Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Ownwell's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Ownwell

  1703 W 5th St Ste 650 Austin, TX 78703-5392

  
• 

  Ownwell

  1639 11th St Santa Monica, CA 90404-3727

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. 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.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/15/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was charged $100 over and above the described agreed to 25% of savings.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/17/2024

  Hi *****,

  We are sorry to hear about the confusion regarding the $100 fee associated with your invoice for the three-year freeze we were able to obtain for your property located at **************************************. When one of our customers in ******* signs up for our appeal service, we do our best to make sure that they are aware of all of the fees associated with this service. This is why, before a customer signs our Service Agreement authorization, we include as point number 3 that if we are successful in lowering your taxes you will be billed at 25% of the tax bill reduction and if a tax freeze is placed on the property, and additional $100 fee will apply.  The fee is also addressed on the first page of your Service Agreement, under Tax Monitoring Service. 
   
  I have included a copy of the Service Agreement you signed on 06/10/2024, showing this fee. I also have included a screenshot of what our sign up page looks like for Georgia customers, showing that the fee is addressed there as well. Please note that the screenshot of sign up is from a test account, but reflects the sign up process for all our our Georgia customers. 

  The Georgia Freeze locks in your propertys value for three years, ensuring stability during that period. While it doesnt prevent changes in your overall tax bill due to potential millage rate adjustments, it guarantees that your propertys assessed value will not increase unless improvements or updates are made to your property. Significant renovations or improvements to the property can result in a reassessment at any time.

  
  We also want to clarify that this is a standard fee across the industry, with various companies charging for the same service. This protection is not automatically granted, which is why we include it as part of our service. Our fee covers the effort of securing this benefit for you.

  
  The stability it offers is a significant advantage, providing peace of mind against any unexpected increases in property value. Our goal is to provide you with the best long-term value and ensure your property taxes remain as stable as possible during the freeze period.

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/22/2024

  Complaint: 22420056
  
  I am rejecting this response because: While it may have been in the contract it was not explained
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/16/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We are not interested in their services and would like that they don't contact us anymore

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/16/2024

  Hi *****, 

  We are sorry to hear that our advertising was upsetting to you. We have put your name and address on our Remove from Mailing List so that you do not get further contact from us regarding our services. This request was made today, 09/16/2024, and it is possible that there is some marketing materials that have already left our office that you have not received yet. If this is the case, we do applogize for any inconvenience and we will stop any contact through any future advertising campaigns immediately. 

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/16/2024

  Complaint: 22283549
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've tried repeatedly to get information about homes they handle (that they're charging me for their services). They will not address all the homes, they only reply in piecemeal about one or two.Their "appeals" fluctuate by nearly $100K for two houses within two blocks of each other. Lack of transparency and consistency and in addition to paying for their services, I have an escalated tax bill due to their lack of detail and accurately handling the tax appeal process.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/28/2024

  Hi ******, 
   
  Thank you for your patience while we reviewed your account with us. After reviewing your past communication with our customer care team, I can see why you were frustrated with some of our answers. Our customer care agents are trained to answer the questions raised by our customers in their emails, which is why only the properties you inquired about were addressed instead of each property you have. However, the answers provided were not always concise, which caused you to ask the same question multiple times before being provided with the correct answer. We apologize for this and are currently updating the information our agents provide and retraining them properly to provide this information so that our customers feel their questions are answered thoroughly without the need for follow-up. 
   
  I have had our Property Tax Consultant Manager review all of your properties with us, and this is the information that he provided for me. As to the question regarding properties within the same neighborhood being different values, these can be highly influenced by several variables such as sale price, property condition, deferred maintenance, external/economic factors, and functional obsolescence. Our Property Tax Consultants take care to review all data and additional information submitted by our property owners to arrive at an objective opinion of value for any given assessment year. Additionally, each property that protests its valuation is subject to an individual review, and the value reduction (if any) that could potentially be received is highly influenced by the data and additional information provided. For example, your neighbor may have condition issues and provided $25,000 in contractor bids, so an appraiser/appraisal review board may weigh that differently than a property with no reported condition issues. By doing so, each property can be reduced differently, be it by % or $; this naturally creates inequities among properties in the same neighborhood because the county will not discount your property further because your neighbor provided $25,000 in contractor bids. Please rest assured that the interest of our customers is paramount; therefore, after we carefully review any information provided to us by the customer, we will only furnish information in the appeal or obtain a reduction that would benefit our customer. We would not provide any information or obtain a reduction that would negatively impact their tax burden. 
   
