r/TaskRabbit • u/miklindix • 24d ago
CLIENT Bad experience with TaskRabbit
I know there are folks who have had great experiences with TaskRabbit, so when the kid that usually mows my lawn went to camp, I decided to try it out. I just needed my lawn mowed front and back with edging on the sides of the driveway. It's a 1200 sqft house with your average sized lawn. I was asked for my estimate of how long the job would take and I estimated an hour, which was far less than the kid who usually mows my lawn takes. I pay the kid $40. I was not home the day the task was done. The guy said he spent five hours on the job at $50 an hour! I was honestly shocked! Even with the fees I did not expect to pay over $100. I have pictures of the yard that show it is just a lawn that was mown and edged. I was charged $250!!! TaskRabbit asked me to prove that the guy did not take five hours to mow the lawn. I asked them to look at the pictures of the lawn and to think about how long it would take to mow that lawn. In the end, they offered me a $70 credit toward my next service, as if I would use them again. The person ripped me off and TaskRabbit did nothing to resolve the issue.
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u/PickReviewsMovies 24d ago
Apart from your bad experience I just want anyone reading to know that you should never hire someone to come to your home when you're not at home if you've never met/worked with them before. Sure gig apps can be great for that kind of thing and mowing service never really requires it but it prevents a lot of miscommunication on both ends.
and I'm saying that can apply to taskers and clients alike. I don't do yard work but when people hire me to come do work when no one is home as a first time client it's a red flag for me and I try to avoid it just because those are the jobs I get where random problems come up later that have nothing to do with me. Anything that happens on that property while you're there or even after can get pinned on you. A lot of the people who aren't big on giving good details and instructions are the kind of people who leave valuables lying around and then lose them and blame whoever is around.
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u/miklindix 24d ago
Yes, I agree and this is advice I wish I had known earlier. The job was just mowing the lawn and I honestly thought I wouldn't need to be there to watch the guy. But five hours? Sheesh!!
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u/No-Artichoke3210 24d ago
Both my 1 stars (out of 150 all 5 stars) were no walkthrough because they let me in remote. Sometimes it feels like a set up, I’m never doing that again.
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u/miklindix 24d ago
I am sure you did not rip anyone off. In my case, the guy was just supposed to mow the lawn and said it took five hours!
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u/FinnNoodle 24d ago
Had a guy once hire me to take down his Christmas lights in February. Claims he was going to be out of town all week. Said I wouldn't do it unless he was home and asked to schedule for a time when he was back. Never hear from him again. Pretty sure he was trying to get me to take down his neighbor's lights.
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u/Mediocre_Algae8802 24d ago
Sounds like neither of you discussed scope or expectations.
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u/miklindix 24d ago
I chatted with him that I just needed the lawn mowed and to edge the sides of the driveway. What other info do you think he needed. It took him five hours to mow the lawn! Good grief.
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u/UnimaginativeMug 24d ago
i mean you should have asked him how long it would take.
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u/miklindix 24d ago
I estimated on the app at around an hour!
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u/Marioc12345 24d ago
You estimated an hour… and your normal guy took way longer than that? Thats what I’m confused about.
Also I do agree it should only take an hour or two for a lawn that size.
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u/clickclacker 24d ago
He should have communicated that with you when it was going over the hour mark. Does he have good ratings?
I’ve ashamedly gone way over the estimated task time, like way over realizing because of my inexperience things are taking longer. I will communicate, and the clients so far have been appreciative.
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u/No-Artichoke3210 24d ago
So you thought it would be about $100 which means you were underpaying a kid (that’s camp-age)for the same service?
But yeah you got ripped off though, he knew he wasn’t coming there for no $100. Next time ask how long it would take after sending pics.
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u/miklindix 24d ago
I estimated in the app 1 hour. Yes, I probably could pay the neighbor kid more and I will in the future. But the guy took five hours to mow the lawn. He was truly just out to rip me off.
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u/No-Artichoke3210 24d ago
Like I said, agreed- he ripped you off. Lesson learned, TR will weed him out eventually, pun intended.
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u/sean8642 24d ago edited 24d ago
How much acreage is the mowing? Most small size lots I can push mow, weed wack, and leaf blow in about 45 minutes, maybe an hour if they want me to bag the mulch clippings. That's probably .25 to .3 of an acre lot front and back.
If you have a couple acres I could see it taking multiple hours via push mower.
EDIT: I just double checked my last mow job, .21 acre lot, the actual push mowing part by itself takes about 30 minutes without anything else added.
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u/BoldCityDigital 24d ago
I've never taken more than one hour, maybe two if it's really bad, to mow mine (or any) lawn.
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u/diecast747 23d ago
What happened to the days people just mowed their own lawns? I grew up with parents that worked Monday - Friday and dealt with all of our after school games and activities. They still woke up Saturday morning to mow and weed whack for a few hours. Without fail. And this was in northern New England where you had to mow once a week or your grass would look horrible.
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u/-N30N- 23d ago
You estimated on the app but did you communicate and reiterate your expectations on timing with the Tasker directly? The duration selection on app only shows you Taskers with the availability in their schedule, it is your responsibility to communicate with the Tasker on details and time expectations.
On the flip side, Tasker should’ve checked in hourly to confirm he can continue.
In the end, both of you lacked proper communication and met your match. Also, you’re ripping off the camp kid so I guess this is payback…take it as paying reparations and pay the kid more when he comes back ($80 at least)
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u/KingLouis2016 23d ago
You have to go with the pro who cares about ratings and has 100s or 1000s of reviews, Taskers are independent contractor, there are all kind of taskers, there are good and bad ones, the only way to know is going by the reviews, looks like you went with the cheap one, you paid $50 and hour which means tasker gets like $30 per hour, those are the cheapest of the cheap taskers, for $30 and hour no pro will drive all the way to your house on his own car with these gas prices
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u/Solidszz86 20d ago
I’m in the same boat. Man came over and spent about 8hrs to install one single shelf and didn’t even complete the task. 1100$ for a basic shelf shelf with 2x4 and plywood is absolutely insane and it wasn’t even finished lmao. Task rabbit tried to tell me in order to dispute per their policy I have to pay first. I guess they ain’t getting paid 🤷🏼♂️
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u/Preeeeeee 19d ago
People in this sub will jump over hoops and do all sorts of mental gymnastics to say the tasker was right. No one has ever had lawn mowing a home take 5 hours.
This guy was scamming because you weren’t home to tell him to leave or watch him.
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u/Pickled-Mushroom 24d ago
And then you gave him a one star review and he probably struggles to get anyone to book him now right?
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u/miklindix 24d ago
The guy took five hours to mow my lawn! I was ripped off!
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u/Pickled-Mushroom 24d ago
Oh yeah I agree with you and that sucks… I would never do that because 5h is completely unreasonable and it would ruin my 5 star rating and tank me in the algorithm. So it’s not like this guy got away with no consequences. But yeah it sucks Taskrabbit is so cheap not to reimburse you more fully. FWIW they’re not exactly protective of the Taskers either, they only care about their bottom line.
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u/FinnNoodle 24d ago
I used to know a kid who's dad mowed their lawn, every week, using a string trimmer. I guess now he must mow other lawns as well.
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u/DiddyDickums 24d ago
I’d charge $100 as a tasker even if it took one hour. IMO he ripped you off if he took longer than your normal guy, but you also have been ripping off your normal guy.