I am a straight-talking person and I hope that is evident throughout this site. I also hope you can see that I have been open and honest about the what’s and the why’s but I may not have thought of everything. To that end if you still have a question after browsing the site and reading through the following FAQs below then please use the Contact page to ask it.
What if I do not have Public Liability Insurance?
Unfortunately we cannot accept any trader that is not insured to carry out work at a persons home. All reputable traders will have and should have this in place.
Why do I need to provide a proof of my address?
Quite simply it is a legal requirement in case of any legal dispute that may arise between you and your customer.
Can I add to a current subscription?
Unfortunately not and the reason is this. To add to a subscription would incur an admin charge which would be more than if you created a new subscription at the entry point of £10.00+vat or £12.00.
Can I reduce my current subscription?
You can but there would be a one-off admin cost to do so. This would be £17.00+vat which is chargeable if you remove 1 Postcode DISTRICT or 10 Postcode DISTRICTS. Any reduction is your subscription should still leave you above the minimum requirement of five Postcode Districts.
Can I leave Your Home Trades when I want to?
Yes you can. Simply use the Contact form to do this and we will cancel your subscription and your advertisement and it will end naturally. We cannot refund any partial subscriptions.
Can I cancel my subscription at the end of the 60 days free trail?
Yes you can. You will need to let us know that you are doing this via the Contact page and we will do this within two working days normally. If you do want to rejoin at any time – assuming there is still space for you – then you will be charged at the full rate before your advertisement goes live.
What do I need to do if I want to continue with my subscription after the 60-day free trial?
In a word – nothing. Your subscription will continue to run and you will be sent a monthly reminder 7 days prior to payment being taken.
My trade is not listed; can it be added?
Yes it can as long as it is a genuine additional trade and what I mean by that is that it is not just a part of another trade. Take ‘Painters & Decorators’ for example – this cannot become just ‘Painters’ as a stand-alone trade. There is always a balance to be had between splitting an industry down into accepted component parts and splitting it down for the sake of it just to create more Trades and therefor more revenue. I’ll let the big names continue to do that. I am driven to provide a fair and exclusive platform for small businesses – not revenue.
Are the 14 Guarantees really guarantees?
100% yes. As I am the sole owner of Your Home Trades I can make these guarantees and I know I will keep them. The whole point of the site is to favour the Traders that advertise with me and for Your Home Trades NOT to become another of the profit hungry big names.
Why if there is a complaint against me?
All complaints will be investigated where possible and Traders will be asked for their version of events. Any compliant upheld against a Trader will be known as a ‘Strike’. All strikes are time bound and can range from 3 months to indefinitely. We have a ‘Three strikes and you are out’ accumulation policy whereby the Trader will be removed from the directory. However, we also reserve the right to remove any Trader at any time should a complaint be upheld and is severe enough. If a complaint is upheld against a Trader then Your Home Trades involvement ends with that decision. Your Home Trades will NOT get involved in any Legal Disputes, Arbitration or Remedies between a Trader and their Customer.
Now I know that a rival or someone that has not even used your services could put forward a complaint so we are wise to that and our investigation process will know what to look for.
Why don’t you operate a rating system for Traders?
Take a look at any online trade directory and almost all traders are 4.5 stars and above and so the rating stops becoming an advantage to the trader, it becomes a selling point for the trade directory owners. Whilst there are rogue traders out there they are unlikely to have Public Liability Insurance and provide a Proof of Address and then go out and be rogue whilst paying someone to advertise for them.
We give every Trader the chance to advertise with us and then it is their position to lose and with only 5 like-for-like trades in any area if you lose your place you are unlikely to get it back. Besides all that, any Trader who is looking for repeat business or recommendations is unlikely to do a poor job in the first place.
It is also very costly to maintain a rating system and, just like damaging false ratings, ‘excellent’ false ratings can be made up to. It’s simple really – you take care of your customers and we will take of you.
How do you advertise?
First of all you found us, either via an advert or word of mouth, so your customers will too. We are using search engines and the social media platforms to begin with and this type of advertising is probably why you are here now, that or by word of mouth. If you are seeing or hearing about us then your customers will too. Other media, such as targeted leafleting or local and national radio and TV advertising are very expensive but if I can step towards them then we will use them.
Are you really a Locksmith?
Yes I am and I don’t tell lies. I have been officially trained too. I enjoy locksmithing and only stopped as I moved area and too far away from where I was previously based. I knew I would have to advertise again to rebuild my presence where I am now – BB5 – and I just didn’t want to join the well-known trade directories so I created Your Home Trades.
Why are you so cheap?
Quite simply I Keep It Simple. I do not have fancy offices, a board of directors, senior managers, managers, supervisors and then teams of people handling the admin – all of which you pay for – or annual revenue and profit targets that increase every year and MUST be met. The Trader ends up paying for everything.
As you can see the site is simple but it does what it is supposed to do – introduce you to your potential customers. That’s all any of the trade directories do at the end of the day regardless of how fancy they are.
I have kept all processes simple. The onboarding of Traders is simple, the authorisation of the advertisements is simple and the ongoing administration of the site is simple. Complexity increases cost – Simplicity reduces cost. All savings are passed on to you to help you grow. If you grow I’ll grow and we will all win.
Are there really no national companies or marketing companies or franchises?
We have devised a number of ways to keep them all out but I cannot say what we do. If I did they could try to find a way around the processes in place. To that end then yes, we do keep them all out but if one does slip through the processes, and if we can prove it, then they will pay a hefty monthly invoice and I mean hefty. They won’t stay long.
I am a small business but we travel all over the country for our work – am I classed as a national company?
No. As long as you are independently owned and you don’t have premises everywhere. If you travel all over you would probably only have one or two premises at most.
Can I advertise in different areas of the country?
Yes you can. If you are Manchester based but also want to subscribe to Liverpool and Leeds you can and all on one subscription.
Can I advertise different Trades?
Yes you can and in two ways. Firstly by using the ‘Services’ list on one subscription you can advertise separate services / trades. As a building locksmith and an auto locksmith I could advertise both on the same subscription. Secondly by setting up a new subscription for an additional trade. It is entirely up to you how you do this and part of my plan is to offer you complete flexibility.
Why don’t you advertise on your own site?
I may well do in the future but my focus is this website at the moment. I’ll be keeping an eye on how many locksmiths are signing up in my area so that I do not miss out being one of the five allowed!
If there are no spaces available for my trade in the areas that I want, do you have a waiting list?
At the moment no but I wouldn’t rule it out in the future, it will be a nice problem to have! Things like that require a lot of administration and therefor cost which has to be covered and invariably that means subscription prices and I don’t want to do that. Let’s get up and running and see if a waiting list is needed.
How can I find out which Postcode Districts are near me?
Good question and I know I had to get help to see which Postcode Districts I would need to select to cover the area that I wanted to work in. Whilst doing that I found a site called GB Maps. Pop over to the Trade Support page to find out more.