ComplaintsforCoStar Group Inc

• Initial Complaint

  01/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We requested CoStart to cancel the services within a month or so because we didn't find any good about their service. We as small Company can't afford the price. We requested multiple times by sending emails to the CoStar We also said we will pay the bill for 1st month even though we didn't use much CoStar is not accepting our request and sending bills Please help us how to seek help with this illegal practices of Costar

  Business response

  01/25/2022

  Per our Sales Manager, they communicated up front, prior to the client signing a 12-month agreement that there are no trials and that it is a full year agreement.  The client indicated that they understood and placed a signature on this agreement.  The Account Executive trained 6 people at this location on the platform and all loved it and were very happy with the information that was provided.  Sales communicated, once again, that they entered into a legal agreement for 12 months and can place a cancel on file, but the access will remain for the remaining initial period provided they pay their invoices.  CoStar is not willing to break the contract terms and conditions and prematurely end a mutually agreed upon contract.
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/05/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Aug 30, 2021, I purchased a Gold Listing with CoStar (Loopnet). To my surprise, in the confirmation email I received shortly after my CC was charged, it said that this was a six month commitment. I never saw this prior to submitting payment. The very same day (8/30/21), I emailed my account rep  (Cassandra W) that it was not clear this was a 6 mo commitment and I got an auto-reply. I never heard back from her. I received several calls from Loopnet (Costar) in attempts to upsell, but despite promises by the account rep to cancel the account (had full-ask offer within a week of the listing) it never happened. Also, worth noting that my rep literally changed every month, Cassandra W (Sep'21), Nina (Oct'21), Lauren C (Nov'21), Daphne R.V (Dec'21) each one choosing to either ignore my request (perhaps they're incentivized not to cancel upon request) or it was denied at a higher level. Still as of today (Jan 5, 2022) I continue to be charged $649/mo. I find it highly unethical for a business to A) hide within a T&C box that there is a six month commitment, and B) to ignore requests to cancel due to not seeing it was a 6 month commitment.

  Business response

  01/18/2022

  There will be a refund issued and Sales will follow up with this client to address any further inquiries/concerns.

• Initial Complaint

  12/05/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  My small brokerage signed up for a 1-year subscription to CoStar suite a year ago. We intuitively sent our written notice to cancel before the end of our paid term We were shocked to find out they mandate another year of payments (unneeded service) unless a user cancels with greater than 60 days left. This effectively amounts to a ~$5,000 exit penalty for a single user and small business! Access to an internet database subscription is very easy to turn on and off. No other web app subscription business could get away with such gotcha fine print and this wont either for much longer after the campaign I am mounting. They could simply change the renewal policy or send an email reminder of the important date if they had confidence the product was adding value. Instead, they spend resources preparing to reply to shocked users with distracting talking points until they ultimately cite the legal fine print in the user agreement.

  Business response

  12/07/2021

  Per Sales Management, ************** submitted a formal cancellation letter beyond our standard policy of 60 days non-renewal notification per clause 5(b) in the Costar agreement. Contract renewed as of 11/30/21 and notification was sent on 11/30/21. To accept his non-renewal, his notification was required to be sent no later than 9/30/21. Sales offered to mediate the situation to discuss further over a phone call, but client refused to speak to us. Training also was offered on 11/30 to find value in the solution but it was also declined.
  
  Tell us why here...

  Customer response

  12/14/2021

  [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: 

  First, an expectation to correspond strictly in writing about such issues is good business (and legal) practice. Acting as if a phone call, as opposed to email, could have changed the outcome is a distraction from this systemic scam. I expected this response without action as I've (unfortunately) now read and learned of complaints of many before me scammed in the exact same way. I'm extremely motivated to shine light on CoStar's intentionally deceptive practices on social media, to local peers and with the State of Texas.  
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  11/18/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Ok one of their sales lady contacted me about placing an ad about property I have for sale , so she told me it was a ONE time charge of 118.00 to pay up front so I did and then a couple months went by and I noticed they charged my card 108.each month and so I called they told me they made a mistake and would fix it and refund my money, but they have never refunded anything and this is considered theft. I told them several times they email and calls and they said it would be fixed , but still nothing, I believe they are scamming people and I want my money back

  Business response

  11/19/2021

  When the client contacted ******* Support there was an immediate cancellation as a courtesy rather than holding the client to the full term. After review, it was determined that since her listing got exposure the entire time, no refund was granted. The purchase confirmation email where the client checked the box that detailed the terms and renewal is attached.

  Customer response

  11/21/2021

  [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 did not sign any contract 

  I spoke to the lady on the phone and paid for it up front 

  I DID NOT sign any term contract 

  I told them to have the lady I spoke to 

  The first person I talked to said they made a mistake and would fix it , 
  I think they need to do what is right and do what they said they would do .
  

