Zillow Group, Zillow, Trulia Bait & Switch, Fraud, Deceptive Trade Practices, RICO Enterprise Nationwide

I am a real estate broker in North Carolina and I suffered damages as a result of Zillow's Premier Agent Advertising Program.  

I signed up on the belief that I would be receiving a fixed percentage of market share of the zip codes I was purchasing - and quality leads from prospective homebuyers.  At the end of month 1, I received very little leads and I reached out to my performance coach to talk about ways to improve my profile in order to increase lead flow.  

At the end of month 2, I decided to increase my monthly spend from $1,000 to $2,000.  By the end of month 3, I received a a handful of leads, but most of them were either rental leads or the contact information was bogus.

I searched for properties in the zip codes that I had purchased and was confused because my picture was showing up about 50% of the time (or so I thought).

One evening at home, I searched for properties on my wife's iPad and bingo I discovered the fraud.  My ads were not showing up 50% of the time (as I had purchased).  They were showing up between 2.5% and 10% of the time.  I taped my searches to be used as proof to demand a refund.

The following day in my office I recorded 3 sessions of searching for properties thru a secured TOR browser and received the same poor results.  

I immediately phoned Zillow and demanded that they cancel my account.  Their response was that Zillow doesn't guarantee anything - including how often an ad is shown.  This directly conflicts what was represented when I signed the contract and the information that is providing on the adverting section of their website.  In other words, there stance is that the contract is unilateral and I am obligated to pay regardless of how they perform or do not perform in the contract. 

I explicitly sent several emails with "Cancel My Account - Effectively Immediately" in the subject to customer care, the billing department and the sales personell.  They continued to charge my card, albeit, informing American Express of the fraudulently charges and demanding to block the merchant.

Following this experience I started drafing my legal complaint and began reaching out to other Zillow victims in hopes they would want to join a class action lawsuit.  As of now, I've got about a dozen people with similar stories of Zillow's deceptive conduct:  the bait and switch, refusal to terminate the contract and continuance of billing, etc.

If you are interested in joining my class please reach out to the editor of Rip Off Report.

John from Wilmington, North Carolina