Roomster review: internet scam! 19

Roomster.net did the same to me. Completely unaware of the requirments and I do business all the time online. No notification, customer service indifferent, I'm out almost $100 and no roommate!

First off, I am aware that this is an old blog; however, since they are still at it, I will follow-up with a similar situation.

I signed up for the four-day trial; but I read the ToS, so I knew that they would try to automatically renew it.
So when I went to cancel it, it kept telling me that it couldn't complete the request. Eventually, it finally claimed to have successfully cancelled the subscription, but I was still charged. I sent several e-mails which were not responded to and also attempted to use their HelpDesk, which kept giving me error messages [yes, all of my progras are up to date; I am no internet novice].

After the second charge, I decided to try the HelpDesk again, this time with a notification that I was informing the BBB. Interesting that it worked once I decided to do that. I am also going to meet with an attorney if this does not stop soon and am looking to join one of the pending class-action lawsuits floating around.

While it's not illegal to have hidden resubscriptions [although it is considered an unethical business practice], it IS illegal to prevent customers from cancelling a subscription if you have no terms that mandate they must subscribe for a certain amount of time.

l also just got an overdue charge as well, from roomsters.net l am NOT happy about this and now am ready to cancel my subscription.

I had a similar experience as well. What a scam that website is! It's almost impossible to find a compatible roommate on there considering the fact that the ones you contact don't have a subscription therefore can't read your email. I sent them a letter of complaint and was not happy with their response either!

They are huge crooks. They also took $29.95 out of my account, and I filed a complaint with my credit card company. If it is not returned to my account I am going to contact the police.

This is still happening...i just got done for $29.95 after i signed up for 3 days! If you google 'Roomster' nothing comes up about this scam, no matter how many people have written about it on different websites its somehow blocked...i had to search for 'Roomster scam' before i found anything about other people's experiences...how can we make it known to people so these crooks can stop taking peoples money?

I got charged 3 times before realizing this. The most recent caused my bank account to overdraft putting me in the hole by over $60.00. How can I get this money back?

The same thing happened to me! I had close to $150 in unauthorized charges and never got a roommate from this site. I had to cancel my debit card to stop them from charging me.

The problem is that it will not stop there; they will continue withdrawing money from your credit card unless you declare your card lost or stolen as I did. Roomster says that in order to stop the payment you need to cancel the subscription from your roomster account but there is no tab on your personal account to do so. There is a section where you can disable your account but they will still take money from your account every month. So I suggest you to cancel your credit card so they will issue a new card number for you and roomster will not have authorization to withdraw money from your account anymore. I know it is a nuisance to do so but it is the only way to stop them. I really wish someone will take legal action against them soon or later. In the mean time one way to revenge is to open a new FREE account with roomster and to use their GIVE A SHOUT to the other member warning everyone about the danger of giving roomster their credit card number. I have done so and I have warned about 10.000 around the world about this scam, but finally romster banned me from accessing their web site. So I decided to find a way around it and I downloaded a software to hide my IP address (you can do the same by following this link http://www.hide-ip-soft.com/download.htm ). Now I can access roomster.com again to continue my warning campaign. I hope that many people will follow my suit so roomster will have no choice but to actually go and get a real job to make a living as many of us do instead of stealing from honest people

I was just scammed by roomster as well. I caught on after a 2 week trial period I paid for $15. I agreed to a 2 week trial and not an ongoing renewal subscription. Since I regularly check my credit cards and banking statements I noticed early on that there was a withdraw of a full month ($30) in addition to the $15 for the 2 week period...the $30 showed up when my trial period had ended. I messaged them on the site about the re-occurring charge and they replied stating it was in the terms of agreement and that I could only stop it by canceling my subscription and that they could not refund me and that i have access to the site for the remainder of the month...I never knew I had a subscription. So I canceled it immediately and demanded a return of the $30. They wont refund it so I am going through my financial institution to prevent further charges and to reverse the charge with an investigation. BBB should be notified of their unethical ways of charging people for unwanted, continued services.

This service is a RIP OFF. This John S. Shriber has a business that deceives, repeat deceives the general public. They advertise hundreds of ads for roommates when in fact the majority are out-of-date. They was only four that matched my criteria. Thus, where is the hundreds that they advertise. Also, my subscription was to be a one time, but now find out it is a recurring fee. Thus, if this is a LEGITIMATE business, they should give the customer a complete refund. However, this seems to be a fly by night operation run by scam artist like John S. Shriber. Let me just make you aware Mr. Shribe, I have your business address. Thus, the next time I visit NYC which will be real soon I am going to pay a visit to your office for a COMPLETE REFUND! In the meantime, I am going to communicate with the Attorney Generals Office of NY. Why, because you are a fraud! You are ripping the public off! This is not a legitimate business. YOU operate behind the computer feeling that you are not imune to legal prosecution. Remember, those that rip off the public, their time will come Mr. Shriber. Your time will come.

