltimore (10,810 members, 4,074 companies) became Nos. 32 and 33 in January; Richmond debuts next month.
Think of Angie's List as a very large community bulletin board where neighbors exchange references and anecdotes about carpenters, roofers, landscapers and appliance stores. Or a household version of Zagat Surveys, those ubiquitous city restaurant guides in which diners praise and pan thousands of eateries.
Users pay $10 to join, plus $6 a month or $51 for a year. The fee includes Web site access ( http://www.angieslist.com/ ) and a local monthly magazine filled with ads for the companies listed. It is mailed to members (the Washington and Baltimore editions arrive next month). There is also a call-in service "if you have water pouring down and can't figure out who you need," she says.
Craig Sterling -- an Oakland, Calif., analyst who tracks ways of bringing consumers and advertisers together online -- calls Angie's List a pioneer in "electronic word of mouth. The online-offline combination is very interesting. This is not a full-fledged community site, but a directory with ratings and reviews that are generally perceived to be unbiased. It's not seeking to be a place where people spend a lot of time and hang out, but is helping you make decisions about finding services."
Now, says Sterling, giant search engines such as Yahoo and Google have created localized sites where people discuss everything from restaurants to travel.
Washington was not virgin territory for consumer help when Angie's List arrived on the scene. Since 1974, the nonprofit Washington Consumers' Checkbook has offered comprehensive surveys and ratings of home services -- dry cleaners, fence builders, plumbers -- as well as doctors, dentists, hospitals, health plans and Lasik eye surgeons.
Checkbook membership fees are considerably lower than Angie's: $34 buys a two-year subscription to the semiannual magazine (the latest arrived last week and carries ratings of 11 service providers, including locksmiths, auto body shops, window installers and tree-care companies). The fee also covers Web site access to http://www.checkbook.org/ . The nonprofit organization, available in seven cities, does not carry ads or accept donations from businesses. There are currently about 40,000 local subscribers.
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."