   

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

• Initial Complaint

  11/17/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for real estate advertising services in July 2020. On July 30, 2021 was contacted by ************************* to pay my bill. At that time I also advised him by phone that I no longer wanted services as I no longer have the listing that I was advertising for. He stated to send him an email so he could close the account. I sent that email right after we got off the call. He then sent me an email back asking me to pay the outstanding balance first then he could cancel it. I agreed and talked to *******'s billing team on August 4th 2021. I paid my balance and confirmed that my account would be closed. They told me my account had already been closed due to no payments and that nothing else would be needed. I then sent an email to ***** and let him know that my account balance was paid that billing said nothing else would be needed. However, since then I have been receiving bills. I have tried calling customer services and they state that ***** is the only person that can closed my account. They also said that a form from him should have been placed to close my account but was not completed. I have reached out to him by phone, email, customer service, and even tried contacting another specialist but cannot get a response back. I talked to customer service again on November 15th and was assured that ***** was in a meeting but would call me back after. I never received a phone call. I received an email from customer service that my account had been automatically renewed (for July) after I made that payments in August. I clearly voiced in writing and by phone to close my account. At this point I have sent several email and many calls and my account has still not been closed and I am still getting charged.

  Business response

  11/19/2021

  Per Sales, the client didnt expressed any intention of canceling to them when they spoke on august 6th after her renewal and she was informed that her contract was reinstated. The cancellation is on file for the end of the current term on 7/31/2022. A Sales rep will be following up.

• Initial Complaint

  11/04/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have been passed to at least 6 different people at this company, with the ball being passed on a regular basis and nothing getting resolved, promised returned phone calls and nothing, these guys don't know what the left hand is doing from the right hand!!******** is the poorest to deal with, I've gotten promise after promise that their was going to be a resolution/returned phone call with neither happening..

  Business response

  11/05/2021

  Sales has conveyed that the contract is canceled and the balance due will be cleared.

  Customer response

  11/08/2021

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  10/28/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I wrote a review about a property I currently live at. My user name is not my real name because I don't want the property manager to know who wrote the review. I don't want any awkwardness and/or retaliation about my negative review. The property manager wrote a response back to my review addressing me as ** *. (my real name initials) instead of my user name * ** He knows who wrote the review. The only way he would know is if they gave the property manager my email address when they sent him the review. Why would they give the property manager the email address of a review which basically tells the manager who wrote the review!? That is a breach of confidential information!! That is the only way the manager would know it's me because there is no personal info in my review. Now it's going to be very awkward around the property manager and my utilities will probably increase because they told him who wrote a negative review. They should not be giving out reviewer's email addresses. The property manager should only get the review and the user name.

  Business response

  11/03/2021

  Per our Research Department - We do not provide any Personal Identifiable Information to the property manager or management company when a review is submitted from our website.
  The **********.com user interface doesn't display a name or any id of the reviewer, and the Application Programming Interface only returns an encrypted key that would only be useful to our development team at Apartments.com. The property manager or management company would have to have direct access to our database in order to know the name of the reviewer.
  Furthermore, if we did provide the name or if by some means the name was displayed for the manager/management company to view, we have every right to do so according to our Privacy Notice which was consented by the renter. Since we confirmed there's no "bug/issue" going on with our site that would allow them to see the reviewers name. The most logical theory of how the property manager knew who left the review is maybe the reviewer went in person to the management office and complained about the same things that were mentioned in the review.

  Customer response

  11/05/2021

  [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: ********

  
  There is nothing in my review about my unit and/or anything that would personally identify me. Also, my review was vague and a lot of residents have complained about similar things. There is no way the manager would know who wrote the review especially since there are 99 units and over 150 people who live here. Also, I didn't see anywhere in your privacy policy where it states that you would give out the reviewer's names to managers. That's not keeping personal info private. Managers should not be getting any personal info about the reviewer. Also, you state that managers would not get our names, but then you proceed to contradict yourself.  

• Initial Complaint

  08/25/2021

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  SHAME!I Spoke to *****, who was rude to that and not helpful. ******* /Costar.com has 100s complaints simply because they are unscrupulous. I have been a client and have spent thousands of dollars since 2000. Shortly after I ordered the service, I called to cancel, and the representative assured me that he would cancel the order and charge me no more. However, this unscrupulous company continues to charge me monthly $178 for months now, and they will not stop. I demand all my money back immediately. I want all the money refunded because I had already paid for 4 years and sold it. On June 24, I reinstated the advertisement with ******* because the buyer was going back and forth but finally paid but towards the end of the month, on June 30. I would like a complete refund for this from ******* ************ ** on my credit card account: **************** Credit Card (**) - ****** ******** ***** Card.

  Business response

  08/31/2021

  Hello. This client has an e-commerce ******* account. He had a product from January 2020 until February 2021 which was an end-of-term cancellation.  He signed up again June 2021 and submitted a cancellation in July that is effective September 21, 2021. Sales has been notified to follow up with the client.

*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. ↩