Same scam still at it, just got me too. $29.95 for a $5 trial. Cost me $120.00. Had to cancel my credit card to stop them.

"Remember, those that rip off the public, their time will come Mr. Shriber. Your time will come."

Besides posting on sites like this one you can forward this and other sites to the FBI Internet Crimes website known as IC3. These guys have shut down well documented and numerously complained about sites. Thanks for giving mr the heads up.

It's not surprising to hear of this kind of behavior from a company that runs an "affiliate program". They don't tell the affiliates to spam anyone -- wink wink, nudge nudge -- but their spam appears multiple times a day on the Craigslist room shares section (at least in Oregon).

This happened to me, too. I paid for 3-day access and, lo and behold, Roomster charged me another $29.99 about a week later. Okay, I admit, I never read the terms of service since they're usually pretty obvious ... don't post obscene content, no fraud, etc. But this is just ridiculous.
And even if I had seen the part about renewed subscriptions, based on other peoples' experiences, it wouldn't have made a difference! So what, now I have to cance3l my card?!
Where's the lawsuit? Cause I'm in like my foot up Mr. Schriber's [censor].

This website is a fraud. I was being charged 29.95 a month and I just logged in for a 3 day trial. On top of that there is no contact number. Do NOT use this website they are a SCAM. I found an awesome roommate on craigslist and if was free. I prefer you go there.

William Johnson is the ### of the earth! After complaining about the same issue as all of you, they treated me awfully on their help desk by being rude and snarky (even though they made about a million grammatical and spelling mistakes- seriously, you can't be snarky if you spell "companies" as "company's").

After giving me a refund only after I complained to the BBB, this is what they had to say: " It would seem that [I am] really enjoying wasting the BBB's and Roomster's time. In any event please find attached proof that we have issued a full refund. I have also attached her obnoxious comments from our helpdesk even after we advised her of her full refund. We consider this case closed and hope to never hear from her again.

Sincerely,
William N. Johnson [protected])"

This was after they did NOT send me the check in the time frame that they themselves stipulated!

My claim with the BBB won't be closed until they apologize!

You can cancel before your time/trial is up. I just paid for 3 days trial on Paypal, I was notified by paypal that there was also a recurring subscription, which I promptly canceled (still retaining my 3 days). This process works with most trial subscriptions. If you sign up for almost any trial and they ask for your card, they WILL KEEP CHARGING YOU.

I was lead to Roomster in the Seattle area while searching for a room on Craigslist. The room was close by and a great bargain. The response in the Craiglist add for this room was to sign up with Roomster and the party renting would respond. I signed up but the room was no where to be found.( I am beginning to wonder if this is how Roomster finds some of its business) While on the sight I saw an add for a room in the Magnolia area of Seattle. I responded but found I could not get any answers as to availability unless I paid for it. I was given 3 options. One was for 3 days at $5.95, the second was for about $15.00 (can't remember exact price) and the 3rd was for $29.95 for one month. The 3rd option states you would be billed monthly at that rate. I opted for the first one since there is no commitment mentioned as a trial. The person I contacted on the Roomster sight sounded legit but it turned into a huge scam where someone hijacked someone else's add and tried to have me wire money to Norman, Oklahoma. I then discovered Roomster had charged me $29.95 without my authorization. I honored it because I noted the charge later.and contacted roomster who responded by telling me I was obligated now with some phantom contract. Also they did not give me the full 3 days before charging me $29.95. I immediately went into the sight after contacting Roomster and eliminated any further charges.(They claim it is easy to do)! While on the site for one month there was very little activity that fit my search and I ran into two more scammers. The Seattle rental market is very tight and expensive now and there is not much to rent out there. It is a scammers market and Roomster appears to be a hiding hot bed for some of these scammers. I have received alerts with the same message. I checked in with PayPal where Roomster received my payment and found they continued to charge me despite my cancellation and get this you sign up for 3 automatic withdrawls! I called my bank to stop payment and had Pay Pal cancel. It is best to contact the Attorney Generals office as well as BBB
Roomster is not any better than Craigslist and there add is misleading with the payments.