I believe Business Locate, Inc based out of Hollywood, FL, publisher of realestateagent.com, is running a scam.
On December 11 2018 I received a call from a local (spoofed) number and the person leaving the message sounded very casual as if he knew me. He said, "Hey Belinda, this is Ron and I'm calling to see if you still sell real estate. If so, give me a call at my Florida number 954.983.8668, my extension is 3029. Please take note that this is also a FAX number, more on that...read on.
I called the next day and "Ron" engaged me in some chat for a minute or so before he streamlined his pitch. He basically compared realestateagent.com to Zillow where you can get seller and buyer leads. He told me that realestateagent.com was running a 3-month promotion for $135. The first thing I asked him was if there was a contract of any sort. He clearly said NO.
I accepted the promotion and he asked me to hold while he sends me a link. Then he asked me to open the link which led to a payment processing page. He continued with trivial convo while he guided me through the quick payment process and next thing I knew I paid.
Three months later I get a threatening "PRE COLLECTION" email indicating that they attempted to charge my credit card on file for $290/month. Fortunately, and I'm really thankful for this, Bank of America closed my previous debit credit card just a week before because I had lost it. Now, I'm so happy that I lost my card. Some agents complained of not realizing their card was charged for months because they didn't know about an auto-renew subscription. They also make it virtually impossible to cancel. You have to cancel by mail or fax which agents have complained as the fax always being being busy and never being able to fax anything. Well, they use the "fax" for incoming and outgoing calls. The address they have you sent the cancellation to is a storage building! So, there might not even be anybody there to sign mail if you were to send it registered or overnight. Many agents complained about realestateagent.com claiming they never received their cancellation.
I disputed the pre-collection email telling them I never agreed to a contract. Lo and behold, they sent me a "contract" that I had "e-signed" which I vehemently disagree with. First, I asked if there was a contract and Ron told me clearly there isn't. Second, I was not made aware of an auto-renew subscription and a 10-day cancellation policy. They had literally entrapped me during the payment process and they had somehow forged my e-signature. I was given no terms and conditions to read. I only got the "contract" AFTER I complained about the pre-collection three months later. I was not shown a terms and conditions page during the payment processing nor was I sent the terms with the payment confirmation email.
Business Locate, Inc, publisher of realestateagent.com are bilking agents of hundreds of dollars without rendering what they promised. A detailed website analytic report shows that they do NO paid advertising whatsoever. The scam website does not appear on Google, Bing or Yahoo when doing popular keywords buyers and sellers would type in order to find a local agent. I went as far as page 15 on the search engines and gave up. They do not show up at all.
They also claimed they recorded me authorizing the contract which is a blatant LIE. First, these people have a disregard for the DNC Registry. And second, they are illegally recording agents in the two-party consent state of Florida without first letting the agent know they're being recorded. They're not rendering service as advertised. They're using illegal debt collection efforts to threaten agents to give in and pay. This seems to work. There are dozens and dozens of agents that have complained about Business Locate, Inc., publish of realestateagent.com.
There are several sites that agents have complained on or left negative reviews. Here are two:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/realestateagent.com
I want to know if anybody has experienced fraud from Realestateagent.com. If so, I'd love to collaborate in possibly all of us getting together and reporting them to the authorities so that the many complaints will trigger an investigation. What these scammers are doing is serious and I'd hate to see other agents get bilked.
Please feel free to post here or reach out privately. Thank you!
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