  Here are his notes for each of your properties: 
   
  **************************** ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the Value was $775,000
  2024 Noticed Value: $721,991
  2024 Final Value: $675,062 a 7% reduction
   
  We did not receive any information from you regarding the condition of this property. Therefore, we relied on sales/equity comps that supported a higher value than we were able to achieve on this property. 
   
  ******************************** *********** appeal canceled by property owner
  2023 the value was $253,800
  2024 Noticed Value: $505,286
  2024 Final Value: $505,286
   
  You purchased this property for $480,000 in 2023. As of 1/1/2023, the improvements were partially complete and subsequently increased to 100% complete as of 01/01/2024. You canceled our appeal for this property as of July 31, 2024, and the hearing was scheduled for 08/02/2024. Therefore, we were unable to represent the case for reduction, though sales in the area are in line with the purchase price of the property. 
   
  9001 Looksee Ln ************************* 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $409,070
  2024 Noticed Value $543,272
  2024 Final Value $514,000
   
  This appeal was taken to a formal hearing, and our property tax consultant included the evidence you provided regarding the property's condition. The final value we achieved was in line with our sales comparisons opinion of value with this information. 
   
  ******************************************************* ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $460,000
  2024 Noticed Value $444,510
  2024 Final Value $415,617
   
  We did not receive any information from you regarding the condition of this property. Therefore, we relied on sales/equity comps, and the final value we achieved was lower than that indicated by our analysis. 
   
  I hope this information addresses your concerns regarding how we have handled your properties. We take this very seriously and always strive to act in the best interest of our clients. Please feel free to reach out with any further questions - we are always happy to help. 
   
  Best Regards,
   
  *********************
  Senior **************** Specialist
  www.ownwell.com
  P: **************
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/29/2024

  Complaint: 22192595
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The merchant didn't do their job. They told me they would inform me before the cancellation window would happen and they didn't dispute the taxes properly. I know, for a fact, they did not provide comparable home sales for my house on Looksee, because that home is worth $400K, not $500K++. They said they have "sales data" to back that up, but my realtor looked at the comps and none of those homes are selling over $500K. Ownwell didn't do anything.

  HI *****,
   Thanks for the below, but these multiples paragraphs do not make sense. 
   Let's discuss what you wrote:
  9001 Looksee Ln ************************* 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $409,070
  2024 Noticed Value $543,272
  2024 Final Value $514,000
   
  This appeal was taken to a formal hearing, and our property tax consultant included the evidence you provided regarding the property's condition. The final value we achieved was in line with our sales comparisons opinion of value with this information. 
   
  ******************************* ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $460,000
  2024 Noticed Value $444,510
  2024 Final Value $415,617
  
  
  These two houses are the same size, same year built, within 2 blocks of each other in the same community. As I've said multiple times: if the house at 8308 Audblick was valued at $415,617, the house at 9001 Looksee should be valued at the same price. 
  You're copying and pasting hundreds of words of jargon and using words like "data" and "opinion". If the data for the house on Ausblick supports $415,617, the same set of information would support the same value for the house on Looksee. There is no reason that the comp information for the house on Ausblick and house on Looksee should be rated differently.
  
  
  Also, that house in ******* is in escrow with a list price of $400,000, so you reference comparable sales, and I would love to see what comparable sales are $514,000. There aren't.
  Your company did a poor job on that appeal and it's proven by the fact that two nearly identical homes have a difference in value of nearly $100K. 
  
