Before You Hire Them: Hiring Contractors Online

If you’re like many people, you may decide to hire a contractor to do needed work on your home through the Internet. Whether you decide to hire an electrician, a plumber, or a painter, the Internet can be a great way to find an affordable, well-regarded contractor to complete the work you need. But you can’t trust everyone you might be considering hiring. Not everyone is who they say online. Before you hire a contractor online, you may want to consider these tips to using things like a worry free reverse cell phone number lookup to make sure you’re dealing with the right people.

When You’re Searching for People
Depending on where you decide to search for a potential contractor, you’ll want to be careful and very selective about who you decide to hire.

Many people use websites like Craigslist to search for an interested contractor, often for someone they can hire under the table. If you decide to go this route, proceed with caution. Not everyone is who they say they are. Be careful before you decide to hire the first person who gets in touch with you and exposing your kids to strangers. Many criminals and con artists may pose as contractors in order to gain uninhibited access to your home or pocketbook.

First, always conduct background searches. One very easy and often free method you may want to consider is a reverse phone number cell lookup search. With a cell phone reverse number lookup search, you’ll input the phone number of your potential contractor and the reverse cell number phone lookup search will pull up any information that it can find about the owner of the number. If the name or location provided by the search doesn’t match up with any information that your potential contractor has given you, be very cautious. Chances are very likely that you’re dealing with a scammer. You may not have to do this with a reputable company, which is why we discourage hiring people you don’t really know off of websites like Craigslist. But if you feel that the work you need done warrants hiring a worker from a site like this, proceed with caution.

Be sure to ask people in your community about people they would recommend. Consult websites like Angie’s List or Yelp to find a contractor well suited to your needs. Often times you can consult reviews left by past customers to give an idea of what to expect from the contractor and if they are someone you should hire.

You may want to consider interviewing your potential contractor in person and over the phone at least once or twice before you actually hire them. This will give you an idea of whether or not the contractor is someone you want to hire. Be sure to have a solid work contract- this will have all the terms of the work you’re hiring someone to do on paper. If the contractor doesn’t complete the work, you have legal evidence of that they were hired to do. Consult your lawyer or a local legal group in order to help you draft a potential contract or search online for a free template. If a contractor doesn’t complete work to your satisfaction or ends up scamming you out of money, you can take them to court.

If a supposed contractor isn’t who they say they are or they behave in suspicious ways, consider filing a report with the Federal Trade Commission or go to the police in order to file a report with them. That way, you can ensure that a con artist can’t mislead or scam other clients in the future, doing your part to ensure a more ethical community.

Staying Smart as a Small Business Owner

Whether your business is based out of a storefront or online, small business owners both have a lot to be grateful for and a lot of things to be worried about thanks to the advent of the Internet. While it’s never been easier for a small business to find customers from all over the world, it’s also never been easier for scammers to take advantage of you. Luckily, you’re not helpless.

There are many internet resources out there you can use in order to successfully avoid some of the most common scams out there. Staying smart is not impossible when you’re a small business owner.

Common Red Flags to Watch Out For

Small business owners unfortunately are uniquely positioned to become prime targets of online scammers. Every business owner will have to deal with an array of common scams, such as offers to “list your business on Google” or receive special access to supposed favorable loans over the phone.

In general, there’s a few easy ways to tell whether or not someone calling you about a business opportunity is a scam. For example, consider whether or not the person calling you over the phone is asking you for personal information. If they are, that’s a bad sign. Never, ever give personal information over the phone even if someone is offering you what sounds like a fantastic business opportunity.

Google, for example, will never contact you over the phone and they certainly won’t ask you to pay money to improve your chances of appearing as one of the first results when someone looks for a specific term.

Be wary of anyone who mails you a check from a bank you’ve never heard of. Don’t immediately deposit any check you’re sent, no matter what the reason. Always take it to the bank and ask for them to verify whether or not it is legitimate.

If an opportunity sounds too good to be true it probably is. While you may encounter customers who are kind and who make big orders on your products, you can tell them apart from scammers because they don’t ask you to wire money and their requests are likely not unusual.

Be wary of anyone offering loans over the phone, especially if they represent a financial institution you have never heard of. Always apply for loans in person at a legitimate bank or other financial institution.

Identifying Scams

Don’t rely on just a phone number to decide whether a caller is someone you can trust. Take some additional measures to make sure that whoever you’re talking to is legitimate. For instance, always search for phone numbers you’re not familiar with on reverse cell number phone lookup services. With many sites offering free reverse cell phone lookup number services, there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be doing this already. Reverse phone cell number lookup services use publicly available information in order to see what demographic information they can find about the owner of the phone, such as their name, general location, and any reports people may have made about the number.

Never provide credit card information or other personal information over the phone, especially if you are not so sure what kind of company you’re dealing with. If you are purchasing a business related service, always consider these kinds of services in a face to face setting or do your research about the company that the person claims they represent. Search for the company over the Internet.

If you believe you have encountered a scammer, don’t hesitate. File a report with your local police department and with the FTC so that these con artists can be put to.