Zillow Group, Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
You are not doing the action requested - adjusting or removing your inaccurate valuation - and also the information you are giving me is not accurate.  There is no method for a home owner to make their estimate public.  You response has said that a home owner can post their own estimate on your website, but this is not the case.  At least all instructions on how to do this are incorrect.
Also, I would like an explanation of why the valuation of my home dropped 20% since December whereas other homes in this neighborhood and area have risen 10%.
Sincerely,[redacted]

Our Listing Policy (http://www.zillow.com/corp/Quality.htm) permits only the exclusive listing agent to advertise a listing.  This individual was posting listings that did not belong to him, and continued to do so even after an initial warning. Since he is not the...

exclusive listing agent for the properties he is listing, he is in violation of our Listing Policy so this is not a matter of adhering to or comply with guidelines.  This individual has violated our Listing Policy twice and unfortunately, we cannot provide more assistance matter.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
 This was only posted after my complaint was filed but atleast I am up now.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We reached out to this individual today (9/28/15) and asked that they please send us a copy of the credit card statement showing the billing that is believed to be overcharged so we can investigate the matter further.

To Whom It May Concern:Zillow does not guarantee a certain amount of leads, as our advertising product is based on impressions. During the time [redacted] says she could not get in contact with Zillow, our records show us calling her on 5/17/17, 5/22/17, 5/24/17 at 9:32am and 11:00am, 5/25/17, 6/8/17,...

7/20/17, 9/14/17, 9/26/17, and 10/4/17, as well as multiple emails during that time period. If [redacted] has further questions, she can contact her sales representative, Rory G[redacted] at [redacted]

This individual has been in contact with our consumer care team over the last month and unfortunately, we do not have any new information to provide. Zillow displays property information to provide consumers with transparent real estate information. We receive this information from public records,...

third-party data providers, homeowners, and real estate professionals. Our mission is to empower consumers with information and tools to make smart decisions about homes, real estate, and mortgages. However, we encourage buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research.As stated in our previous correspondence, the school information that appears on Zillow is sent to us periodically through a syndication from third-party websites, GreatSchools.org and Maponics.com. Since this is an automated update process, we are unable to manually edit, add, or delete school information. We encourage our users to check with the applicable school district prior to making a decision based on these boundaries. If the incorrect schools are assigned, they will be corrected during the next automated update. Please note that we do not manually change the schools listed and we are unable to expedite this process. In the meantime, if they wish to included specific schools for their listing we recommend adding in the home description section of the listing.In regards to the Zestimate, this is an estimate calculated using a proprietary computer-generated algorithm. Some of the data used in this calculation includes physical attributes, tax assessments, and prior and current transactions. It is simply an estimate using the data provided about the home. Please know that we do not intend for the Zestimate to replace a comparative market analysis or an appraisal as these can take into account market intricacies that the Zestimate cannot. Although Zillow strives to provide accurate home valuations, the Zestimate value serves only as a starting point and is by no means an appraisal. Zillow makes this clear on our website: http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/ and in our Terms of Use: http://www.zillow.com/corp/Terms.htm. We do not directly edit or remove individual Zestimates. While we monitor customer feedback for systematic issues with the algorithm, we do not change individual Zestimates in response to customer feedback. We understand that some homes may be unique in ways that are not well captured by existing data. To provide more information on a home's value, we encourage homeowners to include their estimated value in the ‘Owners Estimate’ section of your property page. This provides the opportunity for the homeowner to explain what they feel their home is worth given its unique features. If the home is actively listed with a real estate agent, the agent also has the opportunity to provide comments on the home's value by adding an agent note to the property listing. To learn more about the Zestimate, we encourage our users to follow this link: http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/.

To Whom It May Concern,
 
Thank you for the email. I have researched [redacted] account and it appears that she cancelled on 1/29/2016. I'm sorry that she hasn't heard anything back regarding this account. I've included her sales rep and manager's information below. She may contact...

them if she wishes to further discuss her refund request.
 
Peter C[redacted]
[redacted]@zillow.com[redacted]
Jami T[redacted]
[redacted]@zillow.com
[redacted]

It appears that this listing was manually posted by this individual's account, rather than syndicated to Zillow from a listing feed. A member of our Consumer Care Team is reaching out to this individual today to help troubleshoot further.

