Amazon Home Services Versus Handy
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- The Good
- Residential, business and commercial services available
- Easy and intuitive search functions
- One-click payments
- The Bad
- Contractors may not be available in all areas
Amazon Home Services is a new entry into this relatively crowded market of home repair. Because it is so new (it was founded in 2015), it may take a while for more service providers to show up in all areas. Amazon uses a stringent application approval process that helps guarantee quality service but can slow down approvals and access to service.
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- The Good
- Focuses on home services
- Handles light chores like furniture assembly, painting, etc.
- Provides quick scheduling and fast service
- The Bad
- Limited list of service offerings
Often, when you’re looking at home services listings, the service categories can seem endless. That’s not the case with Handy. This highly focused, niche home services company only focuses on cleaning, light handyman services and easy (but often time-consuming) items on your to-do list.
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- Price
- Free
Amazon is free for users and strictly controls service pricing. When you book a service through Home Services, Amazon offers a price estimate. According to the Internet giant, nine out of 10 customers only pay that estimated price. At Amazon, you don’t need a fair price guarantee; it’s built right into the service model.
- Price
- Free
There’s no charge to use the Handy matchmaking service, which helps you find local professionals to handle all of your chores around the house. Service fees can vary dramatically, depending on the rate offered by a specific provider. There are several tiers based on professional service ratings, so you pay more for higher-rated providers. That means you’ll want to shop carefully to find someone who is both reliable and affordable.
- Top Services
- Smart home services
- Home theater installation
- Computer repair
- Smartphone repair
- Cleaning
- Assembly
- Business and commercial services
- Automotive repair
With the addition of Home Services, Amazon has added entirely new categories to their one-stop-shopping model. Now, you can get all of your retail therapy, grocery shopping and to-do list items through the same site. Home Services offers an eclectic mix of services that range from virus removal for your computer to smart home assessments and installations.
- Top Services
- Cleaning
- Storage
- Hanging Pictures
- Furniture Assembly
- Interior Painting
- TV Mounting
- Moving Assistance
Where Handy really excels is in the details. All of those small chores you keep putting off you can now leave to a Handy professional. You wouldn’t want to pay a contractor’s rate to come in and hang your pictures, but with Handy, you don’t have to. Instead, you can tick off all of those annoying little tasks that can eat a lot of time. Want to paint a room, start packing or finish your spring cleaning? Handy is perfect for these types of jobs.
- Screening Process
- Comprehensive background check
- Online reputation assessment
The Amazon Home Services screening process is one of the most stringent. Not only do they do a criminal background check, they also look at financial records and court history. That means a bankruptcy or pending lawsuit could leave them denied from the Amazon marketplace as a service provider. Even if all of that checks out, there is also the review screening. Looking at other sites and checking reviews, Amazon can and does deny applications based on negative reviews posted on other sites. This tight approval process means that only the highest rated providers make it onto the Amazon Home Services Marketplace.
- Screening Process
- Advanced screening
- Background checks
When a professional cleaner or handyman signs up to work with Handy, they go through a prescreening and background check. This helps ensure you’re not dealing with someone who may have a criminal record or present a potential problem. After all, you’re inviting them into your home, and you want peace of mind. With Handy, a background check helps give you that surety.
- Guarantee
- Yes
The Amazon Happiness Guarantee gives you the opportunity to file a claim if the work wasn’t up to snuff or anything was damaged during your job. Now, if the scope of work changes or you missed the 90-day window to file a claim, the Happiness Guarantee may not apply, but Amazon has a well-deserved reputation for customer service.
- Guarantee
- Yes
Customer service is a top priority at Handy, and the Handy Happiness Guarantee helps ensure you will be satisfied with your experience. If you aren’t satisfied — no worries. Handy will send out a different service provider for your next service, all at no extra charge. Plus, every Handy booking is insured, so you’re covered in case something gets damaged.
- Support
- Email, chat, and phone
Amazon has one of the most responsive customer service departments around. You can start a chat, send an email or even call if you have a problem with any Amazon product, including Home Services. Their online help information center is also comprehensive and automates many routine requests, so you may not need to spend much time talking to customer service after all.
