Complaint Review: Immobilien Scout GmbH

I used the site to post a real estate property for "free." They came back to charge me over 200 euros months later for a service I never signed up for. Using just my email, they have sent my case to a collections agency in Germany. I had no idea there was any charge and never would have used them if I knew any upcoming changes. As you can see from most of these reviews, they aren't even borderline criminals... they seem to be straight-up criminals, and if anyone knows a good way to fight them and protect others from them, let me know.

I looked thoroughly through my email history, and the first time they contacted me about anything after posting my so-called free ad was a bill for over 200 euros. So again, if it were clear at all that the service would ever cost that much, why would anyone ever sign up or use it when there are free and way cheaper alternatives. I also only got spam contacts about the property and didn't get a single lead. Charging so much for a posting is ridiculous, and charging people that much and then sending their info to a collection agency is just awful.

They call the extended charge on a free posting for OVER 200 EURO a "FEE." If that doesn't tell you everything, I don't know what to say. Do most "fees" cost over 200 dollars for posting a few pictures online... can you honestly be serious?? This bait and switch, auto-renew, backdated charge schemes are absolutely deplorable. Please don't use this service; it will only lead to headaches, anger, and frustration.

They saw my review posting and are claiming they sent me a "warning" about an auto-extension of my listing. This is a lie. I looked through my email history and no such mail exists. This is a shameful company that relies on auto-renewal scams to make money. Disgusting.

Even after showing them evidence that I never got any email about my free posting becoming a 250 euro posting, they still will not cancel this service (that I never even used) after making my free post.  They sent it to collections in less than 2 weeks! This is obviously the business model they run. Offer free service, never take any payment details, wait until you build up a few hundred euros or USD in what they call "fees" for not canceling it, send a gigantic bill, then send it to collections lickety-split. This is shameful and in many places is illegal. Stay away from this company at all costs!