Plaidophile

So, my apartment has contracts with a number of service providers for things like telephone service, satellite television, and so on. Lately I've been considering getting some sort of regular cleaning service, so I checked the apartment's service provider directory. For cleaning services, they linked to a company called Service Magic. So, I filled out their form (on the apartment's site) asking for a quote for regular (bi-weekly) cleaning.

Within minutes I got a phone call from Service Magic, which is based in LA. Rather than actually being a cleaning service themselves, they are a "contracting clearinghouse" which exists as a referral service between clients and actual contractors. Okay, fine. I explained what my (very simple) needs were, and the guy said he'd get back to me with a list of contractors.

By "getting back to me," he apparently meant two things:

1. Sending me separate emails with every single contractor which came up in his searches
2. Sending my contact information (email, home phone, and cellphone number) to every contractor on his list

Ever since then, I have been inundated with a flood of emails and phone calls on both my landline and cellphone from people who want to clean my home. Most of the phone calls are unintelligible. The few people I did talk to wanted way too much money for their services (they'd only go weekly and wanted to charge $90/week for my tiny apartment). I've also been getting offers from "maintenance specialists" (a need I specifically said I didn't have, since my apartment already has those).

I feel like Service Magic has violated my privacy. I wanted a quote on a cleaning service, and I would have expected a referral service to be the point of contact for them, not for them to just spam all the service providers with my contact information! I wasn't even certain that I wanted such a thing anyway.

The only reason I went with Service Magic was because Avalon's referral service referred me to them, with the expectation that they'd be cutting through the chaff in order to make it easy for me to make a decision. I could have just called up every goddamn maid in the city myself!