To give bad reviews for not showing up

[Fluffyelephant]

Do you give bad reviews to tradespeople (or other professions) who don't show up? Or is that unreasonable?

If you do, I'm curious how bad you go... 5 /10 or a full-on 0/10?

We've been let down various times during some renovation work we're doing and urgently needed someone to do something so work next week doesn't need to be pushed back.

Sent messages out on checkatrade last week explaining we knew it was short notice but were looking for anyone who could help this week specifically. Guy responds and says he can do Tuesday, for a bit more money than we were expecting but it was worth it just to get it done quickly. All confirmed.

Tuesday comes, I wait in all day.. and nothing. Once it gets to the afternoon I call several times and message... no response. Eventually in the evening (after I've long accepted he ain't coming!) he sends a message along the lines of 'Sorry. Had an unexpected family birthday event. 🤔Can we reschedule?'

Why has this become normal for tradespeople to do?! I'm also self-employed (different profession) and I have never and would never just not show up for an appointment with a client, and not even tell them I wasn't coming, and then casually rock up with an excuse like 'Oh sorry, forgot it was my nan's birthday and my family wouldn't take no for an answer that we do a last minute celebration in the middle of a workday'

Also, it was the vagueness of the rescheduling. If he'd said ' I can come first thing tomorrow morning if that works for you' then I wouldn't have been quite as annoyed. But despite him knowing we booked him because we absolutely needed it done this week, he doesn't seem to think it's a big deal or has indicated anytime soon when he might actually do the work.

AIBU to give a bad review because of this? Or is that unreasonable and bad reviews should be reserved for actual bad work?

Do it, keep it factual so it can't be disputed, but it's only right that other people looking for a tradesperson get to see the bad with the good.

Well I would because he has done a trick which is to tie him to you when he had no intention of showing on the agreed date.

I'd give a bad review for that, definitely

Do it. Maybe if tradespeople got more bad reviews for this, they'd bother being more reliable.

You could certainly report that he’s unreliable. People know when birthdays occur and so it shouldn’t e a surprise. What was wrong with texting you before he was due, to postpone.

Fed up of being beholden to people like this.

I'd do it. Keep it factual. As PPs said, birthdays are hardly a surprise are they (so even if the party or 'even't was a surprise, he should have expected something).

Really poor. And I bet if you had him next week he'd still try and charge the inflated fee...

We are currently having lots of essential work done and the lack of professionalism among tradespeople is stunning. I would estimate off the top of my head that around 75% of the people who said they would come and quote for work, either didn't show up as agreed, or took days (or weeks, in a couple of cases) longer than they'd said to come back with prices. The ones we hired have been appalling so far in terms of timekeeping, often not showing up at all for a day here and there, rarely putting in a full day's work and generally coming for 3-4 hours instead. Having spoken to friends and colleagues who have recently had work done, this is what they're experiencing too.

Absolutely crazy to me that skilled professionals who are charging big money can't conduct themselves properly.

We're finding exactly the same. The ones who are reliable are like gold dust.

That's kind of why we were in this problem of needing someone so urgently in the first place. The very first guy we had doing this task included in a bigger job said it would take 1 week and be £X (and was booked in 2 months ahead). But then he never put a single full day in. There was always something happening and he would only do 3-4 hours a day average. Once 2 hours! And then at the end of the week he was like: It's gonna be a much longer job than I thought and I'm afraid I've got other work on from next week. !!

A tradesman was supposed to wash my garden patio yesterday We agreed that he would come at 9am. Knowing how unreliable tradespeople are i was prepared to wait until 11am
He didn’t arrive at 11am and didn’t phone or message me. I tried to phone him but he didn’t answer his phone.
He then rocks up at 5pm ready to work and took umbrage to me calmly pointing out that he was supposed to be there at 9am
simply told him I didn’t require his services.

I once had an electrician who claimed that he would be back in an hour as he had to go to the bank. He left all his equipment at my home so I was convinced he would come back. He returned three days later and didn’t apologise. I let him finish the job and wrote a bad review .
Trades people are a law unto themselves which is why the Eastern European trades people were in such demand

we're in the early stages of planning some work. i went around my neighbours who've done work in the last few years to ask for recommendations. i asked six of them and not one of them would recommend any of the trades they'd used. we live in a small, rural town, there aren't really any more tradespeople to use. universally shit.

so yes, in your position i would leave a bad review.

Most definitely! A tradesman that doesn't show up without letting you know deserves nothing less.

