Bad Lead Refund Policies Compared: Angi, Thumbtack, LSA

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Short answer

Angi, Thumbtack, Bark and Networx credit leads with bad data, such as a dead phone number, the wrong service or a duplicate, and Google credits leads its models judge low quality. None of these policies cover a real customer who hired someone else. Request windows run from 14 days (Bark, Networx) to 45 days (Angi, Thumbtack). Most approved money stays on the platform as credit. Yelp Ads bill per click and filter invalid clicks instead.

Key takeaways

Credits cover bad leads, on most platforms dead numbers, mismatched jobs and duplicates; a real customer who chose another pro is not covered.
Bark and Networx give you 14 days to ask, Angi and Thumbtack 45, and Google credits Local Services leads automatically.
Approved amounts usually come back as platform credit; Thumbtack publishes the only routine path back to your card.
Angi credits expire six months after they're issued, and newer Bark credits three months after purchase.
Yelp Ads charge per click; Yelp filters invalid clicks, makes good on them with replacement advertising, and doesn't refund ads already delivered.

What changed on October 31, 2026

Since the first version, the Angi and Yelp pages and Thumbtack's Terms of Use have been re-read, and we added Yelp's May 2026 advertising terms, which fill in several Yelp cells that were blank. Thumbtack's help pages returned only a title on October 31, so those cells keep their October 7 wording, unverified since. We re-read the Bark and Networx pages on October 31 and found them unchanged. For Google we re-checked what counts as a lead and how credits post; its list of leads it won't credit is from October 7 and is not re-verified.

All six platforms here have some fix for a charge that shouldn't have happened. What differs is who has to ask, how long you have, whether the money comes back as cash or credit, and when that credit disappears. The table puts each published policy side by side; the sections after it explain each platform and how to claim what you're owed.

The six policies side by side

Read across a row to compare platforms on one question. "Not published" means we found no statement on that point in the help pages or terms we read on October 7, 2026, or, for the Angi, Yelp, Bark and Networx columns and Thumbtack's terms, on October 31, 2026. It does not mean the answer is no. Ask the platform, and get any answer you rely on in writing.