- Support
Most Handy support requests are handled via email. That means you might have to wait a little bit to get a resolution, but Handy works to answer support tickets within minutes. You don’t wait for days, only to go back and forth on the issue. Instead, with a fast turnaround time on emails, support is quick and relatively seamless.
Amazon Home Services: User Reviews
Handy: User Reviews
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What Are Amazon Home Services?
Looking for someone to help you mount your TV or assemble a complicated furniture set? Amazon has moved into the home repair service marketplace with its Amazon Home Services, which pairs you with local home repair professionals, ensuring customers have help with tasks around the house.
How Does Amazon Home Services Work?
Amazon Home Services works a lot like other service marketplaces. Professionals apply for a listing and start working with Amazon customers. For you, this can help streamline your purchasing history. There are two categories for the services offered: pre-defined services and custom requests.
Pre-Defined Services
Pre-defined services are the more run of the mill home maintenance requests. Expect to see services like appliance repair, moving, plumbing, furniture assembling, house cleaning, and other odd jobs on this list.
For example, you buy a brand new TV and need help with installation. Amazon Home Services can offer that installation at a (usually) standardized rate.
If you’re looking to put in a garden this year and don’t have time to handle the original planting, you can work with a landscaper through Amazon Home Services. All you do is use your existing account, find the service you need, answer a few quick questions and schedule the service. You don’t have to worry about selecting a contractor–Amazon does that for you. They also handle customer service complaints if something goes wrong.
Custom Requests
If you have a service that doesn’t fit into the presets already offered, you can also submit a custom request. Nearby contractors will then contact you with estimates for how much the service will cost.
How to Handle Cancellations or Poor Services
A late arrival, last-minute cancellation or poor quality service can all leave you with a partial or full refund after reporting the issue. Plus, Amazon only charges you after the service is complete, so if a professional misses their appointment, you don’t have to worry about asking for a refund–you haven’t paid yet.
Services like Select Home Warranty can actually cover a lot of home fixes and can help you pick a good professional to do the job. Check out our Select Home Warranty review to learn more.
What Makes Amazon Home Services Stand Out?
Customer Service
Amazon has a long-standing and well-deserved reputation for excellent customer service. When you order something through Home Services, you get access to that same incredible customer service experience, even if the professional you work with isn’t perfect. Plus, Amazon goes the extra mile to vet and screen all of their professional applicants.
Professional Background Checks
Many marketplaces use self-reporting from their pros, but not Amazon. At Home Services, every professional offering services is vetted individually using comprehensive background checks and a look at reviews from real customers, ensuring you get the right person for home repairs.
Price
Another big difference between Amazon and the competition is pricing. Not pricing to use the service, which is free, but the cost of services. Very few review sites offer any direct information about pricing. After all, they don’t control what a service provider will charge. Amazon does it differently. They set standard rates for standard jobs. Tasks that have routine costs and take a fairly predictable amount of time come with an estimate that is highly accurate. Avoiding a surprise bill is one big benefit to working with Amazon.
Quick and Efficient
Your request is usually handled within twenty-four hours. Afterwards, you will receive contact information for your assigned handyman to set up a date and time. You can expect things to work quickly and if communication slows, feel free to contact Amazon.
Common Amazon Home Services Reviews
Amazon Home Services reviews show a very high approval rating from customers. Even those that weren’t happy with their original service order have a positive experience with customer service. Unlike other home services companies, Amazon is very responsive to all refund requests. They may ask you to provide documentation, particularly for any damage, but if you’re owed a refund for services not rendered, Amazon has a good track record.
Their comprehensive vetting process may mean that you can’t order some services in your area, but it also means you’re less likely to have a bad experience. All Amazon professionals have continuing performance targets. Plus, you’ll only get emails for up to three days after submitting a request. That means pros have a limited window to contact you when you have a custom request.
Is Amazon Home Services for Me?
Do you have an Amazon account? If you do, you’ve probably already experienced the ease of ordering through the site. You may also have dealt with lost packages or returns. In either case, you should have a good idea of what buying on Amazon is like. Home Services is another type of Amazon product, with all of the same standards and commitment to customer satisfaction. If you have a home or a business, it’s likely that there is a service available on Amazon Home Services that you could use.
