Complaint Review: Buy Owner

In February of 2008, we paid $5,000 to Buy Owner to advertise our house to sell for us. At that time, we were also told that we could pay another fee to also have the house listed on the mls, which we did. We paid the additional $500 to have it listed.

Very early on, we had realtors tell us that they had a hard time getting a hold of anyone at BuyOwner when they wanted to schedule the house to be shown. We did voice that concern and was told that it was being addressed by management.

In January 2009, I started trying to get a hold of our rep. Every time I called the BuyOwner office, I got an answering service and was never contacted back. At one point, the answering service stopped answering and all I would get was a fast busy signal. On January 21, 2009, I found out that our house listing on the mls had been cancelled. We were never notified or contacted that it was being cancelled, it was just cancelled. I called the cell phone of someone that worked there and was told that the office had shut down. I was told there were no phones or internet and that because Mike Meiners had not paid his broker, the broker pulled all the listings. I was given Mike's cell phone to contact with further questions.

On January 21, 2009, I spoke to Mike in the evening. At first, he told me that I was misinformed and that the listing was not cancelled. I explained that I had access to the mls and that I knew for a fact it was cancelled. Then he stated that his broker quit on him and that he was the one who cancelled it. He stated that he was working with another broker and would get the listing back up asap. I contacted him again on January 22, 2009 and questioned when the listing would be back up. I told him that we paid them a lot of money and that we were very upset with the circumstances. He stated that he would have the listing back up by the following day.

On January 23, 2009, I could not get a hold of Mike. I sent him a text and told him that unless this was resolved, I would be contacting WAVE3's trouble shooter. He sent me a text back and stated that he was going to take care of this, that he had 6 years and $900,000 invested in this company and that he was not going to screw me over. He stated that he was working with a realtor and the earliest the listing would be back up would be Monday, Jan 26, 2009.

I did not hear back from Mr. Meiners after that until yesterday when he text me and asked if he could meet with me on Saturday, February 7, 2009.

On February 1, 2009, I send several dozen emails to local news channels and newspapers. On February 3, 2009, I was contacted by a report with the Courier Journal. He got more details from me and also sent me a link that had information on the company and other people associated with Mike. He also contact Mike and Mike told him that his company was not closing, he had nothing to do with the mls fees and that we couldn't have spent that much on advertising because the average cost at his company is $1,500.00. My question to that, is then why did he promise to take care of the mls listing if he had nothing to do with it and why did I get an email from BuyOwner last Friday stating that the company was closing?

I also contact other people associated with the company and Mike and was told the following:

I spoke with David Bicker who was on the list (office 502-459-6575 / cell 502-744-4657) and he told me the following:

When Mike Meiners got involved, it became a rat race
Mike made things so confusing that everyone else got out
Mike still owes him $20K
Books are wrong
Mike is all about his name NOT being drug thru the mud
Mike wouldn't even call his own bookie back
Don't believe a word Mike says
Mike is being sued by his landlord
Mike can be held personally liable
Mike will take advantage of anyone
It was a franchise set up as a Corporation
Transfer documents were not done correctly almost a year ago
They have had other issues
He said that he heard thru the grapevine that the office was closing but wasn't sure

I also contacted Scott Eckert (954) 771-7777 who didn't have anything good to say about Mike either. He stated that they are having their own issues with him as well and I would be good to take this public.
I also contacted two of Mike's brother's. Mark said that Mike is very unreliable and good luck. Terry said I needed to talk to Mike.
I think it is truly sad that in today's times, people are struggling enough trying to sell their homes with the market and the economy the way it is, but to invest so much money and have someone take that money and just walk away it is unethical.

Jill
Louisville, Kentucky
U.S.A.