Landscaper Starts Website To Turn Tables On Bad Customers

NastyClient.com describes itself as the opposite of AngiesList.

NastyClient.com describes itself as the opposite of AngiesList.

With the rising popularity of crowd-sourced review sites like Yelp and AngiesList, a number of business-owners feel like they are being unjustly slammed by a small number of very vocal, unsatisfied, customers. So one landscaper decided to turn things around with a site calls out problem clients.

Membership to NastyClient.com, which describes itself as “the opposite of Angieslist or the B.B.B..” comes at a price of $15.99/year. For that, members can browse through reviews of allegedly problematic customers; they can also search by the client’s name in order to see if another business-owner has called the customer out for being a hassle.

In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, the site’s founder describes four types of problem clients.

The Freebie: The client who keeps asking for things above what’s been agreed to, without offering to pay more.

The Negotiator: The client who agrees to a price initially but starts shaving figures when it comes time sign a contract.

The Hoverer: The client who stands over the workers’ shoulders.

The Tirekicker: The client who asks for upwards of 10 estimates, then never calls back to say he’s no longer interested.

As for posting to the site, users’ complaints are edited by the site’s owner. He says he removes problematic statements of opinion and leaves only the relevant facts. If an issue is settled after he posts the story, it will be amended.

He says complaints that have been resolved happily will ultimately be removed, but not right away: “If we took it off immediately, a client might just do the same thing to the next contractor.”

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.