D
OC,#2Author of original report
Mon, February 25, 2008
I just wanted to add, I never contacted HouseValues seeking to do business with them. I was working the "updesk" at the office, when a HouseValues rep called the office and asked for another agent, the name of no one who worked in the office. (After looking into it, no one by that name had ever worked for the office, so it makes me wonder if this wasn't an excuse to call, knowing that anyone on the updesk was there because they are trying to generate leads.) When asked if I was interested in the program, I said maybe. I was called and e-mailed for the next few days and repeatedly told that another agent was also thinking of taking the leads for the area in which I worked, so I needed to make a decision quickly. Clearly, they had no one else who wanted the leads, or they wouldn't have had to call me with the hard sell, but I was naive. If they had agents calmoring for leads from HouseValues, they would allow people out of their contracts so that the leads could be given to someone who wanted them. I kick myself everytime I think about how easily I let myself get sucked into the scam. I like to believe that people have good intentions when they go out into the world, and at the time this call came in I wasn't a jaded skeptical person. However, this experience has made it very clear that there are people who don't have the most ethical way of doing business and aren't beyond stretching the truth to make a buck. People going to HouseValues do not want an agent. They want the value of their home. That's what the ads offer to home owners, so who can blame them for giving fake contact info.