  
  Multiple times, I contacted your company via email and said "the house on Looksee is for sale, when can I cancel your services" and you can read the replies. I was told that I would be contacted before the cancellation window closed and I wasn't. That's one thing, but the other thing is that your company didn't even do it's job by properly appealing the value. The trends of the market is for real estate in ****** to go down *** (see Ausblick, which went down approx $15K from 2023 to 2024). But with your work on Looksee, the value went up approx $105K YoY.
  
  
  Please share this reply to the BBB so they can understand why I can't pay you for the work you did on the house on Lookesee. 1) I wasn't told of the cancellation 2) the service itself wasn't performed.
  
  
  
  

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

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/30/2024

  Hi ******, 

  The home located at *************** has an improved square footage of *****, whereas the property located at 8308 Ausblick has an improved square footage of *****. While they are in the same neighborhood, were built in the same year, and are classified the same (Class code R4) by the ****** Central Appraisal District, the difference in the improvement square footage would also come into play for how the Central Appraisal District values the properties. 
   
  For ***************, this property had a value of $409,070 for the tax year 2023. However, each year, the Central Appraisal District reevaluates the property as of January 1. Since real estate markets are cyclical in nature and are subject to fluctuation, appraisal districts will not allow sales dates from two years prior if there is a reasonable amount of sales that took place the year before. The value is also determined each year by the Appraisal District. This means that for the 2023 appeal of this property, the Appraisal District and Ownwell had to look at sales comparisons that took place before January 1, 2023 to determine the correct market value for 2023. Since the home was purchased on 10/31/2022, Ownwell was able to get the Market Value for 2023 reduced from $631,204 to $409,070, which was the purchase price. For the 2024 value of this property, we had to find sales comparables that took place before January 1, 2024. 
   
  In short, 9001 Looksee Ln and 8308 Ausblick are not properties that we would refer to as 'model matches' or highly identical properties. The difference in size is most definitely impacting the value of each one based on the range of sale prices and the median of each sample. Additionally, each assessment year stands on its own and each property is valued as of January 1st of said year by the central appraisal district. With that being said, we were able to successfully reduce both of these properties below the median sale price that was captured in the samples of each segment.

  As explained above, properties are valued by the Central Appraisal District as of January 1 of the tax year. This means that when we build a case for an appeal, we have to look at sales comparisons from the previous year for these to be considered as acceptable comps by the Central Appraisal District and their *********************** This means that for the 2024 appeal, we had to pull data and sales comps from January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023. As for your question regarding the difference in size, when the Central Appraisal District values a property, they do not look at the total number of rooms a home has; they base the value on the total square footage of the property. This is why even though Ausblick may have more bedrooms and bathrooms than the home on Looksee, the total square footage is lower and thus is valued differently by the Central Appraisal District. While we apologize that these results were not in line with your expectations, we can assure you that our opinions of value were data-driven and are well supported. We can offer no further information or explanation regarding these results. 

  As for our cancellation policy for 9001 Looksee, you were informed on July 29, 2024 that the appeal was scheduled for the following day, July 30, 2024, and therefore the property could not be canceled. If you can provide proof that the property sold or went into escrow before July 29, 2024 we will consider voiding the invoice, but at this time based on our cancellation policy that was explained on July 29, 2024 the invoice stands. 

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/23/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Ownwell keeps sending me a bill for services they never performed & now because I wont pay they are adding late charges & telling me they will get attorneys involved to collect past due fees

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/26/2024

  Hi *****,
   
  I understand there is some confusion regarding your contract for our services I'll be happy to provide you with some more information. 
  
  Our records show that you have been a customer of **********************'s since 05/10/2023. . I am attaching the service agreement that you electronically signed on this date for your property located at **********************************************************************.  
  
  In this service agreement, there is an important clause that outlines the duration of the agreement, stating that it remains in effect until the Owner revokes it in writing and that cancellation for current-year appeals must be made two months prior to the county filing deadline. As part of this agreement, the Owner is responsible for paying 25% of all property tax savings for the current year, and it's essential to note that in the event the Property is sold within the current protest year, the full commission remains due, irrespective of the sale date. 
  
