House.com Hater's Blog

It’s Official House.com is Gone!

housedotcomhater — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:22:44 +0000

I received correspondence from the North Carolina Department of Justice. Apparently, House.com hired the law firm of Hull & Chandler to help them dissolve their operations. In a letter to the NC DOJ, Mr. Marshall indicates that House.com has decided to shut down due to market conditions. I wonder if that would have been true if they had treated their clients with more respect and acted as if they wanted repeat business.

I also received a similar letter from the North Carolina Real Estate Commission indicating that House.com is no longer in business. So, it is official and it has been confirmed.

House.com is Gone!

housedotcomhater — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:58:42 +0000

I just tried to pull up house.com’s webpage and nothing happened. It really looks like they have completely pulled up stakes.

House.com R.I.P.?

housedotcomhater — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:13:49 +0000

Hello House.com Haters,

What a day, what a day. I periodically check House.com’s BBB profile. Today when I checked House.com’s profile, it stated that House.com is out of business. Can you believe it? I can.

Anyway, I then went over to House.com’s website, and much of it seems disabled. (They are announcing their 6 year anniversary also). When you click to join their Agent network, you get the terse announcement that they “are no longer accepting submissions.”

Well deserved. R.I.P.

I got my refund from House.com!

housedotcomhater — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:32:04 +0000

Hello Haters!

I am holding in my hand a check for $300 signed by Dan Parisi, the CEO of House.com! I can’t even believe it myself. I almost don’t want to cash it; I want to just frame it and put it on the wall! I told you all that I demanded a full refund from them through the Better Business Bureau, the only remaining monies I paid to them was $300 for my first month’s billing. My only claim at this point was that their contract with me was void from its inception, per the NC Real Estate Commission.

Anyway, I demanded a full refund and threatened to sue them, and at first I received back replies to my complaint that simply said “there will be no refund.” HAAAAAA! And then out of the blue I get a check in the mail that they sent through the BBB. They totally caved.

Also, they are apparently aware of my blog as someone named “Mary” from Charlotte North Carolina posted on it just today. She told me to get a life. But frankly, it took someone without a life to stop them in their tracks, and to me it was worthwhile — and I’m not ashamed of that. I left the comment on the blog for comic value.

Importantly, I believe that House.com will cave for the majority of you too – even those that have relatively old claims too. You should at least try to get your money back from them through the BBB. This was a quick and cheap way for me to get my money back. Again, I can’t give legal advice, so check with your own attorney.

Good luck, and I guess this is the end of the story, I don’t have anything to complain about this company anymore. It took 8 months to resolve from beginning to end but I believe now at least for me — it is over.

Sincerely,

The Number One House.com Hater

House.com’s “Unsatisfactory” Better Business Bureau Record

housedotcomhater — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:40:10 +0000

I’ve been tracking House.com’s Better Business Bureau rating. In the past 36 months, they have 12 complaints from their New Jersey and New York locations, and 86 from their North Carolina location (their headquarters), so by my calculations this totals 98 complaints. And, I am happy to report that they now have the honor of the ”unsatisfactory record” they deserve. According to the Better Business Bureau, this is due to a “pattern of complaints and [House.com] has failed to correct the underlying reason for the complaints.” Don’t we know it!

Victory Against House.com!!! Get a REFUND!

housedotcomhater — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:26:46 +0000

Hello House.com Haters!

What a truly glorious day it is today! It’s cloudy outside but my heart is aglow. Victory has come to all House.com Haters today! I received a much anticipated response from the North Carolina Real Estate Commission in the mail.

The gist of it is this: House.com, Inc. is required to have a real estate license when selling real estate leads in the State of North Carolina, and surprise, surprise — House.com is not licensed! North Carolina issued a license to House.com of the Carolinas on April 27, 2006 that expired on June 30, 2007. The Commission informed House.com that ”any contract for leads established by House.com, Inc. and/or House.com of New York from your office in Charlotte, North Carolina was void from its inception and any contract established by House.com Inc. of the Carolinas became void and unenforceable as of July 1, 2007.” My contract lists the Charlotte, North Carolina location as House.com’s address, and only makes reference to the two entities (House.com, Inc., and House.com of New York) both of which never held a license in North Carolina, which according to this letter renders that contract void from its inception! Check your own contract, but I think that most of their contracts are the same in that regard — which, if true, would mean that all lead generation revenue collected since they moved to North Carolina should be refunded! Uhhh — this is a big deal! You should discuss this with your own attorney as it affects your legal rights. It sounds like A LOT of people can sue for a refund!

