HomeAdvisor Accused of Profiting From Former Members

On October 11, Chimicles & Tikellis LLP filed a motion for preliminary injunction and declaratory judgment against HomeAdvisor seeking to halt the lead generation organization’s continued use of online profile pages for roughly 188,000 former home service professionals on HomeAdvisor's website.

Chimicles & Tikellis represents the nine home improvement contractors from eight states who launched a class action lawsuit in July 2018 against HomeAdvisor and its parent company, IAC/InterActiveCorp, alleging that the lead generation platform uses misleading sales techniques to sell contractors “bogus leads” to generate higher profit.

The motion alleges that HomeAdvisor's exploitation of former members is a cornerstone of its business and that the organization uses misleading strategies specifically to intercept and redirect potential business opportunities from former home service professionals to convert them to job leads that are sold to current HomeAdvisor members. The motion mentions the following allegations:

• The online profile pages use a "Get a Quote" button, which it is alleged misleads prospective customers into believing that they are submitting a request for a quote directly to the former home service professional, when they are not.
• There is an alert put on former home service professionals’ online profile pages that states: "This business is not a screened and approved member of HomeAdvisor," which is alleged to be misleading the public and could cause the prospective customer to alter their course.
• URLs reflecting the name of former home service professionals are retained by HomeAdvisor and are associated with webpages that state that the "page you are looking for is no longer available," which, it is alleged, is done to redirect prospective customers who are searching to hire former HomeAdvisor members.

The motion contends that the alleged conduct violates federal law against false advertising and state statutes that protect business owners from unfair competition and deceptive business practices.

If you are or were a HomeAdvisor home service professional and are interested in discussing your legal rights, and/or you have information relating to this motion filed for Costello et al., v. HomeAdvisor, Inc. et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-01802-WJM (D. Colo.), you can reach Nicholas E. Chimicles, Kimberly Donaldson Smith, Scott M. Tucker or Stephanie E. Saunders with Chimicles & Tikellis LLP at (610) 642-8500.