ServicesAgent.com Strives to Meet the Web’s Best Intentions – Making Life Easier
Most Web users recall a day not so long ago when the Internet was going to be the solution to all of life’s problems, from paying off credit cards to buying groceries to ordering dinner out. We were never going to leave our Ethernet-wired “homes of the future.”
(PRWEB) May 2, 2005 -- Unfortunately, the World Wide Web did not turn out to
be quite that efficient, but the developers of one unique website seem to have
managed the art of easing life’s difficulties without creating new
ones.
ServicesAgent.com is a free website where Northern California
residents link up with the “best prices and most effective service
professionals” on everything from home repairs to babysitting, “quickly, simply
and economically.”
Here is how it works: Say you are planning a big party
and need your home cleaned at a reasonable rate. Visit www.ServicesAgent.com,
enter the details of your project through simple text fields and dropdown menus,
post any sample pictures and enter the area dimensions (for construction-related
projects). Service professionals will bid on your Request for Quote, you view
the bids and select the best and then you and the service provider receive
access to one another. The consumer maintains the necessary amount of anonymity
until selecting the right bid, thus protecting personal information.
Additionally, Services Agent does not sell or share any personal information
with third parties. Security is only one of the many benefits of using the
site.
“I would like to thank you for providing this free service for the
San Francisco Bay Area,” said Anna, a health-care professional who did not have
free time to search through the phone book and make calls. “I thank you in
advance for the money you saved me on my tree-removal project. My savings were
$990 based on five bids I received ranging from $1,740 to $750.”
“The
jobs you will find include home improvements, housecleaning, babysitting,
landscaping and catering, among others,” explained Noel Rodriguez, one of three
Bay Area graduate students who created the website. “If a service you’re looking
for isn’t there, you can add a new listing and we do the research to find a
service provider in that area. You can sit back and relax while Services Agent
does the shopping for you.”
Not only is www.ServicesAgent.com free
to use (with no downloads or annoying pop-up advertising), but it shaves a large
amount of time off an otherwise frustrating process. More importantly, it
provides the consumer with the freedom to select from a number of different bids
submitted by qualified service professionals. This way the customer can easily
assess whether he is getting a good price or a bad price for the job.
“As
a nurse working 12 hours in ICU, I do not have time in my busy schedule to spend
searching, calling and making appointments with contractors for my home
projects,” said Anna in a recent letter to the creators of ServicesAgent.com.
“The process was simple – I submitted my request for quote, with pictures, and
within days, I received five bids for my project. I selected my service provider
and that was it. I saved time and money and the project was done
effortlessly.”
“By using ServicesAgent.com to fulfill your service needs,
you will have numerous businesses fighting each other to win your business,”
said Gerardo Galvan, a partner in the company. “You get the best help and
high-quality work with a focus on customer satisfaction. Services Agent is on
its way to building the largest on-line service marketplace where consumers can
freely communicate, exchange information and select from among the best service
providers.”
The developers of Services Agent are also creating an "honest
and unbiased" rating system called the Word of Mouth Score. In much the way eBay
informs its users about the trustworthiness of an auction seller based on his or
her past performance, Services Agent assigns a value to each contractor who
repeatedly bids for jobs on the site, utilizing customer feedback to generate
the score.
“We rate each provider based on criteria including scope,
accuracy, timeliness, quality of work and customer service,” said Rodriguez.
“This gives you a chance to influence the quality of work and set the bar high
for people who would like to do business with you. You can also choose the best
service provider to work with. There’s nothing out there that comes close to
this.”
“I feel like we are offering a unique service to consumers that
increases your productivity, lowers your cost and improves the quality of work
you receive,” noted Jim Otsuka, the company’s third partner.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb235409.htm