  We offer the flexibility to mark a property as sold or cancel our services if needed. To make this process convenient for you and to remind you that we will be working on your appeal for 2024 we began emailing you 02/21/2024 through 04/15/2024 when we filed this appeal, and several others along the way, to your email on file, ******************** Since we did not receive a request for cancellation we filed the appeal for 2024 and earned a reduction for you. 
  
  For this year's appeal, it looks like we were able to earn a reduction on your behalf, from the noticed value of $299,520 down to the final value of $282,000. 
  
  I have attached the Final Order from ************ and a copy of the signed service agreement for ********************************************** for your reference. You can view the adjusted value, reflecting the reduction we earned on your behalf, here on the Comal Appraisal District's page for your property. **********************************************************.
  
  I hope this helps clarify! Please take some time to review these documents and let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. At this time, no interest or late fees have been attached to the invoice, and your service contract for future appeals has been canceled. The invoice for our ************************************************************************************************************************** full. 

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/22/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I registered in OWNWELL for my tax protest with Harris County for 2024 year and submitted all the evidence documents. One of the pieces of evidence I submitted was "LessCappedMarket" value since i got zero nay my Neighbour got ******* last 2 consecutive years even though my and Neighbour property from same builder, move on 2022, 2 story sq ft but my Neighbour property building sq ft and lot size is 500 sq ftand market value more than my property. I called ownwell and explained about the "LessCappedMarket" value to be applied to my property and as like my Neighbourmarket value i was expecting $90,000 reduction on my market value. On July 04th my protest was completed and i was ended up with only $40,000 reduction which I was not satisfied. I went thru the ownwell protest evidence and found they missed to produce my Neighbour tax of "LessCappedMarket" value is not shown in the county office. I called ****** tax appeal for re-appeal and told to re-appeal on September 2024.I have paid 25% service fee of $229.So, I requestownwell a refund of 50% of the fee since the service I was expecting was not completed.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/26/2024

  Hi ************, 
  
  We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our results for the 2024 property tax appeal for your property. 

  I have reviewed the evidence that you uploaded, as well as your neighbors property tax account with ****** Central Appraisal District. 
  
  One important thing to note is that if your neighbor filed an appeal for the 2024 value of the property it was unsuccessful. The reason I state this is that according to the ****** Central Appraisal District, the beginning Market Value for their property for 2024 was $393,762, and this is still their Market Value for 2024. Due to their homestead cap their assessed value is lower, $291,591, however the assessed value is based on their homestead cap and is not a value that can be protested or considered in an appeal for other properties. 
  
  The homestead cap is allowed for properties where the homestead has in been in place for one full tax year, January 1 - December 31. It only goes into effect if the market value increases by more than 10% from the previous year. We understand that you both moved into your homes in early 2022; however, we cannot control how ****** Central Appraisal District applies the homestead exemption to each property. The service that you signed up for Ownwell to perform for you was to appeal the Market Value that ****** Central Appraisal District had applied to your property for 2024, $380,020. We did this and earned a reduction in Market Value to $345,000. Since the final assessed value of your property in 2023 was $429,159, and your market value decreased from this value in 2024, the homestead cap of 10% was not applicable for your property. We cannot state why your neighbor has a lower homestead cap/assessed value, as we are not their property tax agent, and this is applied by the central appraisal district and not Ownwell. As stated earlier, the appraised value of a property is not considered during a protest as this value is determined by the exemptions on the property and not the Market Conditions. In an appeal, the only values that can be protested and considered as evidence are the Market Values of the property. Since your neighbors Market Value is higher than your propertys market value for 2024, it is not a good comparable for a reduction in value, as it would support the central appraisal districts argument that the market value they originally assessed your property at was fair. Ownwell, therefore, did not use this property in the evidence we presented at your appeal. 
  