We apologize for any confusion regarding the Zestimate that appear on our site.  The Zestimate is an estimate produced by a computer-generated algorithm using public and user-submitted data available for each individual home. Because the specifics of the Zestimate calculation are proprietary,...

we cannot provide more information on specific reasons for an individual change.Please keep in mind that the Zestimate is not a fixed value. It is both common and anticipated that the Zestimate for a home will fluctuate which is why we also provide a Zestimate Range on each property page. The Zestimate Range is the high and low estimate calculated by the Zestimate algorithm. The more information, the smaller the range, and the more accurate the Zestimate tends to be. It may also fluctuate when any new information is made available or if there are updates to the Zestimate algorithm model. Recently, we launched an update to the Zestimate algorithm. As a result, some Zestimates increased immediately, while some decreased. The change you are describing is due to the Zestimate algorithm being updated. When major improvements to the algorithm are made, it does re-compute the historical Zestimates for affected homes. Our purpose in doing so is to provide consumers with the best estimate of historical property valuations. In this case, the previous Zestimate for this home was calculated by the previous model. When the model was updated, the Zestimate was recalculated along with all previous historical Zestimates for the home by the newly applied model.A historical Zestimate (shown in the graph) is not like a historical stock price, which doesn't change after being recorded. A stock price is a record of an actual empirical event and doesn't change. A Zestimate, on the other hand, is an estimate based off the data available and can change when we have a better algorithm to estimate that value. People ultimately have more fundamental reasons that drive what they choose to buy or not buy. Our data shows that half of all sales are generally above the Zestimate.  Zillow encourages buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research such as getting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent; getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser; visiting the house (when possible). While we monitor customer feedback for system-wide issues with the algorithm, we cannot change or remove individual Zestimates in response to customer feedback. This feedback has already been recorded and it will be used to help improve the Zestimate algorithm as a whole in the future. Beyond this, there is no further action we can take at this time. To learn more about the Zestimate, please visit this link: http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/.

As mentioned previously, the Zestimate is calculated by a software program.  It is an estimate generated based off of the data available for each individual home. The Zestimate is not a fixed value, like an appraisal. It is both common and anticipated that the Zestimate for a home will fluctuate which is why we also provide a Zestimate Range on each property page. The Zestimate Range is the high and low estimate calculated by the Zestimate algorithm. The more information, the smaller the range, and the more accurate the Zestimate. The Zestimate will continue to fluctuate as it models market ebb and flow. It may also fluctuate when any new information is made available or if there are updates to the algorithm model. 
At this point, if this individual wishes to provide more information about their home, they can post their own estimated value and comment in the Owners Estimate section indicating your support for a different valuation. The owner's estimate will not change or influence the Zestimate calculation but it can help provide additional information to other users viewing this property page. 
 
Again, we do not manually change or remove individual Zestimates in the manner this individual is requesting and we make this clear on our site: http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/. Our response remains the same and there is no further action we can take at this time.

Hi [redacted],We're sorry to hear that you've had trouble reaching us! I've asked one of our Agent Care representatives to contact you regarding this request. Thanks again for your patience and sorry for the trouble you've experienced!

In checking our records, we see that this individual has previously contacted our Consumer Care Team. There is no new information to provide at this time. We cannot manually change, edit, or remove individual Zestimates. To recap, the Zestimate is an estimate calculated using a computer-generated...

algorithm. The current Zestimate model uses millions of data points when calculating an estimate on each individual home. Any differences in data between two properties could result in a different Zestimate calculation. Although Zillow strives to provide accurate home valuations, the Zestimate value is meant only to serve as a starting point in determining a home's value.
We encourage buyers, sellers, and homeowners to supplement Zillow's information by doing other research such as: getting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent; getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser; visiting the house (when possible).
Again, the Zestimate is not intended to replace a comparative market analysis or an appraisal, as they can take into account market intricacies that the Zestimate cannot. Zillow makes this clear on each property page (screenshot attached) and our website (http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/).
We understand that some homes may be unique in ways that are not well captured by existing data and our current Zestimate model. To provide more information on a home, we encourage users to include their estimated value by providing an owner's estimate in the Zestimate Details section of the property page. If the home is actively listed with a real estate agent, the agent can log into their Zillow account and provide an agent note that displays the same information. This provides the opportunity to explain what you feel your home is worth given its unique features and include the appraised value on the property page.
While we monitor customer feedback for systematic issues with the algorithm, we do not change or remove individual Zestimates in response to customer feedback. Reports of possible issues with Zestimates are recorded to help with efforts to improve the Zestimate algorithm as a whole in the future. For more information on the Zestimate, we encourage all of our users to visit this link: http://www.zillow.com/zestimate/.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: Contracts signed under false pretenses are not legally binding. I was mislead by your representative into signing by being told I had a trial period. Sincerely,[redacted]

