Question for long time users of Homegauge

Evidence of Russell’s prior knowledge of who he was really selling out to!

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Hi Tim, I am starting to feel the same way- 16+ yrs of using Homegauge. What are you using now?

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Hi there, I don’t want to come across as plugging for any vendor… I had used Inspectvue for a very long time and had converted to Spectacular for my residential as they converted my library for me, I’ve used it now for at least a couple thousand reports and it’s very reliable and clean. A few years ago, I didn’t know too many inspectors using it but in my area of SoCal I’m finding more and more… I haven’t decided whether to have Aaron at Spectacular to convert my existing library, make a new one or use theirs which looks pretty good as well.

In fairness, I think there are still a few platforms that allow you to simply create a PDF like I use now, Home Inspector Pro is one, 3D is another I can think of albeit an older platform.

I pay 300 a year for Spectacular for subscription which allows for collecting data in field on iPad and finishing up on Windows PC, I was kind of used to same on other platform I used so was kind of needed for me to keep workflow I’m used to. For me, I think the change to PDFs for commercial will be no big deal either as the software creates bookmarks for navigation.

You can always just use HG to create a PDF, it works although lots of white space/kind of clunky. There are also options to use the HTML files it creates for report delivery, kind of techy though.

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Tim I’m also a longtime user of Homegauge. Just got my renewal for cloud services. From $39/mo to $59/mo!! A 50%increase! I’m looking for alternatives.

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My new favorite Homegauge money grab is mandating you use their credit card processing company which has drastically higher fees than what I was paying. Yes, I know I can request a check for payment (good luck with the millennials knowing what that is) or process payment through my own chosen credit card provider. I sent in my processing statements as they requested, and they agreed it’s going to cost me $4,000 plus more in fees. I’ve asked them to tell the truth and just tell me they want more money and I’ll respect them for it. All they claim is it’s easier this way. Yeah, easier for them to make more by providing nothing.

I posted last year about this and didn’t get any comments back. Most online merchants have the ability to charge a percentage for credit card processing. Homegauage does not have this ability. If this bothers you, please call/email and let them know you want this added.

If I wasn’t so vested into this software I’d swap (not sure to what). On my initial email that is sent out to clients, I inform them to put in a bogus phone number and the address to the police department on any form that comes from Homegauage to prevent getting hounded with solicitations. All I need is an email address.

Welcome back to our forum, Robert!..enjoy participating. :smiley:

If I have to send something like this to clients, then I don’t care how much pain it may be to switch softwares.

On the flip side if I received this from anyone I hired, it would make me question why hired them

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Agreed. Just not at a spot where I can swap at this point. I feel handcuffed.

I’m sorry you feel that way, it’s a tough place to be. I pray you find your way out of feeling stuck.

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HG knows this and have factored this into their business model.

They know they will lose some inspectors
They know they will trap some inspectors
They know they can attract new inspectors

In their business model, they have calculated the ROI of each insurance customer they acquire thru the HG software.

They have also calculated the value of the data acquired.

You mean nothing to them. You are their field monkey collecting data and clients to serve their purposes.

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I love this!!

I just ran the numbers. In 9 years of using Homegauage, I would have provided 5,122 leads for them to sell ancillary products. Hell, they should pay me to use the software.

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Agreed. I have said this many times in previous posts.

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This is the 2nd post now that has mentioned really high fees for using HG’s processing service. How high have they set it? I can’t seem to find that on their website (I am not a user).

It’s not a set fee. Fee is based off of type of card. Ranges from 2.75% to 3.25%. My processor is less than half of that.

@ruecker I think this was for you.

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Add there is a 45 cent charge per transaction

Wow…

Who do you use?

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I use a local guy. Contact me off-line and I’ll gladly share.