It depends really. If they did a no show, but were efficient in then turning up the next day on time then I'd just try and judge them in their work. But this one seemed like he was just too vague. Definitely put the truth. That he didn't come and was vague and you've lost confidence in him. Obviously you can't comment on the service as it didn't happen.
I hope you find someone else.
Builders that are 'available' at short notice are often a bit of a red flag. Decent ones do tend to be booked up for a couple of weeks in advance, but equally they should tell you so.

I agree. This guy actually only has 1 review on Checkatrade (which is a 10) so a bad review is going to hit that rating hard...

I would have never usually gone for someone who only had the one review but as I say we were desperate, ironically as a result of being let down in various ways by other tradespeople.

I did respond at the time that I could be in today if he could do then.. but no response so far.

I'm wondering if part of it is because the norm has become working from home now so they just assume you will always be in whenever and whichever day suits them to show up...

You know that birthday thing was a total lie, right.

By all means leave a bad review, but honestly, they are increasingly all like this, and are in short enough supply that they can get away with it.

I'm not really bothered whether the birthday thing was a lie or not tbh. Even if it was true it doesn't justify not showing up and not even letting me know.

It's not like he said someone had died or there had been a family emergency and then it might be a bit harsh to give a bad review if it actually turned out to be true.

You have my sympathies OP.
I asked a chap, who had wonderful reviews on our local Facebook group, to come and quote for some roofing work.
He was very slow to respond despite me sending a couple of follow up messages, but, did eventually get back to me to come and view the job.
He duly arrived and gave me chapter and verse regarding his recent man-flu then proceeded to tell me about his accident tripping over his dog just as he was recovering from his flu.
I cut him off mid-flow to direct him to the roof in question.
He got up on his ladders, made positive sounding noises, took photographs and went merrily on his way to "price up the job".
That was approx 18 months ago!
I've not heard a peep out of him since.
But, almost daily, I see his name mentioned on the Facebook page, by several sources, saying how "reliable, fair priced and honest" he is and how excellent his workmanship is.
Makes no sense to me.

Please do so others looking for tradespeople can make an informed choice. For many, reviews are all they have to go on.

@Fluffyelephant probably lucky escape then. Just try someone else. In an ideal world try and get a recommendation from a friend or neighbour? Not always fool proof but worth a try. Good tradesmen are quite hard to find sadly.

Absolutely leave a 1/10 review!!

A family birthday thing he forgot about?! You'd think "oh shit, I am meant to be working, I'd better tell the client I can't make it". Not turning up and no contact until the evening is rude.

Our bathroom fitter was amazing. Worked 10 hour days. Job done to a high standard. We had to wait 6 MONTHS to book him. His waiting list is now over 12 months. I'm often a little suspicious of anyone with too much immediate availability.

I had an issue similar, a few years before Covid.

the tradesman was booked for a few weeks to come this particular day, that he had specifically requested, we were flexible but he said this is definitely the best day for me, I have plenty time that day to do it. The tradesman was the brother or cousin of one we’d used for the rest of the house.

the house was being renovated (it needed to be gutted before being livable) so no one was living there or that close by. The tradesman knew that I was making a special 4 hour round trip that day to be there.

he said I’ll be there at 10am, I leave home 7:30-8am to make sure I’m there. He said the night before yes all good see you tomorrow. I text when I get there. No reply but I assume he’s on his way over. 12pm comes, I phone him (no answer), I text a couple times and then phone again at 3pm, still hadn’t heard anything. My dad phones him, no answer. 4:30pm I get a phone call, from him. Says his wife refused to let him do any work that day and made him stay at home for family time.

it was a Wednesday or a Thursday, it wasn’t a particularly big job, estimated 3 hours max. And at least bloody let me know. Absolute waste of a day + plus half a tank of fuel. He bloody specified the day as well.

its infuriating.

Unbelievable!

Did you let him come back and do the job or go with someone else? I wouldn't have been able to trust I wasn't going to have another wasted journey if I gave him a second chance if I was you.

I think this is absolutely fair, the point of a review is to review your experience with that person. Your experience was that an appointment was confirmed, you waited in all day, they didn’t bother to turn up or let you know they weren’t turning up, that is a bad experience and so reviewing that is fair. I wish more people would do this to be honest, we had our garden done out last year and had 2 different people booked in, both just didn’t turn up on the day, both had lots of good reviews on Facebook so we never had reason to think this would happen. It wasn’t until our garden was completed by a different company and neighbours complimented it and asked who did the work we mentioned the other companies who hadn’t shown up and they are apparently well known for no shows! If we’d known that we could have saved a lot of time.

Yes I would if they hadn't let you know they couldn't make it