Question	Angi	Thumbtack	Google LSA	Yelp Ads	Bark	Networx
What you're charged for	A lead, once you and the homeowner have both shown interest, whether or not you open or respond to it	A lead, auto-charged when a matching customer contacts you; an Opportunity only if the customer replies to you	Each valid lead: a message, voicemail, answered or returned call, booking request, or a missed call in business hours where the caller stays on more than 20 seconds	Each click on your ad, up to your monthly budget; performance programs bill per validated lead	Credits to contact a lead; the credit cost shows on the lead before you respond	Each lead, taken from a prepaid budget or billed weekly on post-pay; shared pay-per-lead leads reach as many as 4 contractors
How a bad charge gets fixed	You request a lead credit in the app or on the web	Some refunds are automatic; for the rest you ask, and Thumbtack decides case by case	Automatic: Google's models reassess charged leads and credit low-quality ones; you can also rate leads in a feedback survey	Yelp filters invalid clicks, doesn't bill rapid repeat clicks from the same user, and makes good on invalid clicks with replacement ads	You request a credit return through an online form (Elite Pro members use My Responses)	You click Report Lead, pick a reason and describe the problem
Reasons that can qualify	Bad phone number, project outside your ZIP codes, service mismatch, duplicate within 45 days, charged while paused	Customer answers no pro within 72 hours (automatic); job changed a lot; invalid phone; Terms of Use violation; a fixed date you had blocked; duplicate within 45 days or double charge; "no thanks" first reply on an Opportunity	Leads Google's models judge invalid or low quality	Invalid clicks, filtered by Yelp	Invalid phone or email, a request made in error or without consent, misleading details, bots, competitor tests, people seeking employment, abusive customers, duplicate charge, a one-off accidental purchase	Disconnected phone or fake contact details, a service or area outside what you signed up for, duplicate, someone without permission to hire, job seekers
Not covered	Homeowner doesn't answer, hired another pro, dropped the project or is collecting quotes; you quoted and lost	Customer hired a different pro; leads with flexible dates; requests after 45 days; settings not set up for the jobs you want	After-hours leads, DIY advice, canceled bookings, price research, no reply to your callback, services you're temporarily not offering, wrong job type or area	Ads already delivered; their fees are non-refundable	Hired someone else, no response, scope changed after you talked, leads your preferences should have filtered	Already hired, changed their mind, just shopping, you didn't win, a lead within 1 hour of pausing
Deadline to ask	Lead must be under 45 days old; a call attempt in the first 24 hours is expected	45 days from the charge	Credits are automatic; no request deadline published	None published for clicks; 15 days from delivery to dispute a performance-program lead	14 days from the lead purchase	14 days from the day the lead arrived
How fast you hear back	Reviewed within 5 business days	Usually 24 to 48 hours, up to four days	Most credits post inside 30 days, with no request	Not published	Aims to respond within 48 hours	Most requests resolved in under a day
Where approved money goes	A credit applied to future lead charges	Your Thumbtack balance by default; leads paid with a prepaid package come back as package credits	Your account balance; the invoice keeps showing the original charge	Replacement advertising equal to the invalid clicks or impressions	Credits back to your Bark balance	Not published
Money back instead of credit	Not published	Yes, to the original card: ask within 10 business days of approval, with a balance above zero; courtesy credits, packages and promotions excluded	Not published	No: fees for delivered ads are non-refundable under the advertising terms	Limited cases at Bark's discretion, such as a credit pack with no credits spent	Not published
Do credits expire?	Yes, six months after they're issued	Prepaid package credits don't, while the account is active and in good standing; promotional credits follow each promotion's terms; both are lost if Thumbtack suspends or terminates the account	Not published	Not published	Credits bought on or after Nov. 1, 2025 expire 3 months after purchase; expired credits aren't refunded	Not published
Other rules	No credits on annual subscriptions; no overdue balance allowed	If you close your account, all sales and fees are final; Thumbtack may end an account with or without cause and owes no fee refund	No credits for health care, tax specialists or EMEA advertisers; automatic credits only in the US and Canada	Cost-per-click ads stop the moment you cancel; a month's budget may already be spent	Get Hired Guarantee: once you've used the credits from your first Starter Pack or first in-app purchase without being hired, you can claim them back	All lead reviews and resolutions are final

What do all six policies have in common?

A lost job is never a bad lead. Each of the five per-lead platforms names ordinary customer behavior it won't credit, such as a customer who hired someone else, stopped answering or was only comparing prices. Where you file a request, credits correct bad data: a dead number, the wrong service, the wrong town, a duplicate. Google credits what its models judge low quality. None of the published reasons cover a slow reply or a quote you lost. The one exception is Thumbtack's automatic refund for a customer who goes silent with every pro for 72 hours.
The money usually stays on the platform. Angi, Google and Bark return approved amounts as credit or balance for future leads, Thumbtack does the same by default, and Yelp makes good on invalid clicks with more advertising. Thumbtack is the only one that publishes a routine way to move a refund back to your card, and Bark's cash refunds are narrow and discretionary.
The clock is short. Bark and Networx give you 14 days. Angi and Thumbtack give you 45. A once-a-month review can miss the 14-day windows entirely.

Angi: five credit reasons and a six-month clock

Angi spells out its rules in a help article on how to request a lead credit (last updated August 14, 2026). After investigating, it may credit a lead for five reasons: invalid contact information, a project outside the ZIP codes in your profile, a project that doesn't match your listed services, a repeat charge for one homeowner inside 45 days, and a charge while your leads were paused. Angi adds that it may also credit leads in exceptional circumstances not on that list.

