B and I are redoing our basement, one small project at a time. Our first task is to rip up the carpet and laminate, and do an acid stain of the concrete. (That link will show a pretty picture of what acid stained concrete looks like, if you don’t know.)
I called a local hardwood business to ask if they do it. Yes, it was a stupid question. An advisor insisted I try. They did give me the number for a guy named Vern, but Vern doesn’t do it either. So I resorted to the internet, and all searches led to HomeAdvisor. I will not link them because they are sneaky.
I looked at their list of area concrete contractors and made some phone calls, but didn’t have a lot of luck. So I went ahead and filled out the “get me a quote” forms. Yes, I’m giving them my information, but hey-that’s the price of convenience, right?
I got a shortlist of businesses that offered this particular service. I chose the one with the best reviews, and it pulled up a page with their phone number. There was also a “request a quote” link, but I thought using it might require them to give HomeAdvisor a finder’s fee or something, so I called the number instead.
I followed a keypress menu (interesting, for a local business), and got a guy who asked what I wanted. He seemed to know a creepy amount of information, but maybe he was just intuitive. I explained the project with him. He said, “You’re trying to reach Localbusiness, correct? I can get you their phone number.”
“Who did I call?” I asked. He told me he was with HomeAdvisor. First time he said that. Not only was the number they had under the business name NOT the number for the business, it was a unique phone number that somehow linked him to the quote request forms I’d filled out. I Googled “How does HomeAdvisor make money,” and sure enough, they charge contractors for every “qualified lead.”
Clever. But creepy.