Bluntness

I've also been told I have little tact, so if this offends you simply ride on.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Fail for Red Beacon

There's a service out there called Red Beacon which lets people connect with a Handyman should they need one.  What they do is list the project they need to have completed and choose 3 legitimate Handymen who have been thoroughly security checked.  The customer gets an idea as to how much it's going to cost, which is nice, and is contacted, hopefully by all three with various bids, within a certain period of time.  The people I've talked to who have used it are impressed with how speedily they receive replies.  So, last evening I downloaded the app onto my tablet.  Everything was fine until I keyed in my address.  I was a little leery about that.  Shouldn't they only need a zip code?  Anyway, I gave them my address.  I watched as the little location balloon moved from the center of the Atlantic Ocean into Central Pennsylvania and voila, within about 7 seconds I was looking at the front of my house.  Do you have any idea how disconcerting that is?  I was not looking at list of services, but my lawn, my driveway, my front porch... that's my house.


Do the really need show my house?  Believe me, it's a bit creepy.  If I signed up for it using your address I could see what your house looked like... well, maybe not all of you.  Now I realize that if you use Google Maps you can zero in on just about any place on Earth, but those pictures were taken by a satellite.  Seeing the front of my house means that someone actually drove down my street with a camera taking pictures.  I'm not a tourist attraction, so that should not have been necessary.  There is a certain point where the information some feel they need becomes invasive.  I think this is one of those cases.  As far as I'm concerned, it's a fail for Red Beacon.  

2 comments:

  1. I want to know who's job it is to drive around neighborhoods and take pictures of everyone's homes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And do they get paid by the mile or by the house?

      Delete