The data shown in the "See Data Sources" link displays the data that was syndicated to Zillow's database from county public records. We cannot manually add or edit the information that appears under the "County Records" column under the "See Data Sources" link, as this is simply meant to show the data we've received from county records. We understand that no one knows your home better than the homeowner and sometimes home facts change, which is why we provide users the opportunity to edit their home facts. If the square footage is incorrect, a homeowner or real estate agent can update this information displayed on the listing. In the "All Source Combined" column, this combines data from broker listing feeds, user-submitted information, and county records. The square footage that is displayed on the listing is consistent with the user-submitted information from the All Sources Combined column. Please see the attached screenshot of the listing that currently appears on Zillow. The square footage is reported as 4,970 sq ft.Regarding the taxes paid in 2015, the data we have available from the county shows the taxes paid for 2015 as $4,758.94 as shown in the screenshots originally provided. Since we cannot verify the $5,529.57 with the county, we will need the user to provide an official tax bill confirming the taxes paid were $5,529.57. Once we are able to confirm the amount in question, we can make the requested changes to the database. Unfortunately, we cannot make any changes that cannot be verified.

Hello,
Thank you for the email response. The information that I sent[redacted] before is directly from the Postlets team regarding their rules and policies in terms of posting listings on their site. They explained to her that As long as she agrees to abide by our policies and post only her listings are exclusive, we can reactivate her account. However, her previous listings will deleted since some of them violate our Listings Quality Policy under our Terms of Use. If she abides by the policies then we will activate her account. Please let me know if you have additional questions. 
 
Thanks

In checking our records, we have been in correspondence with this individual before regarding this same request. To recap, Zillow Group strives to provide open and transparent information about real estate markets. We receive this information from public records gathered by a third-party data...

collector from each county. Our mission is to empower consumers with information and tools to make smart decisions about homes, real estate and mortgages. For this reason, we do not remove public record property information from Zillow.The information displayed on our site is regarding the property itself. We do not provide homeowner's names or personally identifiable information on the site. Property data appears on Zillow regardless of if the home is actively listed for sale or for rent. In reviewing the property in question, the home is currently shown as "off market" which means the home is not listed for rent or for sale. Additionally, there is no reference to the specific layout of the home, the home's contents, or location of children's bedrooms as this individual indicated. Please see the attached screenshot for reference. At this point, there is no additional information to provide as we do not remove public record information from our website. If the complaint relates to a legal problem, this individual can have their attorney or local authorities contact our legal team at [redacted] or at [redacted].

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Our support department is reaching back out to this user to clarify any outstanding issues and give him another chance.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:  Wow, so now Zillow says that anybody can write a review without even having worked with the agent. This to me is slanderous and a defamation of character.  Zillow seems to write whatever they want and let it pass as an honest and reliable review.  No wonder they have so many bad reviews everywhere.  Sincerely,[redacted]

To whom it may concern,
We appreciate your email and feedback. Sorry to hear that your Account Manager has changed a couple of times, I will make sure that the Account Manager assigned to your account reaches out to you next week to have a conversation. Hopefully you had success with the one...

qualified lead that came through. The product is not designed to show you ROI within 30 days, it happens all the time, but it depends on how built up the agents profile is (reviews, past sales, etc). Most all agents see a return on their investment within 6 months of the program. Marketing calls happen with all on-line advertising programs so its impossible to avoid them, but if you are averaging 1-2 qualified leads and you are able to convert them, you will see a ROI with this product. Hope this helps. Have a great weekend.