Four conditions apply. The lead has to be under 45 days old. You're expected to have attempted a call to the homeowner in the first 24 hours. Your account can't carry an overdue balance. And you can't be on an annual subscription: subscribers can report a lead, but Angi doesn't offer credits for those leads. Approved credits apply automatically to future lead charges, and unused credits lapse six months from the day they're issued. Reviews take up to 5 business days.

The exclusions matter more than the reasons. A homeowner who doesn't answer, hires another pro, drops the project or is in the shopping phase is, in Angi's words, "accounted for in our lead pricing." Its leads and Opportunities FAQ says each homeowner request is matched with no more than five pros, that you're charged for leads whether or not you open or respond to them, and that the faster you respond, the better your chance of winning the job. A slow reply can cost you the job, and the lead fee stays charged. For ways to answer first without a full-time dispatcher, see speed to lead for contractors.

Thumbtack: some refunds arrive without asking

Thumbtack's Quality Commitment includes Fair Shot Refunds, which return the lead fee automatically if, after 72 hours, the customer still hasn't answered a single pro they contacted. The refund policy for pros also refunds automatically when Thumbtack's Trust and Safety staff flag a lead, or when you turn down a Smart Match lead and tell Thumbtack it wasn't a fit.

Everything else is case by case and at Thumbtack's sole discretion, and it has to be requested within 45 days of the charge. Answers usually come within 24 to 48 hours. Its FAQ answer is a flat no when the customer went with another pro. Because Thumbtack's help center didn't load for us on October 31, 2026, we checked the 72-hour rule another way: Thumbtack staff confirmed it on Thumbtack's own community forum on October 29, 2026, after an October 15 reply that tied it to conditions being met. The blocked-calendar refund covers only fixed-date jobs; on flexible dates, Thumbtack says to offer the customer other dates first.

Thumbtack also publishes a route back to your card. Approved refunds land in your Thumbtack balance first. If you want it on the card you paid with, tell Thumbtack inside a 10-business-day window after approval, while your balance is still above zero. Courtesy credits, promotional balances and prepaid packages are excluded from card refunds. Thumbtack's budget, fees and payments terms, last updated May 19, 2026, say prepaid package credits don't expire while your account is active and in good standing, and that a refund on a lead you bought with package credits comes back as more package credits. Its Terms of Use (the July 10, 2026 version, re-read October 31) say promotional credits expire under each promotion's own terms. The same terms add two account rules: once Thumbtack suspends or terminates an account, its prepaid packages and promo credits can no longer be used, and Thumbtack may end an account with or without cause without refunding fees. Keep any prepaid balance small. For how charging works day to day, see how Thumbtack leads work.

Google Local Services Ads: automatic credits and no request form

Google screens Local Services leads twice. Its help page on how leads work says Google doesn't charge for leads it judges invalid or low quality on arrival, and that its models keep re-checking charged leads and may credit them automatically. The automated lead credits article says credits usually post to your account balance inside 30 days. The original charge stays on your invoice.

The current credits article describes no dispute form, only the Lead Feedback Survey on each lead, and its report labels mention bonus credits for leaving feedback. The how-leads-work page adds that Google may occasionally credit leads you report as poor quality there. A separate Google dispute eligibility page still says you can dispute a lead, but the "How to dispute charges" link on Google's page about paying for Local Services Ads now opens the automated credits article, which describes no request window.

Google also lists what it won't credit, including leads outside your business hours, requests for do-it-yourself advice, price research and customers who didn't answer your callback. Mismatched job types and service areas stopped qualifying for credits, so your own settings have to do that filtering. Health care and tax-specialist advertisers, and anyone in EMEA, get no credits at all.

One change to watch. In August 2026 Google began shifting select US home and storefront service advertisers out of the Local Services dashboard and into a Performance Max campaign type inside Google Ads that still bills per lead. Its migration page keeps the rule that you're charged only for valid leads, and the new Leads page still carries a lead feedback form. It doesn't mention crediting.

