Now this…
I was just forced to switch into Homegauge Credit Card Payment processing. Now this.
Upgrading the Homebuyer Experience with Homebuyer PLUS.
Can someone tell me what the hell is going on? They have tapped into credit card processing and now they want to tap into everything I have worked hard to develop (my customers).
With Homebuyer PLUS, your Homebuyers will now receive:
An improved dashboard experience, with a commitment to the ongoing development of new features and benefits
Dedicated support chat widget embedded in the dashboard to give the Homebuyer immediate responses to technical problems during our support hours
Homeowners insurance quotes, presented by HomeGauge, for buyers who would like to benefit from them
Access to deals & offers for major frustrations, such as moving & security
A Partners promise, outlining the must-follow rules for the partners that Homebuyers consented to work with
This is called drop in the bucket. I DO NOT WANT ANY OF THIS CRAP. I DON’T WANT ANYONE SELLING ANY CRAP TO MY CUSTOMERS.
UPDATE: After reading the latest email announcement this does not look good at all for the Home Inspectors.
HomeGauge Plus is not going to give the inspectors the choice of opting in or out of American Family offering Our clients home insurance quotes. HomeGauge is becoming a middleman between us and our client. The way it looks HomeGauge should be paying us for all the information they’re getting and using to their benefit.
With all of that they’re going to Raise our yearly fees. When all of these changes were made to allow them to make more money from our clients, that they would not even know if it weren’t for us.
Just remember, you and your customer are the product. They talk you into paying for software that they will use to collect data on the real money…home buyers and home owners. (Facebook does the same thing…for free!)
Soon they will know when to target your customer with new AC ads, roof replacement etc based on the data you collected. Then, they can hit them up for all their maintenance needs, lawncare, insurance, home warranties etc.
Unfortunately, it appears that 3rd party marketing is becoming the norm. The data we collect is extremely valuable and corporations are willing to pay big bucks for it (unfortunately not to us). The recent large sell-out to Porch is a great example.
This is why I own the software and do not engage in any of that ‘cloud’ nonsense. The ‘cloud’ is just an opportunity for a third party to access all your data. You can’t very well respect your client’s privacy if your going to give away their data.
The best thing to do is store and deliver your own reports. Some may need to figure out how to transfer data without the internet. Not all that difficult, USB has made data transfer incredibly simple.
That doesn’t faze the corporate overlords. If I had to guess, they will eventually remove that option, at least for new customers. Hopefully there will always be a new developer waiting in the wings to fill the void but it’s hard to compete when corporations are willing to give their offering to new inspectors for free, as some are doing.
…and that goes both ways. You can include all the people who still use the cloud because it satisfies their convenience (cheaper) despite knowing their clients privacy will be violated.
My frustrations keep piling up. HG Payment solution DOES NOT integrate with Quickbooks. I was using Authorize.net with Commerce Sync which allows the data to flow from HG scheduling directly into my Quickbooks. So I never had to enter the data twice. Now with HG payments they are saying they don’t have integration. That horse sh…
This is why a large insurance company bought out HG a few years back.
None of this is a surprise. HG wasn’t purchased because it was a cool product, it was purchased because the insurance company wanted the software as a marketing platform.
Brad
How do you like Horizon? It’s on top of my list. I do a lot of commercial inspections and lot of customized templates. How flexible is it? How do you like their scheduling feature? And does it integrate with QuickBooks?
I LOVE Horizon - so much so I named my company Horizon Home Inspectors! I’ve been using it for about 10 years. Many new upgrades. Always improving. VERY flexible. Once you get the hang of it you learn quickly how to make it your own. There are built-in payment options which I no longer use - we use a “cash discount” plan through a third party which reverses the credit card fees back to the client, so I do not know about the interface with QB. Carson Dunlop is very responsive to questions. I encourage you to call them.
Just sat through a Horizon presentation. Already sent an email to HG telling them to disconnect and discontinue the payment processing service. I ran two transactions and screwed up my accounting greatly. They told me if I disconnect it I would no longer be able to accept credit cards which s unacceptable. Would love to hear about the cash discount through 3rd party. If you don’t mind sharing please send me an email in private or just post it here. Thank you
If that Homebuyer Plus video represents what my clients will be going through and seeing when all they want to do is view the report I am PISSED. Confirm or add additional info AFTER already being signed in, then have to scroll by all the “optional info” boxes, current address and closing date (Spectora is doing the same thing I hear with closing date, can only wonder what you guys are up to) which is the info you guys really seem to want. They then click again to bypass an insurance pitch, only to get another ad banner at the top of the inspection report info page about moving, storage and home services. Does HG not see or care about the position they are placing us inspectors into come April?
So I suspect HG is aware they will lose inspectors during the change over. They also know that many will swallow their jagged pill because starting over with new software is also very disruptive.
Next will be an advertising blitz with many free offers from HG to attract new inspectors. They have calculated the risk vs rewards and pressing forward. Hence, the no response to your emails.
Of course this all happens right before the busiest time of year so they can force it.
It’s true, in the new BETA version of the Spectora client portal, there are similar questions I guess. I have not used the BETA version yet but those that have are already complaining about the intrusive questions on the Spectora Facebook page.
I don’t like it. It is not in my interest to pimp clients out just so they can view their report that they paid good money for already. If Spectora gets to the point HG is at with trying to push 3rd party offerings, I will not be a part of it.
