Website Wednesday: Angie's List

Welcome to the first edition of Website Wednesday. Each week I’ll spotlight a website that I have found useful, interesting, or just all-around brings the awesome sauce. My first pick for the inaugural edition of Website Wednesday is angieslist.com.

We first subscribed to Angie’s List when we bought our house. We had so much to do, and didn’t know a single contractor. Prior to joining, we chose contractors based upon ads or listings in the phone book. BIG MISTAKE! For a small yearly fee, Angie’s List allows members to check or submit reports on hundreds of categories. They recently added medical categories too, which is great if you need to find a doctor, dentist, specialist, etc.

At first I wondered if it was worth the $50 annual fee to join (in some markets, the fee is much less, especially if they are trying to build up that city’s list). Quickly I realized that yes, it WAS worth it. Imagine the money you WILL lose if you chose an unqualified or unscrupulous contractor. Plus, telling contractors you use Angie’s List almost ensures they’ll do a great job so they can get a good review. If you have a dispute, Angie’s List will help mediate it. They also have coupons, from outstanding contractors only.

As an added bonus, Angie’s List usually has an annual report drive. I’ve gotten a digital camera, a FLIP video camera, and an iPod shuffle. If I had paid full retail price, each of those items are worth TWICE the annual fee. How’s that for a good deal? Note: I can’t promise they will always have a report drive; I can only attest to what they’ve done in the past.

Clearly, Angie’s List has paid for itself and then some. On our to-do list for this fall we have the following: