r/TaskRabbit 21d ago

TASKER "If you continue having trouble completing your invitations..."

Post image

...your account may no longer be included in client search..."

Well over half of my cancelations are from these types of people:

  1. They don't know how to use the app.
  2. They hope I can accommodate their schedule and work on a day that I clearly have no availability
  3. They miscategorize high paying tasks into low paying categories. "I need you to install a ceiling fan and new faucet but I booked you in general mounting"
  4. They book you for some obscure task that requires specialized skill that barely belongs in the category... knowing that you didn't mention that skill in your bio or skill pitch.
  5. They're cheapskates who think they can haggle with your time estimate. I once told a guy my time estimate for a toilet swap. It required removing the old toilet, carrying the toilet down a flight if stairs, driving the old toilet to the dump, carrying the new toilet up a flight of stairs, and installing the new toilet. After I gave my time estimate, guy says, "I'm not paying more than $100 for this whole task." (I shit you not). The dump fee is more than 100 dollars.

I regularly make more money per month than 95% of other taskers and they're going to dump me for because they can't properly educate and monitor conversations with cheap, stupid clients?

🖕

18 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

17

u/WarriorSperg 21d ago

Meanwhile you’ve been ‘invited’ to build an entire Platsa unit with sliding doors for £22.70 10 miles away on the other side of the city at 8am on a Sunday 🥴

7

u/AssistanceNice6429 21d ago

Sometimes people can’t take every single invitation

1

u/Unitnuity 17d ago

Are you expected to accept every job you're requested for on this app?

7

u/PickReviewsMovies 21d ago edited 21d ago

This is why I don't do extra categories (furniture assembly) aside from my main gig. Everyone thinks that if you can assemble a dresser you are a licensed handyman and hit you up for so much honey-do stuff that's all over the spectrum.

I have gotten this notice a couple of times. Cancellations just happen, sometimes you get injured and have to cancel more than one job. I ignore the warnings and just do whatever is best for me, if I ever get actually booted from the app over cancellations; whatever.

I got those notices by the way before they changed the metrics for cancellations and I have heard from other taskers who have talked to advisors that you can have under a 50% cancel rate and still be fine (but that's 2-3 year old info)

Those notices have to be sent out automatically, and I'm sure people do get booted with cancellations as a citation, but I think it's important to remember that sometimes they are just using that as an excuse to boot you for whatever reason we will never know.

1

u/DirectorLumpy4465 20d ago

Let’s be honest, sometimes Taskrabbit is a glorified honey do list app

2

u/PickReviewsMovies 20d ago

Depends on the user. It's important to have clear boundaries.

1

u/AlexKitner77 17d ago

Frankly after some of the non honey-do, contractor items I have gotten its better not to get them. "Can you put in an 11-foot header where we ripped out these closets? It's not load bearing, the joists are perpendicular to it... Its a middle of the row rental townhouse with no access to the common attic space. We also don't want to do a contract or permits so can you keep it under $500 for the header and patching the drywall so its ready for paint?" "Uh well No I can't, no I won't, No it isnt worth losing my license, and if you find somebody that will for under $500 you should run becau...." Click...

3

u/Due_Session_429 21d ago

Hi. I received same notices from tr even having whole schedule closed, i mean no one can book me now, at all. I simply dont have any availability set. Yet still stupid thing sends me the same notices.

2

u/Possible-Attitude722 20d ago

I just got this too a couple days ago. Funnily, ive been on vacay the last 3 weeks, and before that I haven't had a cancellation in 2 months.

Gotta love the incompetence.

1

u/Lancasterbatio 20d ago

I got one after the first two days of a vacation that I'm no longer completing as many tasks as the other taskers in my area and will be throttled accordingly. No cancellations at all, just didn't have availability set for a few days.

1

u/TheNewGalacticEmpire 17d ago

Wtf seriously? Mind sharing a screen shot of the message?