The letter goes on to indicate that a violation of the licensing requirement is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and the Commission is empowered to sue them in court to obtain injunctive relief. So, they could be sued and receive a COURT ORDER to stop all lead generation business within the borders of North Carolina. The Commission requested that they STOP ALL LEAD GENERATION from any location within the borders of North Carolina (where they are headquartered!) and recommended that they REFUND any monies ever collected for lead generation services rendered from North Carolina since June 30, 2007! This explains why I received a letter from the NC Attorney General’s Office indicating that House.com no longer sells leads (which I believe it is arguable that they do — but we’ll leave that issue for another day). House.com has been advised to CEASE & DESIST and is trying to avoid prosecution!

WOW! Better than I ever expected. Beautiful and well deserved. So, what am I going to do now? Well, I am faxing this document to the North Carolina Department of Justice, the California Department of Justice, and the New York Department of Justice, because we now have unlicensed activity on our hands. I am also seeking a refund through the Better Business Bureau for the $300 charge that I paid to House.com on July 19, 2007 which was the only charge not refunded to me by House.com at this point. I have been successful in getting all my other money back ($600) and avoiding their cancellation charge ($450) without going to collections. Apparently, they have no grounds to charge me ANY MONEY and I am going to pursue getting my money back. I have also sent an email containing this letter to the National Association of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors, and an editor at Inman News. At this point, I think it is reasonable to expect the establishment to back us up and let agents/brokers know about this development.

If because of this posting you are able to obtain a refund, please send me an email at housedotcomhater@live.com and let me know, or better yet, post your success story on the blog. I have attached a scanned copy of North Carolina Real Estate Commission Cease & Desist Letter to House.com to this post. Feel free to download it and use it:

North Carolina Real Estate Commission Cease & Desist Letter to House.com

House.com Calling. . . Hmmmmm

housedotcomhater — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 06:16:07 +0000

This morning at around 10:13 am PST, I received a call on my business line from House.com and then immediately another call from them on my cell phone, Unfortunately, I was on the other line with a client (yes, I do try to work too!) and couldn’t pick up either call. They did not leave a message either time, and I tried to return the call but it emptied into a generic phone bank and I didn’t know the name of the person who called. Wonder what they wanted? It’s been so long since I heard the sweet sweet voice of Ms. Chanty Pea, “Billing/Administrative Assitant [sic]. ” Wonder if she’s calling to wish me a Happy MLK Day? Maybe they plan on sending me a letter next. Another agent mentioned that he got a cease and desist letter from House.com. I wonder if I’ll get one too — I’d love to read over the reasoning behind it.

NC DOJ Response to House.com Complaint. A Victory?

housedotcomhater — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:16:40 +0000

Ok Haters, I finally received a response from the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office regarding the December 10th complaint I sent over (and posted on this blog). The Office indicates that it is their impression that House.com does not offer the referral service for Realtors any longer, so they are not anticipating taking further action, although they are leaving the file open.

Initially I thought this a victory. However, something told me to check the House.com site, and sure enough they are still selling exclusive zip code territories to agents. So this appears to be a deliberate attempt by House.com to mislead the AG’s Office into not taking action against them. The Office did invite me to provide contrary evidence, so I faxed over a letter (and supporting evidence to the contrary). I’ll let you know when I hear back from them.

The House.com saga continues. . .

housedotcomhater — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:57:31 +0000

Well nothing surprises me with these people. I’m pretty sure they discovered my blog on January 4, 2008. I disputed my charges with House.com a long while ago (before November 12, 2007), but just today I received a call from my credit card company (CHASE) indicating that House.com is fighting me on it. So, I thought it was over — but the saga goes on. This has become its own time period in my life now. When my niece and nephew grow older, I’ll simply say “it was during the House.com era” and they’ll know exactly what I mean. Beginning that fateful day of July 19, 2007, when I foolishly and carelessly succumbed to a shady sales pitch.

Anyway, I’ll keep you posted on what happens. I may have to go back to the BBB with another complaint if House.com continues to fight with CHASE. I forwarded CHASE my House.com correspondence, so they have proof that I returned the junk leads. I wonder what they will try to come back and say given that I can show I returned their lousy leads. But more than anything, I really can’t wait for the whole thing to be OVER. I really do hate this company.

New York Attorney General Response to My House.com Complaint

housedotcomhater — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 01:59:56 +0000

I just received a response from the New York AG’s Office. They referred me to the Better Business Bureau, and offer no assistance for this type of complaint. Accordingly, I will remove links to their office from the Blog. So, we are waiting for responses from New York’s Licensing Board, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, and most importantly, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office. I will update the blog as I receive responses. Also, I did send an updated complaint to California AG’s Office, but I don’t expect to hear anything back from them.