I was a charter member in our town and I've found it very useful for checking on possible contractors. I've written three reviews, two good and one bad, and the bad one hasn't been covered over. I also had to retract one of the good ones and the owners said that when my situation ended (the tile guy--grouting in the corners! And now we find that the halfwall was laid flat rather than sloped), I would be welcome to write again with an updated review.

SO far, it's been my experience that even if there are bogus reviews, you can get a good enough sense anyway from the general group of them to get a read of the contractor. I know that contractors in this area are VERY aware of Angie's list; it holds weight when you say you know of them or found them there, or something like that. I can only vouch for my town, though, and it's only about 3 years old, Angie's list time.

I have used Angie's List often, although I still pull three recommendations (or more) and then interview the three or so to see who I feel will do a good job. But I feel that it does give me a better idea of what to ask about and much, much better than opening the yellow pages. I have also asked neighbors for their recommendations, but Angie's list is like having a whole neighborhood make the recommendation. I think they do have a system in place to help spot (and remove) reviews written by the service people themselves. I know I had a question about a very large national service provider and I was very surprised that they were not listed. I emailed Angie's List and got a reply explaining that there had not been any reviews or a few had been bogus, so the company was removed from the list. If there seemed to be a lot of good reviews for a company and one or two ravingly negative ones, I was able to ask the company about those and receive an explanation. Angie's List will sometimes step in and help find a resolution for problems too.

My feeling is that it is worth the money if you have quite a few services you think you will be looking for. They have so many different service categories--In the past year I've found gutter and downspout people, window glass repair,a dog walker, a dog kennel, contractors, plumbers and even the architect I'm using for my whole house remodel. I will next be searching for a landscaper. If I didn't have this project though, I'm not sure I would continue my membership. Sometimes there are discounts if you tell the company you found them on Angie's List. HTH.

Angie's List is new to the Baton Rouge area. They offered free charter memberships to new members. We were already well into our project when the list was initiated here. I'm just thinking about sharing info for people who come after me.

I can't say that I have had any experience with Angie's List but my parents are members. Before their move, they had good luck with contractors when referring to the list. However, at their new home, they used two highly rated subs for irrigation and landscaping. The irrigation company was terrible. In fact, had we known they were using them we would have told them to run since we knew the owner of the company. They totally got screwed on the landscaping. Both these companies were highly recommended. Because of their experience, I don't think I would trust all the reviews listed.