ComplaintsforCoStar Group Inc

• Initial Complaint

  06/15/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Our brokerage has an account with *************** and CoStar. We have had disappointing results with the communication aspect of their billing department. We are to communicate with our account representative, who is now *******. He has not responded to our latest inquiries. We have several questions regarding billing on products and memberships, including price increases and random months being billed for closed and paid for subscriptions. We get two monthly bills from *******, both active since 2019. When we asked about the differences between the memberships, we were told that one is a membership, the other a subscription. We were confused but continued to pay both bills as our thinking was one was for access, the other for listings, as that is how it was explained to us when we called. Recently we were discussing this with other patrons of ******* only to learn they are not charged two fees. I called and asked again why we are being charged twice, only to be told the same thing. I asked to speak to a person who could explain the differences to me. This is when I learned one of the monthly charges was access to a widget for a webpage. We had intended to set this up on our website, but it did not work out well and we scrapped the idea in 2020 . We do not use this service and haven't since 2020. We had been paying this fee for three years thinking it was mandatory to keep our access to basic *******. I cancelled the plan via email and received a confirmation of cancelation March of 2024... I feel this cancellation window should be waived because of lack of transparency and competency on the billing side in explaining charges and answering questions. I would like our account rep to answer our questions about recent price increases and remove the random Co-Star charges on our paid in full and closed account.

• Initial Complaint

  05/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  So it appears I've been scammed. The website makes it seem like I was paying for 3 months worth of active listings. I published my listing for one month, then logged on to disable to listing because I wanted to renovate the office which was listed for rent. I called in spoke to someone at ******* and they said I could pause my subscription while I improved the offices so I could relist when the offices were in better condition. So I disabled my listing while I was busy renovating the office and thought I could renew the listing for the rest of my term once the renovation was complete. The person I spoke to on the phone said I could pause the listing until I was ready but I just called in today and now they're saying I can't renew my listings or use the payments I made towards actually publishing my listing for the 3 months I paid for. As a small business struggling to make ends meet, paying over $600 for absolutely nothing is devastating. I got zero successful leads, only 2 messages that were never followed up on. I paid nearly $700 for 3 months worth of listing and I only used one month. I asked to utilize the extra 2 months that I paid for and they refuse to publish my listing like they said they would on the phone. I wish I had recorded that conversation because now they're denying it. It's a scam and numerous other customers have filed similar complaints online it seems. This is deeply exploitative and cruel.

  Business response

  06/23/2023

  The customer signed up for an ecomm ********************** subscription to showcase on listing at Silver level advertising for the period of 3/18/23 to 6/17/23.

  This was based on selecting a quarterly subscription for $194.00 per month.

  ******* received a notice on 5/30/23 to cancel this subscription.

  As a result,  ******* has canceled the subscription effective 6/17/23 and no further payment is due from customer. 

  Customer response

  06/26/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  I was told over the phone I could puase the listing. I paid for 3 months worth of ACTIVE LISTINGS. I had to rennovated my office space and wasn't ready to publish it. So they told me on the phone that I could pause until the office was ready, so I delisted the space. After rennovations, I call back to relist the property and they say I have to pay more money. 

  I would like 2 months without additional charge for my ACTIVE LISTING, or I will be disputing these transactions as fraud and predatory advertising with my bank. 

  Regards,
  
  ***********************************

  Business response

  06/29/2023

  While we understand the client's position, we processed this cancelation request appropriately based on the client's request date and the commitment end date. 

  Customer response

  07/02/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  Your agent, over the phone, that me I could pause the subscription and use the rest of my 3 month subscription to republish the same listing. Either your agent was lying to me or your company is engaged in outright fraud and criminal false advertising. An honorable business would allow their clients to pause the listing and resume it without being charged hundreds of dollars FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is why Americans hat fascist corporation like CoStar. It'a run by predators who exploit small businesses and charge them for nothing and lie to them just to steal more money from them. You al should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************************

