An Upper Arlington, Ohio roofer has started an Internet company that's a flip side to Angie's List and other companies that track poor-performing contractors.
His tracks the bad apples among consumers.
Tey Marzetti began Thedeadbeatlist.com last year to shine a floodlight on homeowners who don't pay landscapers, plumbers, remodelers and other home-service contractors.
"Angie's List can place contractors in their penalty box. So our concept is to make it a fair playing field," said Marzetti, 45, a roofer and gutter installer for 24 years.
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Source: The Columbus Dispatch |
Companies that pay to access his Web site also can post the names of homeowners who don't pay, so other contractors might be warned before taking on a job from them.
Homeowners identified on the site as deadbeats are sent postcards informing them that they'll be placed on the list unless they make good on their overdue bills. The warning almost always results in payments, Marzetti said.
For Marzetti, his Internet business is more about fair play than punishment.
"You might think that homeowners on the list are bad," he said, "but about 90 percent are good people" who, for whatever reason, didn't pay a bill.
Though he doesn't do what collection agencies do, Marzetti said he tries to work with homeowners who are honest and willing to resolve problems.
Since it started Aug. 17, 2003 his Web site has grown into a full-service system that rates homeowners on pay history and working relationships – ranking them excellent, very good, good, fair, poor or very poor.
This month, the Web site this month will be renamed ContractorsFriendlyAssociate.com. The company charges $40 per year to contractor members. More than 970 members are in Columbus. About 11,000 are members of franchises in Charleston, S.C.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Orlando, Fla.; and Madisonville, Ky.
The site's listed homeowners number 3,700 in the Columbus area and more than 20,000 nationwide.
The site doesn't list consumers' street addresses, mor does it attach vindictive or inappropriate language to a homeowner's name. The list is intended solely for contractor members.
Limiting access to members reduces legal liabilities, said Earl LeVere, partner with the litigation section of Bricker & Eckler.
"This is a backup business-information system for the working man," said Jerry Newkirk, a member of the service who runs Newkirk Wallcovering in Upper Arlington.
"Only on a few occasions do homeowners refuse to pay, but when they do, you need as much backup as possible to force payment," he said.
"It also helps the next guy from getting burned."
Terry Jones, a sales representative for Roofing Wholesale in Columbus, refers contractors to the Web site.
"It's not just contractors that should have to prove themselves worthy when work is done in the home," said James Reed of the Northwest Side. He has worked with contractors on plumbing, yardwork and other jobs at his 35-year-old home and is reported positively on Marzetti's list.
Local homeowners listed negatively did not return a reporter's calls.
Contractors say that homeowners often have the upper hand when payment problems arise. For one thing, consumers can threaten contractors with reporting them to the Better Business Bureau or business-service raters such as Angie's List.
Apart from sharing information about customer-payment histories, small contractors can file a lien against a homeowner's house or seek garnishment of wages. Both actions are complicated legal procedures that can take years to collect on.
Over the long term, Marzetti would like his Web site to help homeowners connect with the contractors who provide the services they're seeking. Marzetti also plans to publish the list as a booklet.