  We hope this explains the results and why your neighbors property does not factor into the results we achieved for you in 2024. As a result of this, we will not be issuing a refund.

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/15/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I keep getting spam texts, letters, emails from this company Ownwell? *** never signed up for their service and havent used them to represent me or any of my properties. I just want the spam to stop.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/19/2024

  Hi *****, 

  We apologize for this confusion. Our records indicate that you signed up for Ownwell's service on July *******, for three properties. 1. ************************************************************************** 2. *************************************************** and 3. *****************************************************************, as indicated in the attached Service Agreements. In each of these agreements is a clause that states: "Unless otherwise set forth on the Agent Appointment, the authorization granted to Company by Owner herein shall continue until revoked in writing by Owner, or until such other time as authorized under applicable law. " This is the reason that we continued to reach out to you regarding our services for both the tax years in 2023 and 2024. 

  In 2023 we were successful in reducing the value of **************************************************** from $536,400 to $529,400, and the invoice we have contacted you about is for the savings on your tax bill from this appeal. Since you were not aware that we had continued to file appeals for you we have voided this invoice. We have also withdrawn the appeals for 2024 that we had filed for ************************************************************************** and *************************************************** and have canceled your service agreement for any future years. 

  Please let me know if we can be of any further assistance. 

  ********************* *********************** Representative. 
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/12/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  ******* was given documentation to protest my taxes regarding 700 sq. feet that was not livable. They didn't use this information nor did they contact me regarding the information I gave them. Now I have to pay on 700 sq ft more in property taxes because of their incompetence.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  Hi *******, 
   
  We are sorry to hear that our service did not meet your expectations. 
   
  The reply you received from ***** is in line with what we typically need for square footage corrections to present it as an argument during the appeal process. Typically, along with the photos you sent us, we would also need a blueprint, builder letter, or survey showing the accurate square footage. I did have our Property Tax Consultant Manager review your case to see why we did not reach out for this information before the appeal. We did review the photos you provided along with your note. When we started building a case for the appeal, we found that the District Sales comparisons for your property provided a value of $260,000. The median equity comps for your property is $252,807. This means that the final value of $221,531 is over $30,000 below the equity comparables for your property and $38,000 below the value the sales comps show for the property. Based on this information, we feel that the final value of $221,531 is underassessing the property, even with the corrected square footage. This is why we did not ask for more information. I have attached a copy of the evidence Ownwell compiled for review. You can see the equity comps on page 21, listed in small print below the grid, and the sales comps on page 23. 
   
  We understand that this is different from the result you were hoping for, but based on our evidence, we feel the results align with the square footage of the property. I hope this explanation provides the information you were looking for.

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/31/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up for OwnWells *********** services in May 2024 to assist with the protest process on 3 homes. I had already gone through the initial submission for 2 of the properties and had rejected the initial settlement offer provided by the county that they automatically send out when you file a protest. Ownwell then turns around and accepts the offer from the county and did absolutely nothing on my behalf as far as pleading a case for a further deduction. Ownwell does against the best interests of their customers and settles for whatever is most convenient for them so they can make their money. This is a horrible company and I would not recommend their services to anyone.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/05/2024

  *************, 
  
  We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with the results of our appeals for your two Bexar County properties. Ownwells mission is to help everyone have access to the tools and resources needed to manage their real estate with confidence and we take this mission seriously. 
  
  This means that we take seriously each appeal that we handle to make sure that we provide the best outcome we can for our customers. While our property tax consultants are not available for one on one consultation with our clients, which is one reason we can keep our fee as low as it is, we do have a property portal where our customers can provide any information that they need us to have regarding the condition of the property. Any evidence or information provided by our customers through their property portal is reviewed by the property tax consultant handling their case, and I can assure you this was done in the case of these two properties as well. 
  