• Initial Complaint

  05/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I have been subscribing to boost my Costar listings on ******* for about a year now and Costar continues to switch the ******* subscription to listings that I do NOT need nor want boosted. Whereas the listings which I am paying to have boosted are no longer getting the exposure I am paying for. This has not only costed me money, it has caused my customers to become upset that I am not properly marketing their property. Not providing a service that I am paying for is stealing, I am being stolen from and incurring damages from customers not being please with my services. Additionally CoStar constantly harasses me and others from my company about my account when they have been instructed not to access my account or contact anyone without my permission. Furthermore, I have had listings changed to other brokerages where I have exclusive listing agreements in place with the sellers completely against my consent. Additionally, I am unable to list properties in a timely fashion due to Costar not allowing me to honor my written listing agreements with customers due to their 'policy'. I cannot comply with contracts and State Law due to Costars overreach.Costar is a monopoly and exploits me with no regard for what's best for my business. They discriminate against me due to the smaller size of my Brokerage as they favor larger brokerages that have bigger accounts with them. I want a FULL refund for ALL ******* business as well as someone from the **Level to contact me directly. Additionally I want new language in my contract with them that (a) does not allow Costar to access and/or manage any portion of my account for any reason without my express written consent; (b) does not allow Costar to contact ANYONE besides me for any reason whatsoever about the accounts my Company pays for; and (c) does not allow Costar to constantly harass me about stealing my or my clients private information or data.

• Initial Complaint

  03/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I posted a business for sale listing on ********** with the 6 month showcase listing priced at $539.70 on 02/11/2023 as per their website description, the listing will appear on LoopNet and other network sites. Later I found that listing was not approved by their review as the business was established for less than 1 year, I can only list it as a start up opportunity, which will only appear on ********** and ******** sites. I believe I have paid for service that I did not receive. Complaints: 1. After I realized the listing was not published I called their customer service number on 03/06/2023 and was advised that I need to list the business as start up opportunity in order to be approved. The customer service representitive did not advise or mention anything about the listing type could change the listing exposure and that my listing will only appear on 2 sites instead of all network sites. 2. After the listing was published, I received an email stating that my listings are published on "********** *******, including **********, ********, ******* and our entire Partner Network - the largest and most valuable business-for-sale network." which is not the case. (Screenshot attached)3. There's no language or breakdown showing the different types of listing and where they will appear. Thank you very much for you time! Look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely,*********************

• Initial Complaint

  03/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  i tried to publish my existing ad from the past for a studio for rent and i edited my ad and still got turned down...ridiculous!i need to have somebody call me on the phone to go over my ad in order to get it published.it should go for $1,400/month instead of $1,200/month.the address is: **********************, los angeles, ca ************ please call me at: voice/messages/text: ************** or email me back at: ******************************** you.sincerely yours,****** ******************* private homeowner /hps Something went wrong...An error occurred and the data could not be saved. Please try again.

  Business response

  04/20/2023

  Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the consumers complaint. We appreciate the opportunity to better explain our company's practices. We recognize that ************** is upset that he could not post his listing.
  CoStar operates the website Apartments.com, which provides users with real-time information on available apartments.  Apartments.com combines advertised listings, with independently researched listings and landlord submitted listings for individually owned properties to deliver to the renter the most complete and accurate information on actual apartment availabilities.  We are working hard to make a website where renters can find their future home. 
  Apartments.com allows property owners to purchase advertising on properties with five or more units.  Apartments.com allows property owners for small properties (i.e.,under that threshold) to advertise their properties free of charge.  This policy has been in place since October 2022prior to that, the threshold for free listings was nineteen units.
  ************** is attempting to use our free service, but public records show that his property has 13 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms, thereby exceeding our limit for free listings.  ************** is of course available to purchase advertising on our platform, just like any other user.
  We have emailed ************** with the contact information of the sales rep in his area if he'd like to discuss paid listing options.
  We trust that this resolves the complaint and hope that this gives more insight into how our Add a Property service works.

  Customer response

  04/26/2023

  [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed as Answered]
  
   Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************

  scam

• Initial Complaint

  02/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  I am a realtor in 2 states and have used loopnet off and on over 20 years. They have become a scam business over the years and recently I had 1 listing I wanted to add that I was selling. After paying for the service with no results from them I cancelled my service over a month ago. To my surprise there was another charge so I contacted loopnet to reverse the charge because I assumed it was a mistake on there part. They said I cancelled the listing not the membership and charged me $164 and would not reverse the charge.I not only cancelled the listing but asked the girl(which I don't always do) if there would be any other charges and she said no. Now after reviewing the internet there seems to be a theme of this scam by loopnet to do this. They used to be an OK company this company must be hurting to pull low end scams like this. I would highly recommend not using there services.