Yelp Ads: billed by the click, so there is no lead to return

Yelp's article on its cost-per-click program says you're charged each time your ad is clicked, at a price that moves with supply and demand, and never more than the monthly budget you set. A click that never becomes a phone call isn't a bad lead under that model. It's a click you bought.

Yelp's protection targets bad clicks instead. In its answer on competitors clicking your ads, Yelp says it monitors clicks and impressions for fraudulent activity, updates filters to exclude known offenders, doesn't charge for a burst of repeat clicks from one user, and investigates reports from users and advertisers. We found no published lead credit or refund process for ordinary Yelp Ads in its business support center.

Yelp's advertising terms (the Master Advertising Terms dated May 11, 2026) explain why. Fees for ads already delivered are non-refundable, and when Yelp finds invalid clicks or impressions, it makes good with replacement advertising equal to the invalid activity, not cash. Lead disputes appear only in performance-based programs, where Yelp bills monthly in arrears for validated leads or appointments, decides which leads are valid using its own tracking, and gives you 15 days from delivery to dispute one.

Yelp's cancellation article says cost-per-click programs end immediately when you cancel. Its article on partial months says the budget's fulfillment isn't prorated, so if you cancel mid-month, Yelp may already have delivered the whole month's budget in clicks.

Bark: 14 days to ask, three months to spend

On Bark you buy credits and spend them to reach a lead. Its credit return policy gives you 14 days from the lead purchase to ask for a return. Requests are online only, every return is at Bark's discretion, and Bark aims to answer within 48 hours. Per its article on requesting a return, approved credits go straight back to your balance.

Bark's list of eligible reasons runs from unreachable phone numbers and bouncing emails to misleading details, bots, job seekers and one-off accidental purchases. One line needs care. A request with misleading details, such as the wrong category or location, is on the eligible list, but Bark's article on why returns get declined says leads outside your service area or expertise should be filtered by your own lead preferences before you buy. Set those preferences first.

Bark's credit expiration article gives anything purchased from November 1, 2025 onward a three-month life (older purchases got 12 months), and expired credits can't be refunded or returned. Its refunds vs. credit returns article keeps cash refunds to a few cases, all at Bark's discretion: a credit pack is eligible only while every credit in it is unspent, and the rules follow local consumer law. New accounts get one extra safety net. Under the Get Hired Guarantee, if you use up the credits from your first Starter Pack or first app purchase without being marked as hired, Bark returns the credits you used once three calendar days have passed since your last lead purchase. You claim it by contacting support, once per eligible purchase.

Count expiring credits as spent

A balance of platform credits is money you have already paid that can only buy more leads from the same platform. On Angi it lasts six months, on Bark three. Put the expiry dates on your calendar or write the balance off.

Networx: report within 14 days

Networx sells leads from a prepaid or weekly post-pay budget, according to its billing article, and its pay-per-lead page caps each shared lead at four contractors. The lead credit policy covers a disconnected number or fake contact details, a job or location outside what you signed up for, a duplicate Networx lead, someone without permission to hire, and a person looking for a job. You report it from the lead with a reason and a short note. Networx emails you if the request is approved, and its article on credit decisions says most requests are resolved in under a day.

The usual exclusions apply: the consumer already hired, changed their mind or was shopping, or you lost the job. Two are specific to Networx. A request made more than 14 days after the lead arrived isn't eligible, and neither is a lead received within an hour of pausing your account. All reviews and resolutions are final. These pages don't say whether an approved credit goes back to your prepaid budget or your card, or whether it expires. Ask before you fund a budget.

How do you claim every credit you're owed?

Credits only help if someone files them before the window closes. One weekly routine covers every platform.