  I spoke with the property tax consultant who handled these two properties and these are the notes he provided to me for each of them: 
  
  1. *************************************************************************************** - I have attached a copy of the evidence compiled by both Ownwell and Bexar Appraisal District for this appeal. While the property is in good condition, most of the good condition sales support higher values that the Final Value that we were able to achieve for this property. We did review the photos of deferred maintenance that you provided but they did not indicate a substantial enough difference to receive a further reduction for the property. This is especially true since the property was valued at $315,420 for both 2023 and 2024, indicating that the reduction in value down to $300,000 is a good reduction in value based on the comps used by both Ownwell and Bexar Central Appraisal District. 

  2. ********************************************************* - This property was purchased on 12/21/2023 for $235,000. This was an open market purchase recorded on the **** which means that Bexar Central Appraisal District has access to the sales price. While an Inspection Report was submitted to show the condition of the home, the date of this inspection report precedes the purchase price of the home. When this is the case, the Appraisal District, who has the final say in value, will not consider the condition of the home or deferred maintenance as they will argue that the property owner was aware of the condition of the home at the time of the purchase and was comfortable with the value of the purchase price, in this case, $235,000. 
  
  As these notes indicate, we did, in fact, carefully review both of these properties and felt that the values we were able to achieve were the best values we could achieve for 2024. We, therefore, acted in what we felt was the best interest of our customer by accepting the values offered by Bexar Central Appraisal District. 
  
  Since you were not pleased with the results of the appeals, we have already lowered the contingency fee on your account from 25% of the savings, to 20% of the savings. This contingency fee is active on all three of your properties and will remain at that rate as long as you have an account active with ********************** 
  
  I hope this explanation assures you that we did not just accept an offer to complete the appeal, we carefully reviewed the properties and accepted the offer that we felt was in your best interest. 

  ********************* Senior Customer Support Specialist

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/31/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was notified that I have a delinquent payment and if I do not pay Ill be taken to collections. The problem is I am not the person who signed the service agreement. We sold our previous home in 11/2023. In 2/2024, the new owner signed a service agreement however didnt change this information to add his email or contact info. When I received an email out of the blue letting me know I had a payment due, I was shocked. I called this company and tried to figure out why I got a bill. I was told on 7/18/2024 that they could see the new home owner signed the service agreement and that it wasnt me. I was told Id be given a call within 24 hours to resolve the issue, but never got a call. On 7/28/2024 I called the company back and was once again told that they could see I didnt sign the service agreement and that it was the new home owner who had signed it. Also on that most recent phone call I was asked if I could contact the new homeworker and give the company his contact information. I have never met the man nor have I ever spoken to him. Its not my responsibility to do their business for them. I was told on the phone the problem would be resolved and I would get an email helping me close out my account so I wouldnt accidentally be sent his bill anymore. Well, the email that was sent following the phone called said I had a bill I needed to pay (same old, same old). I emailed back letting the person know the situation and was told that I was responsible for the balance in more words. They tried to say that he mustve had access to my account which is impossible given Ive never met/spoken to the new homeowner. Im very frustrated and want this to be resolved. I do not appreciate being threatened being taken to collections for something that I am not aware responsible for. Im being told multiple different things and this has left a back taste in my mouth for Ownwell. I hope this can be swiftly resolved.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/05/2024

  An email was sent to *********************** letting them know that we found an ownership change with the Tarrant Appraisal District and if they wanted us to file an appeal for 2024 we needed a signature from the new owner of this property,  *************************************. Someone with access to *********************** clicked on this link and resigned the service agreement, which changed the name on the account from the old owner, ***********************, to the new owner, ***************************************. This allowed Ownwell to continue the appeal for 2024 and emails were sent to *********************** informing them that we were working on the appeal. 

  We understand that the fact the emails were now addressed to ******* instead of ****** would have caused confusion to this customer, and therefore, we have voided the invoice for the 2024 appeal and canceled the account for any future years. 

