Frequently Asked Questions

Lots of things!!

We are a regional accreditation that incorporates Direct Marketing - this not only proves you are vetted but actually gets you work.  Our focus is always local and we do not have the duress of running a national service.

We are the only accreditation that truly meets every single member in person and really gets to know that person or company. We get to understand what you are all about and then adjust our services to suite YOUR business needs.  Every one is different and we are here to meet you and listen.

We don't want to be a massive National Company, we want to keep it simple, help the public, help tradesmen and women and most importantly squeeze out the rogues that we have seen  blight the North.

We have local offices and we are on hand to help build your mini website, we do all the internet stuff, saves you hassle and means it works for you with no effort.

We hold networking events in the North East, our members are an elite corps, they have work for each other and all of them spread the Checked and Vetted Message to their customers. We get each other work, we give each other work. We work for the public and we do it properly.

We attempt to verify all the feedback, of course some are ex-directory and sometimes poeple are not in but we do try and make sure the reviews you read are a true reflection of the busineses work

It's simple!  We are a local company which was initally set up to tackle the North East's big Cowboy trader problem and we understand the power of local radio and leaflet drops.  So we only advertise locally.  

Our service, which provides the public a way to find 'the good guys', is designed so that non internet users can use it via our call centre based in The Grainger Suite, Gosforth. - so it appeals to everyone.

From our TV Sports Sponsorship on the ITV Tyne Tees News, carefully thought out radio campaigns to many vans adorned with our stickers, to huge leaflet drops and Freepost Job Report Cards - we push to be the preferred local solution for finding high quality vetted Tradesmen.

No advertising medium in the world is guaranteed to work, but our entire system is created to connect consumers with tradesmen who are appropriate for them

Regular TV advertising

Radio

Newspapers

Over 2 Million guides a year

Social Media campaigns of Facebook and Twitter

and much much more

and our marketing is producing great results.  Click here to hear what other tradesmen are saying about their experience with Checked and Vetted.

No we do not operate a quote bidding system, we only provide consumers with information.  This allows them to choose the tradesman they consider best suited to their needs.  They do not need to enter their details into any web page or pay any fees whatsoever for our service.   

Our research showed that 22% of our region does not use the internet and services that only work over the internet can not help these people.

We operate an inbound call centre from our Gosforth HQ, where we deal with members of the public who prefer to use the telephone to find one of our Checked and Vetted members. One of the reasons we do the huge leaflet drops is so the guides can be retained and the slim format means they remain useful but do not take up too much space.

Yes it will.  We help many of our 'non IT literate' members with setting up their pages and membership and help them get the most out of our service.  At the end of the day the consumer calls you direct, all you have to do is hand out your Job Report Cards, answer the phone and run your company in a professional manner

Whether you just want advice or would like us to set up the whole thing for you, it is not a problem.  As long as you are a good quality and reputable tradesman, we want you as a member and we will do everything we can to help you - no matter what your technical ability is. We can help with wording, uploading photos and make suggestions on marketing yourself online.

Absolutely!  Currently around 10% of our members have had no work from the site and this is because their profiles do not have any reviews from our freepost job report cards or web reviews and because they have not uploaded pictures of their work.

OUR INTERNAL SURVEYS HAVE PROVED THAT OVER 90% OF CONSUMERS WHO USE TRADE REFERRAL SITES WANT TO READ RECENT FEEDBACK

All of these members are encouraged and prompted to give out the job report cards but for one reason or another they do not do so.  

We provide publicity and a great platform but we cannot provide individuality.  Most of our members get plenty of calls as they realise our service is proactive and not throw away advertising.  We are very pro-active in helping our members get the most out of our service.

This is the age of the review - Ebay, Amazon and Trip advisor prove that.  They all give a picture to the reader which they use to make their decisions.  

In the same way, the public visit our site to read reviews and get the 'measure of the man' before they make their choice.   

Checked and Vetted  is so productive because when a member of the public visits our site they are actively looking for a tradesman (click here to hear what other tradesmen are saying).    THEY DO NOT VISIT OUR SITE TO LOOK AT ADVERTS THAT CONTAIN HALF TRUTHS.

Unfortunately there are householders who will use the threat of complaints and bad reviews as a means to try and get money off or discounts from a tradesman.  All the cards and web reviews are monitored by a small team and we attempt to verify all of them.

Although very rare, we are fully aware of this potential issue and we have a strict process for dealing with negative reviews and complaints against our members.  For more information on our complaints procedure: click here.  Our complaints system is designed to be fair and neutral.

If found to be valid, the complaint is published but we absolutely will not allow any bogus reviews (be they positive or negative) to be posted against a member.    

Substantiated negative reviews are all published within a reasonable period of time in accordance with CMA government guidelines.

Your business involves other people

When you have your own business invariably you will be interacting with members of the public and probably other businesses, If anybody suffers an injury or they experience damage to their property Public Liability Insurance is there to cover compensation claims against your business?

Depending on what happened but sometimes these compensation claims could cause you a real long term headache.  Lacking Public Liability Insurance  to cover the cost of the claim many small businesses would be crippled by the compensation payment they would have to make. It is also worth keeping in mind that you are more credible and more likely to be employed if you are properly insured.

Proof of cover could be needed

Sometimes you could be bidding for a  contract and your potential employer will demand that you have Public Liability Insurance before you commence work.  A certificate of your cover means you could start as soon as was convenient. This type of scenario doesn’t just apply to larger businesses working on big contracts it also applies to smaller companies and Trades.  It’s very often required if you are working on a local authority contract.

Cover loss of earnings

Depending on the type of business you run, unexpected events might cause you to suffer a loss of earnings quite quickly.  By having Public Liability Insurance cover in place you are often able to cover your business for potential losses and cover your lega fees.  This will of course give you peace of mind that an event out of your control doesn’t have a substantial impact on your livelihood.

No we do not charge any commissions.  We only provide the customer with information.  The customer can contact you directly from the details provided in your listing or request a free callback.