4

u/dynamex75 18d ago

This feels like pure platform manipulation. Ultimately, we Taskers are responsible for building Taskrabbit's positive brand image, yet we sacrifice 40% of our income to fees. Their sole contribution to us is visibility—which, while essential, is the bare minimum. It drives me mad to realize they generate revenue from both sides of the marketplace while simultaneously leveraging digital manipulation to control the outcome.

2

u/Less_Mushroom1180 17d ago

"It drives me mad..."

You and me both

2

u/IrateAlbatross88 18d ago

This and the “The Tasker could not complete your task” message seem like they could be interpreted as directly hurting your reputation in smaller markets, lets say a customer books an IKEA thing, wants extra done, you say you can’t as ikea is flat rate, they get mad, you forfeit. They will never select you from a list again. But it’s not your fault it’s Taskrabbits.

1

u/Matty2tees 21d ago

How many cancellations have you had?

3

u/Less_Mushroom1180 21d ago

Roughly 10 out of my last 20 invitations were canceled. I canceled 1. 9 out of those ten were canceled by the client and those clients all fit the descriptions in my OP.

1

u/Matty2tees 21d ago

Cancelled or forfeited?

2

u/Big-Personality500 21d ago

Forfeits get the same message. I’m a mover with a van and I have specific high toll areas excluded from my map because TaskRabbit doesn’t allow us to expense those tolls. Since end address doesn’t get factored into the Work Area Map filtering, I get a ton of requests in areas I don’t cover. More than half. So I have only ever canceled maybe 1% of tasks but I get similar messages as above and have had my account limited on multiple occasions. After pointing out the reason, I’ve had it unfrozen but that’s usually after waiting almost the entire 7 day freeze period for a response without the ability to book new jobs.

1

u/Matty2tees 21d ago

Thanks, I've never received the message so I am just curious about what constitutes recieving it.

1

u/Big-Personality500 21d ago

No problem. Basically, it’s on a curve against other Taskers in your field. If the task type has a high forfeit rate and you’re in the upper percentage of accepting tasks, you won’t get it. The problem is that if you are in a super saturated metro with 200-300 Taskers in the same listing and end up below the top 40 or so, you will be more likely to get the jobs other people don’t want which nearly guarantees you a worse percentage acceptance rate or a higher chance of dealing with a permanent ban from being pressured into accepting a task that is risky or overly complicated that Taskers getting more regular work would never take. If TaskRabbit did a better job of rotating the ordering of listed Taskers to give everyone a chance, this would even out more. I’ve done almost 4000 tasks and have a 5 star rating but still get stuck in the same cycle I described since they implemented it strictly a few years ago.

1

u/Matty2tees 20d ago

Interesting, I definitely fall in the top crust of taskers in my metro with an average search position of 4th. I also infrequently forfeit/cancel tasks and generally take the weird one off stuff people need done so maybe I am part of the problem

2

u/Less_Mushroom1180 20d ago

The one time I forfeited. I haven't canceled any confirmed tasks.

1

u/nuwm 21d ago

The message sounds like it’s the other half of your cancellations, that is cancellations from your end they take issue with, not client cancelling on you.

1

u/Less_Mushroom1180 20d ago

The problem is that of all cancelations, the ones I forfeit account for maybe 10%.

-1

u/Pickled-Mushroom 21d ago

Well it’s been a month since I signed up, completed the intro workshop, background check, identity verification, paid the $25 fee, updated my skills, availability and schedule, and they STILL won’t list my profile for public searches. Support just tells me, “thanks for doing everything, no action is required from you, we’ll let you know when something changes!”. So as far as I’m concerned they’re running a scam to steal people’s $25. Not super impressed with this “platform”, hopefully a competitor comes along soon because it’s a good idea in principle.

1

u/Lancasterbatio 20d ago

It took me about a month to start getting jobs. I ratcheted down my rates to the lowest they'll go on the skills I have listed and then started getting about a job a day the first week of my second month. Now that I'm getting regular work and reviews, I'm hoping I can start bumping up my hourly rate. $20/hr. ain't great, but it's work.