• Initial Complaint

  02/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  This group runs *****.com. I am a realtor and had a year round rental posted on our MLS site in December. I never posted it on *****.com. The house is still listed on *****.com, although I rented it January 1 and took it down from the MLS.  I have had repeated requests from tenants about the house. I have emailed this company twice to take it down and they still have not. (One hopeful tenant filled out the application before speaking with me, costing her $38 and I had no property to offer her!). This is a major inconvenience and really irresponsible behavior on *****.com. The house is ********************************** in Wellfleet MA. Thank you for your attention to this matter, I really appreciate you!

• Initial Complaint

  02/06/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  In March of 2021 I subscribed to CoStars data service. From then until now, my account executive changed several times: ********************* to *********************** to *****************************. In Oct 2022, my new account executive (***********************) had a **** call with me and said I should upgrade my service for a small up charge because prices were going up and that once my annual subscription was up, I could downgrade or cancel, as it would be month to month then. Before the year was up, I had yet another account executive (*****************************). I called an requested to cancel my subscription. They said I could not. I asked to have a meeting with management to discuss the issue. ******* offered to credit my account while the issue was pending. After several weeks and no account credit and more asking for a meeting, I finally got one. ******** supervisor (****************, Regional Director), said he did not have the authority to make a decision on cancelling my subscription and that he would find out who could make that decision. After this I was credited for one month of billing, once, then billing my account continued. Weeks later, I had heard nothing from Luttrel or ****. I emailed *******, saying I would like to make a formal complaint about **** not following up, and being continued to be billed more than $500 a month as this issue was pending. Weeks later I have had no response.

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  Complaint against: Bizquest ** ********** ****** **rd Floor San Francisco, CA ***** I was looking on their site in regards to buying a bakery back in February. I was on the site today and I noticed I am listed as owning 4 businesses in St. Charles County, MO, but I do not own these companies. Companies: Liquor Store for Sale, Liquor Store Great History, ***** Tranmissions, and Wholesale Distributor Food Manufacturer with Proprietor Production Line, Well established Sign and Graphic franchise. I am listed as the contact. This is not the case.

• Initial Complaint

  01/23/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have 2 complaints - one with subscriptions and one with content: I signed up to market a commercial listing that I had. The company lists different tiers of membership that you can sign up for to market listings. On the page to sign up it listed a basic membership for $99 which appeared to be for one month. It then listed a higher tier that said "better value" at $164 for 3 months. It does not clearly state anywhere that you are committing to paying $164 per MONTH for 3 months. I signed up for the 3 month plan since it seemed like a better deal than $99 for one month. I carefully looked at all of the details before putting in my order and I did not see anywhere that the $164 was billed monthly. After the first month, I was surprised to see that my credit card was again billed for $164 so I looked at my receipt from purchase. On the receipt it did state that I would be billed monthly. I went back on the website to try to find the page that I signed up on so that I could verify what I chose. I could not find it anywhere. During my first month as a subscriber, I received a call from my "rep" at Co-star who told me that they had different information about my listed property and that I needed to verify the details. When I listed the property I had input the correct information and it was correct at that time. After speaking with the "rep", my information was incorrectly changed by the company, making my commercial space for lease way above the average price per sq foot. I called to correct this multiple times and it was not corrected until well into my second month of subscription. This negatively hurt my business because my listing was completely out of line with other similar properties. I addressed both of these issues with my "rep" and was told that I was not able to cancel my subscription (she couldn't point me to the original sign up page for verification) and it took 4-5 phone calls over approx 1 month period to get my listing correct.

  Business response

  02/23/2023

  *************************** enrolled in a LoopNet 1 Premium Listing Plan, Quarterly subscription, billed monthly for 3 months.   

  The service billed for the months of October , November, and December with the quarterly commitment running from 10/24/22 to 1/23/23. 

  We received a cancelation request on 11/25/22 with an effective cancel date of 1/23/23, which was the end of the commitment.

  We received 2 payments of $164.00 by credit card.

  The 3rd credit card payment declined and account was canceled for declined credit card and account has been closed in good standing. 

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