Angie's List

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Angie's List

Type	Domestic Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Founded	1995-04-26
Founder	Angie Hicks
Headquarters	1030 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46202
Key people	William S. (Bill) Oesterle (CEO), Angie Hicks (Chief Marketing Officer)
Industry	Information collection and delivery
Revenue	$14 mil (est.)
Employees	200
Parent	Brownstone Publications
Website	http://www.angieslist.com/
^[1]^[2]^[3]

Angie's List old logo, which is no longer widely used by the company. However, the words under the logo, "The Homeowner's Grapevine," inform those viewing the logo of what Angie's List strives to accomplish.

Angie's List is one of many companies which aggregate consumer reviews of local service companies and which have been described by the New York Times as "a glorified version of Yellow Page listings."^[4] Angie's List is unique, however, in that it charges consumers to see reviews,^[5] reflecting their belief that charging consumers "adds credibility to the information."^[4] Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, the company was founded by Bill Oesterle while Angie Hicks worked as in intern in 1995. The company modeled the list after Indianapolis' Unified Neighbors.^{[citation needed]} As part of its public relations strategy, the company tells the story that Angie Hicks, who earned an MBA in 2000, went door-to-door in Columbus, Ohio signing up members and collecting ratings on local contractors.^[3] In 1996, Angie's List purchased Unified Neighbors and relocated the company from Columbus to Indianapolis. As of January 2007, the company serves 124 U.S cities^[6] and provides reviews of companies in more than 250 categories.^[7]

1 Legal Controversy
2 Angie's List Financial Information
3 Angie's List Membership Information
4 References
5 External links

Angie's List grades companies using a report card style A through F scale using consumer reviews.^[2] Revenue for Angie's List comes from fees paid by its members and from advertising. It claims to only accept advertising from companies that have a "B" rating or higher.^[8] Not all reports submitted by members are used in establishing a company's rating as Angie's List employees "are skilled at picking out would-be saboteurs" who would distort a company's rating by submitting a negative review.^[9]

Although all of the member-provided ratings and reviews, once published, are viewable by other members, Angie's List currently offers no provision to allow members to publish a review of the Angie's List service itself.

Angie's List's stated policies prohibit contractors from paying to be on the list, adding their own names, or reporting on their companies.^[10] A blog entry^[11] quoted in Newsday, however, demonstrates that it would be easy for business owners to get around this prohibition:

"Let's say that I'm the business owner.... If I can create a fake e-mail account and use my home address (or my neighbor's address) so that Angie's List doesn't know who I am, then [$5.95] a month is a pittance for being able to enter a review of my own business. So, their whole 'we charge a small fee to keep the reviews honest' thing doesn't work ... but it sure does help bring in revenue without worrying about advertising."^[12]

In response to such criticisms, Angie's List claims that an employee reads every report as they come in to check for abuse and inaccuracies.^[3] Angie's list also claims they ask each member submitting reviews if they are affiliated with or compete against the company that they are reporting on^[13], and that a member can only report on a company once every six months.

According to the New York Times, for companies like Angie's List the number of reviews of businesses in many cities and their suburbs is thin and there are more business listings in cities where the review company has been operating longer.^[4] Like many of its competitors, Angie's List has paid people to submit reviews through programs such as its Angie Cash fundraising program, which was discontinued in March of 2006.^[14] Angie's List has not released data on the number of consumer reviews it receives per company listed, but it does report receiving approximately 5,000 consumer reviews each month.Angie's List Web Site

[edit] Legal Controversy

According to the Washington Post, some Angie's List members who have submitted negative reviews about contractors to Angie's List have found themselves sued for defamation by the contractor for millions of dollars in damages. Although Angie's List may have insulated itself from such claims, it does recognize the threat to its business model. One of the Angie's List members being sued put it this way, "If [contractors are] able to sue, then the value of Angie's List depreciates... People aren't going to be willing to submit reviews if they could be threatened with a lawsuit."^[15]

[edit] Angie's List Financial Information

Because it is a private company, Angie's List is not required to release its financial information to the public. However, according to information released by the company, it had an estimated $14 million in annual revenue in 2006 generated primarily through advertising in its newsletter and by charging members $4.95 a month, or $47 annually.^[6] Angie's List has not publicly disclosed its annual expenses or overall profitability data.

[edit] Angie's List Membership Information

As of June 2008, Angie's List reports having more than 650,000 members, but has not specified whether or not that figure includes only paid members or whether it also includes members using a free trial membership.