Call every lead the same day. Angi expects a call attempt within 24 hours, and an early call is how you find a dead number while it can still be reported.
Log the source, cost and outcome of every lead. Note which platform sent it, what it cost, and why it went nowhere: bad number, wrong town, wrong service, no answer or lost on price. Tracking lead sources explains a simple way to set this up.
Keep the evidence. Screenshot the disconnected-number message or the text thread. Thumbtack and Bark both ask for supporting detail.
File once a week. With 14-day windows at Bark and Networx, a monthly review is too late.
Check balances every month. Spend Angi credits inside six months and Bark credits inside three. If you want a Thumbtack refund on your card, ask within the 10 business days.
Fix the settings that caused the charge. Google no longer credits wrong job types or areas, and Bark declines leads your preferences should have filtered. Tighten service lists and ZIP codes before you raise any budget.

A CRM built around your own lead flow can hold the source, cost, call attempts and credit status for every lead, so the weekly filing starts from one list.

What do refund rules mean for your real cost per job?

Read the table as a list of what you will pay for. Every platform has some fix for bad data or bad clicks. None of the published policies pay you back for a customer who was real, reachable and picked someone else, apart from Thumbtack's 72-hour case where the customer answers nobody. Angi and Networx both say those ordinary losses are already accounted for in their lead pricing.

So judge each platform by what it costs per booked job after credits, and count unspent or expiring credits as money already gone. Measuring cost per job walks through the math, and the lead cost calculator runs it with your own numbers. On shared leads, also read shared versus exclusive leads.

Then compare that number with leads nobody else can buy: calls from your own website, your Business Profile, referrals and past customers. A refund policy is a platform's promise about its own product. A customer list you own doesn't need one. If you want to see where your leads come from today and what each source really costs, our free system quote starts there.

How we built this table

We read each platform's own help center articles, plus the published terms they link to where those cover refunds or credits, on October 7, 2026. On October 31, 2026 we re-read the Angi, Yelp, Bark and Networx pages and Thumbtack's Terms of Use, and added Yelp's advertising terms. Every cell in the table comes from those pages, listed under Sources below. We used no agency blogs or review sites, and we did not contact the platforms. The one forum we cite is Thumbtack's own community, for a moderator's statement, because its help center did not load on October 31.

"Not published" means we found no statement on that point in the pages we read. The platform may handle it in your account, a sales agreement or a support call.
Page dates. Angi's credit article shows an August 14, 2026 update, Thumbtack's budget and fees terms May 19, 2026, its Terms of Use July 10, 2026, and Yelp's Master Advertising Terms May 11, 2026. The Networx help articles we read show update dates in 2022 and 2023. Thumbtack's refund policy and Google's help articles show no date.
Your contract can differ. Angi's annual subscriptions follow different credit rules, Bark says its refund rules follow local consumer law, and any platform can change its policy at any time. Your own agreement and the platform's current page win over this summary.
Scope. We looked at US accounts for home-service pros. Google's credit rules exclude some categories and regions.

This page summarizes published policies. It isn't legal or financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get cash back from Angi for a bad lead?

Angi's published policy issues credits that apply to future lead charges, and those credits expire six months after they're issued. We found no published route for refunding lead charges to your card.

Which platform gives the longest window to report a bad lead?

Angi and Thumbtack both allow 45 days: Angi counts from the lead's age and Thumbtack from the charge. Bark and Networx allow 14 days, and Google credits Local Services leads automatically with no request window.

Will any platform refund a lead if the customer hires another pro?

None of the six published policies cover it. The closest is Thumbtack's automatic Fair Shot refund, which applies only when the customer stays silent with every pro for 72 hours.

Can I still dispute a Google Local Services lead?

Google's current credits article describes automatic crediting plus a Lead Feedback Survey, and the dispute-charges link on its billing page now opens that article. Google says it may occasionally credit leads you report as poor quality through the survey.

Does Yelp refund ad clicks that never became customers?

No. Yelp filters invalid clicks and doesn't bill rapid repeat clicks from one user, and its advertising terms make good on invalid clicks with replacement advertising. Fees for ads already delivered are non-refundable.

Sources

General information for service-business owners, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules vary by state; check with a qualified professional for your situation.

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Lead platform refund policies compared: credits, deadlines and expiry