At the end of last week I had a bit of a DGB rant of old, with the subject of my post focusing on my experience with a particularly unpleasant home owner. It got a lot of responses, both on social media and in the comments section. For those who voiced some support I thank you. And if you want read up on my frustrations, you can click here and do that.

However, one of the most interesting points to come out of the discussions of the post was via this tweet from Darren Waters:

Personally, I think this is a damn good idea. There is so much scrutiny of companies and businesses across all sectors, not only ours, but almost little to no scrutiny of customers whatsoever. I do believe that there has been a skewing of the rules heavily in favour of consumers, without little recourse to help protect businesses.

Well, I think a system that rates home owners in our industry wouldn’t be a bad idea!

Uber-like scrutiny

The reason why I believe being able to rate home owners is quite simple. It’s to allow a platform for installers to give their honest feedback on their experience with the home owner to the home owner, something that doesn’t really exist in any proper format currently. By being able to do so, I believe that as home owners would know they are going to get the same feedback they give installers via a ratings system, they may not be so quick to abuse the installer without due merit.

Given the subject of my post linked above, I don’t think this would be a bad thing at all.

How such a thing would be created and run is the major question. With the Uber example given by Darren Waters, I believe it can be done via the Uber app on a phone. If we were to try such a thing in the window and door industry then I would say that the easiest thing to do would be to do it via an app also.

There are two options here. Create a brand new app in which both installers and home owners would login and have the ability to rate each other, with a builti-in message board for more extensive feedback. Or, existing ratings websites, of which there are many, could build in a ratings systems for installers to rate their home owners. The second is probably easier, but the former is more likely to be clearer and more straightforward to use.

DGB Business

Unpalatable

Uber’s rating system is a rarity. I do like it, but the idea of it being replicated across other sectors, especially ours, is highly unlikely. I suspect that if the idea arose of an industry with an already tarnished reputation was thinking of having the cheek to rate home owners, that this would be shot down fairly quickly.

It’s an idea that for most installers might be a good one, the wider consumer may not like it so much. Not that I believe it’s right. I firmly believe that installers are far too open for abuse from rogue customers. This is not right. Most are professional outfits doing great work, week in and week out. It is only the few that give everyone else a bad name.

Still, I believe this is worth gauging opinion. So, true to form, I have included a good old DGB poll for you all to help give me your own feedback and thoughts on the idea. So, before you leave and do something more valuable with your time today, take a second to let me know if you believe installers being able to rate home owners in the same way home owners rate installers is a good thing, bad thing or something you’re not sure about. You probably know how I’m going to vote.

Also, please use the comments section to expand the debate. I feel like this could be a good one!

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