  ********************* *********************** Representative. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/26/2024

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up with Ownwell on 4/15/2024 to assist me with protesting my property taxes. They informed me that they could save me $2400.00 per year. They filed all the paperwork with Denton County Appraisal District for the property appeal. Denton County set a hearing for 7/17/24 at 1:00. I contacted Ownwell on 6/27/24 at 12:21 in the afternoon and spoke to someone for 7 minutes and asked if I could be at the appeal. They informed me that I could be there to only listen. On 7/17/24 my husband showed up to the hearing and Ownwell was not there. A supervisor at the ****** Appraisal District informed my husband that Ownwell had done all their accounts on 7/12/24 and our account they did not handle. I am appalled at the unprofessionalism that this company has shown in missing the hearing and not having the curtesy to call me or anything. I want a check from them for the amount they were going to save me since they did not fulfil their contract with me.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2024

  Hi *******, 
  
  Thank you for your patience while I researched this matter further. 
  
  After speaking with the property tax consultant manager in *************, I have learned that I was mistaken in the information I shared with you on Thursday, July 25, 2024. I apologize for providing incorrect information regarding the hearing date. The person who shared this information with me based it on the fact that the majority of our accounts that are considered takeovers, accounts originally filed by the property owner and later assigned to Ownwell, had been reassigned to larger dockets that Ownwell had in place.  
  
  I was informed that the hearing date for your property was 07/17/2024. Ownwell had filed an affidavit with ****** Central Appraisal District informing them that we would not be appearing in person; rather, we requested that the hearing be held by phone. When we filed the phone affidavit, we also submitted a copy of our evidence to be reviewed by the ********************** during our phone hearing. I have attached a copy of this evidence and the affidavit we filed for your review. I am not sure why the supervisor at the *************************************** would have told you that we had closed all of our accounts on 07/12/2024 and that yours was not one of them, as your property was scheduled to be heard as a phone hearing on 07/17/2024. When our property tax consultant called in to attend the scheduled phone hearing, they were informed that the property owner had already closed the account that day. 
  
  I have reviewed all of your phone conversations with our customer service agents, and I also want to apologize for being told you would be followed up with, and you never were. This is not Ownwell's standard of customer support, and this issue is being addressed. I also want to address why we do not recommend that property owners attend the hearings they hired us to handle. Oftentimes, such as in this situation, the hearing will be attended virtually by our property tax consultant through a phone or video conference hearing, or a conflict of interest will arise. We need to file a no-show affidavit, meaning that we will not be able to be present for the hearing. However, we submit our evidence and opinion of value so that the appraisal review board can still hear the case, or we may have to reschedule the hearing. We do not want our property owners to take time off of work to be present for a case that might be rescheduled. I apologize that this was not explained to you as clearly as it should have been. 
  
  While our estimated savings for your property was $2,454, that was just an estimate. It is not a value that we can guarantee, as due to security reasons, we cannot always see every exemption that is active on your property, the county appraisal district determines the final value for the property, and our estimated savings are based on a generic tax rate of 2.5% and your tax rate is currently *******%.  For instance, your property has not only an AG exemption but also a homestead exemption and an Over65 exemption. The Over65 exemption is considered a confidential exemption, and our system that pulls our estimates does not necessarily account for this exemption. When I performed an invoice calculation to see what your total savings for 2024 would be, based on our opinion of value of $1,154,000, I came to a savings of $1,413.68. Since the final value of your property for this year, based on the appeal that your husband had with ****** Central Appraisal District, is $1,150,000, you will receive these savings on your 2024 tax bill. After speaking to my management team, while we will not issue a refund for the savings, we are prepared to offer a free appeal for next year's appeal and a contingency fee decrease to 20% of the savings instead of 25% for future years. 
  
  I am also sending this reply to the Better Business Bureau, but I hope it helps you to understand what happened with your case. 
  
