Complaint Review: Roomster.com

Roomster.com is deceptive and unethical service. 

Others have reported that the responses received to ads are scams, and that is likely true.  I never got that far.  I also don't hold them accountable for the users of their system. 

My concern is about the Roomster service itself.

*  You can a bait-and-switch to use the free account, posting room ads and viewing potential tenants. 

*  Once you've filled everything out and gotten responses from what you presume are real people, you find you cannot actually open the mail items without paying for access. 

*  They offer a three-day pass for $5.95, which I used to see what the emails said, then decided not to use the service.  (The emails were pre-generated messages similar to canned flirts on a dating site... I don't know if the people were real.) 

*  Buried in the fine print of their Terms of Reference, they state that the $5.95 you pay for the three-day pass actually is a teaser for a $89.95 90-day subscription. 

*  They charge you small payments of $29.95 without notification or email receipts.  I only discovered it because I check my statements at my bank and did not recognize the charge. 

*  Their fine print also says that, any money they get from you without you noticing is kept in full - it is against their policy to refund full or part of the unused subscription period. 

*  You can get them to not take more money by following a series of steps hidden in their badly-developed user interface that allows you to cancel your subscription. 

 As other users here have noted, their customer service is only through the anonymous web interface.  They do not give any method for emails or telephone calls.  Their responses are rude and unhelpful. 

I've reported them to the Better Business Bureau for Deceptive and Unethical Marketing and Collection Practices, and encourage anyone else with these issues to do the same.