From leaky faucets to electrical issues, Home Services covers all your handyman needs. The service is typically offered per job, not hourly, so you may want to get a custom quote if you have a few items on your maintenance list. House cleaning can help clear your schedule for other important tasks and family obligations, while assembly services take the intimidation out of buying furniture and other large items online. You can even schedule computer and electronics repair for at home, so the next time your phone screen cracks or you can’t get rid of a computer virus, you can schedule a service visit through Home Services.
Amazon Home Services even has a section for businesses. From data recovery to IT security and even commercial installations, you can find a provider to help your small business. If you’re already an Amazon customer, take a look at the services available to you. Affordable pricing and top-notch professionals make Home Services useful for most people.
How Does Handy Work?
Handy offers an extensive network of professionals to handle all your household needs. From leaking faucets to dirty dishes, skilled professionals do it all. Using Handy is quick and seamless. You can schedule a service call quickly to handle anything you need. You fill in a form that details the size and scope of the job. Within minutes, a Handy professional will contact you to discuss fees and scheduling. It’s that simple.
You can look at the ratings for every Handy professional and find the one who best fits your needs. Just remember, Handy separates out handyman services from cleaning, so don’t expect your cleaner to replace an outlet.
Once you’ve made contact with several workers, you can easily sort by price and confirm a time for service. Handy will give you an estimated amount of time needed to complete service, based on the size of your home. For example, if your home has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, Handy recommends a 4.5-hour time frame. The shortest time frame usually recommended is 3 hours, but additional space doesn’t add as much time as you might expect.
A service like Choice Home Warranty can insure some of your home items and help you find home professionals when those items need to be fixed.
What Makes Handy Pro Stand Out?
There are lots of cleaning services, many offering monthly contracts. There are also plenty of handymen offering work by the hour or by the job. What makes Handy so incredible is the combination of both services through a single platform and the streamlined approach. Because Handy focuses solely on these two basic categories of service, you get highly experienced professionals in each.
Another option that makes Handy so exceptional is the ability to work with the same person again and again. Why go through the hassle of finding another cleaner who does windows the way you like them? With Handy, you can just schedule the same person to come out on a schedule. You get all the benefits of a routine cleaning contract without the commitment. Every job is singular, but with history-tracking, you can always re-book.
The Handy Happiness Guarantee is another big bonus to working with this home services company. Very few other home services companies offer any sort of guarantee, and even when they do, it usually only covers damage or job incompletion. With Handy, the guarantee covers your satisfaction. If the job isn’t done well, you can get a revisit from a different professional, at no extra charge. That’s a real guarantee.
Handy Pro Reviews
Handy is relatively new to the home services market. It started in New York in 2012, and rapidly expanded. With more than three million completed bookings under its belt, it probably comes as no surprise that there are plenty of negative reviews out there. Some of them come from disgruntled cleaners and others from dissatisfied customers. A missed appointment or poor experience with a single contractor can often lead to a one-star review. However, if you look at individuals on the Handy marketplace, you’ll notice that the average rating is 4.5-stars.
Ultimately, no company can always deliver a 100 percent satisfactory experience. What Handy does deliver is an affordable service and easy scheduling. You might have some pain points as you cycle through a few professionals to find one who works well in your home, but once you do, you’re likely to join a host of others who rate the service highly.
Is Handy Pro for Me?
Does your to-do list keep getting longer? When you’ve got an ever-growing laundry list of household chores and not enough hours in the week to get them done, Handy is the type of service you need. You can get help with:
- Cleaning the toilet
- Folding the laundry
- Mowing the lawn
- Washing windows
- Vacuuming
- Small maintenance tasks
- And much more
When you’re busy, keeping up with the endless round of cleaning and maintenance tasks that go into maintaining your home can be impossible. Handy takes some of that off your plate. You’ll still need to cook dinner, but at least you can avoid the clean-up afterwards. Plus, you can get as much or as little cleaning as you need. For example, if you’ve got guests coming and just need those rooms freshened and made ready, schedule a one-time service. You don’t need to pay for the whole house when all you need cleaned is a few rooms.
If you want regular cleaning service, that’s also available. And you don’t need to stock the cleaning supplies. Handy professionals bring their own, so all you need to do is let them in and go over your chore list.
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