  Best **************************************************************** Specialist
  **************************
  P: **************
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/05/2024

  Complaint: 22044249
  
  I am rejecting this response because Ownwell did not do what they were contracted to do for me.  They dropped the ball and did not file or do what was needed and that is their expertise not mine.  I understand the $2,454 was an estimate but that was what they told me would be my savings.  Since the savings I am going to receive is based on my husband's efforts and not theirs I expect a check from Ownwell for $1,413.68.  I do not want a free appeal next year or a discount the following years.  ************* has proven they are not competent to handle this, or this situation would not have occurred in the first place.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  *******, 
  
  We understand your frustration, however, we did do what we were contracted to do. As Property Tax Agents we file appeals for customers who sign up and authorize us as their property tax agent and then handle the appeal process for them. 
  
  For your property, **********************************, you signed up for Ownwell to represent you on April 15, 2024, after filing your own appeal with ****** Central Appraisal District. While filing appeals for properties where the property owner has already filed an appeal is difficult, it is possible. At the beginning of the 2024 appeal season, our head of support operations discussed with ****** Central Appraisal District to confirm how to handle accounts that had already been filed by the property owner. We were told that as long as Ownwell files an appeal before the filing deadline for the property, Ownwell will get a hearing date, and we can ignore the hearing date provided to the property owner. As a best practice, have the Property Owner fill out the form ****** mentioned in the email to you and send it to the County to make their intentions clear that they do not plan to attend their hearing. Still, the form is not required for Ownwell to handle the appeal for the customer, as the form simply lets the Appraisal District know that the property owner is forfeiting their right to handle their own appeal and instead they are allowing their property tax agent to handle it. If the form is not submitted then it is possible for two hearings to get scheduled, but the Property Tax Agent will be informed and have a scheduled hearing. If the hearing for the property owner and the property tax agent are at 2 different times, one of the hearings will be considered a no show by the county but the property can still be appealed at the other hearing. 
  
  Ownwell filed our authorization of agent and notice of protest with ****** Central Appraisal District on 04/18/2024. On 04/26/2024, ****** Central Appraisal District acknowledged the receipt of our protest, and on 05/07/2024, Ownwell was coded as your property tax agent, which means ****** Central Appraisal District was aware that Ownwell was going to be handling your appeal for you in 2024. Ownwell was provided a hearing date of July 17, 2024, to represent this property before the appraisal review board of *************. We submitted an affidavit confirming that our property tax consultant would be handling the case through a phone hearing and submitted the evidence we would be presenting at that hearing for the appraisal review board to review. 
  
  While we agree that our customer service agents who you discussed attending the hearing with could have handled that situation in a more clear manner, informing you of the possibilities of how the hearing would be handled, Ownwell was prepared and ready to handle your appeal through a phone hearing at a different time and had prepared and submitted evidence so we were ready for our hearing. Since your husband was present at the time of the original scheduled hearing, 1 pm CST 07/17/2024, the appraisal review board allowed him to handle the case and gave a reduction. Since the appeal was handled by the property owner, and not Ownwell, then we have not charged you for the service we provided in working on your appeal, and you are going to reap the benefits of the reduction that we hoped to achieve for you this year. 
  
  While we will not be issuing you a check for $1,413.68, since you are actively seeing these savings on your property tax bill this year and we did file and handle your case within the confines of our Service Agreement with you, we will still extend the offer of a free appeal for 2025 and a reduced contingency fee of 20% for subsequent years. 

  ********************* *********************** Representative

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/15/2024

  Complaint: 22044249
  
  I am rejecting this response because: your response is not satisfactory.  Ownwell did not do their job per ******* email.  His statement in the email. In this instance, we did not receive any notification from the agent indicating they were taking over the protest. We received an Affidavit of Evidence and evidence, which does not constitute transferring the protest to the agent, while you were already conducting the hearing at your scheduled date and time.  The only reason we conducted the hearing is because we called your company and they said we could attend the hearing and just listen and that was our intention.  I understand we were not charged by your companybut we had a contact with your company and they did not fulfill their part.  The discount we are receiving is because of my husband.  Your company owes us the discount they told us we would receive.  Originally your company said we would receive a $2400.00 discount and then you changed it after we received that exact number from the Denton County Appraisal Diatrict.  We do not want a discount in the future.  I am prepared to file in small claims court if this is not handled.

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