Angie’s List Big Deals

We’ve already explained that you need to sign up for a paid account on Angie’s List in order to use it for viewing ratings and reviews for businesses in your area.  But there’s a cool feature of Angie’s List that you don’t have to pay money to use.  It’s called “Big Deals”, and it allows you to hire services in your local area right through Angie’s List.  And if you’re an Angie’s List member, you get additional discounts!

The catch is that you have to both purchase an Angie’s List Big Deal and schedule a service appointment with the business providing the deal by certain dates.  However, unlike many other deal-of-the-day websites (such as WagJag or Groupon), you don’t have to wait for a bunch of other people to buy the same Angie’s List Big Deal that you do before you can use it.  Each one is valid as soon as you get it!

To browse and purchase Angie’s List Big Deals:

1. Go to www.angieslist.com in your web browser.  Below the big Join Now button on the main screen, click Shop Local Offers.  (HINT: If you’re on another screen in Angie’s List, you can also click The Big Deal in the menu under the header.)

   

   NOTE: If you are not logged into your Angie’s List account — or you don’t have one — a box will pop up asking you to enter your mailing code.  Type it in and click Update.

2. You should now see a table of deals from local businesses in your area.

   

   If you want to see deals for other areas, click Change Location at the top of the screen, type a mailing code into the box that pops up, and then click Update.

   You can also click one of the business sub-categories listed under “Filter by Category” to only see deals from those types of businesses.  Or, you can click the drop-down menu labelled “Sort By” and select to sort deals by how frequently they’ve been purchased frequently by other people, how soon they’ll be expiring, how recently they started being offered, and how big of a discount off the retail price they offer.

   At the bottom of the screen, you can click one of the blue numbers — or Next or Previous — to cycle through the different pages of deals (if they won’t all fit on one page).  You can also click the drop-down menu labelled “Deals per Page” and select how many deals you wish to see at a time on the same webpage.

   Click View It inside the box of a deal that you’d like to know more about in order to see its details.

3. Once you’re on the details page for the deal that you’ve selected, you will see information on what services will be provided, any restrictions or limitations on the deal, and a quick summary of the providing business’s profile on Angie’s List.  Read these over carefully to make sure that the deal is really what you want.  If it is, click Buy It Now.

   

4. You will be asked to log into your account.  If you have one, click in the box labelled “Email Address” and type in the email address that you used to sign up for Angie’s List.  Then click in the box labelled “Password” and type in the password that you picked to protect your account.  Finally, click Sign In.

   

   If you don’t have an Angie’s List account (or don’t want to sign in), just click Check Out.  (You will have to sign up for a separate Angie’s List Big Deal account with your first and last name, mailing code, email address, and a password.)

5. The final step is to review and confirm your order, including entering your billing information.  We’ll split this step into two parts.

   First, under “Items to Buy”, you will see the service that you are purchasing.  If you want to purchase more than one instance of this service, click in the box labelled “Quantity” and type in the number that you want.  Then click Update.  Or, if you don’t want this service after all, click Remove below it.

   

   If you don’t have an account on the main Angie’s List website, you may be asked to purchase an annual basic membership.  If you don’t want to, click the check box under “Quantity” to unmark it.  (Note that if you don’t have a membership, you won’t get the discount on the service, and will have to pay full price for it.)  If you do, be sure to click the check box underneath it to say that you agree to the terms of being a member.

   Also, if you have a promotional code from Angie’s List (such as if you got a discount by signing up for a Plus-tier or Premium-tier account), click in the box labelled “Promo Code” and type it in.  Then click Apply.

6. The second part of finishing your Angie’s List Big Deal order is deciding how you’re going to pay for it.

   If you want to pay through online transaction service PayPal, click the PayPal Checkout button highlighted in the screenshot below, and then follow our How to Pay with PayPal tutorial (here), starting at step 3 (and skip the rest of this step).

   

   If you want to pay by credit card instead, click in each of the text boxes and drop-down menus highlighted in the screenshot above and type in or select:

   – Your name, as it appears on your credit card
   – Your street address and (if applicable) unit address
   – Your credit card number
   – The city in which you live
   – The state in which you live
   – The month and year that your credit card expires
   – The mailing code for your address

   Also, be sure to click the check box here to say that you agree to abide by the rules of Angie’s List, as well as the rules of this particular deal.

   When you’re all set, click Place Your Order.

Angie’s List will send you an email confirming your order, including a code that will allow the business offering the deal to process your discount (if applicable).  Within two days, the business should call or email you in order to set up an appointment for your service.  Once you have a date and time, all you need to do is show up (or wait for them to show up), give them your discount code (if you have one), and enjoy their service!

That’s the long and short of how Angie’s List Big Deals work!