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Answers (28)
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Chris -
I see that you didn't bother to delete your quotes, and that you are still quoting..
I assume that means that the "meltdown" was not as bad as you thought?
I see that you didn't bother to delete your quotes, and that you are still quoting..
I assume that means that the "meltdown" was not as bad as you thought?
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Distribution of contact charges for requests created on 3/17/10, for those with FICO > 680; LTV < 96.5%:
http://images3.zillow.com/is/image/i0/i2/i3851/IS16tj8m3et1kf7.jpg
(By the way, it is not the first time that someone tried to pretend they were me on Zillow; It has happened at least 15 times...)
http://images3.zillow.com/is/image/i0/i2/i3851/IS16tj8m3et1kf7.jpg
(By the way, it is not the first time that someone tried to pretend they were me on Zillow; It has happened at least 15 times...)
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"After yesterdays meltdown, I don't want to be contacted/charged for a quote I can no longer deliver on." -
You really think that market fluctuations due to passage of the health care insurance reform legislation will have substantial lasting effects and that the market didn't over-react?
Are your quotes that tight? You don't think customers would understand market change dynamics?
Are you panicking prematurely?
Don't you always expect market fluctuations? Median trend rates on Zillow are still below what they were at the beginning of the year.
Zillow 30 year fixed median rates trend
You really think that market fluctuations due to passage of the health care insurance reform legislation will have substantial lasting effects and that the market didn't over-react?
Are your quotes that tight? You don't think customers would understand market change dynamics?
Are you panicking prematurely?
Don't you always expect market fluctuations? Median trend rates on Zillow are still below what they were at the beginning of the year.
Zillow 30 year fixed median rates trend
- Sherri Sherpy, "MN Mortgage Mom"
- Contributions:476
$80 worth of disputed phony calls waiting to be credited (no loan request, no quote associated with any of these). Another $80 and my account will be depleted and I cannot quote anymore. Frustrating!
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"Is there a way to delete all my quotes without..." -
There is only one "easy fix" that I know of, but is a bit drastic and hard to undo... that would be to downgrade your status from "confirmed lender" to just "lender", thus unable to quote, and all quote references vanish.
Otherwise, I think it is as you said, a one-by-one process.
You may be able to write a script to do it, but it wouldn't be a Zillow approved method, and still may be time consuming.
There is only one "easy fix" that I know of, but is a bit drastic and hard to undo... that would be to downgrade your status from "confirmed lender" to just "lender", thus unable to quote, and all quote references vanish.
Otherwise, I think it is as you said, a one-by-one process.
You may be able to write a script to do it, but it wouldn't be a Zillow approved method, and still may be time consuming.
Many of these issues can be resolved(not completely) by allowing us the option to only be contacted through email as many have requested. I dont understand what the problem with this is. We are paying for the service. It should be up to each individual how they are wish to be contacted.
- Geoffrey ONeil
- Contributions:259
Larry,
Each lender has a different phone number associated with the different price buckets. You have a 1-888 number for a $40 dollar loan request that is different from your 1-888 number for a $30 dollar loan request.
You can see the contact price of any loan quote you have submitted by clicking on your loan quote and then looking at the loan request details.
What number did you call that had you on hold for 40 minutes?
-Geoff-
Each lender has a different phone number associated with the different price buckets. You have a 1-888 number for a $40 dollar loan request that is different from your 1-888 number for a $30 dollar loan request.
You can see the contact price of any loan quote you have submitted by clicking on your loan quote and then looking at the loan request details.
What number did you call that had you on hold for 40 minutes?
-Geoff-
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"If you know how much to charge us for the Phone CIC then you must know what quote it came from right?" -
WRONG; I already posted the answer to that.... Zillow assigns each confirmed lender multiple 888 phone numbers for:
$0 CIC
$5 CIC
$10 CIC
$20 CIC
$30 CIC
$40 CIC
$50 CIC
and
$60 CIC
(eight different phone numbers presently!)
The phone number shown is based on the CIC for the request...,
but there is no way to tie the phone number back to a specific quote!
(I tried to see if one could "farm" all the phone numbers for a given loan officer, but found it was way too much work and not worth the effort; besides, Zillow would have thought each of those loan requests were mine...)
WRONG; I already posted the answer to that.... Zillow assigns each confirmed lender multiple 888 phone numbers for:
$0 CIC
$5 CIC
$10 CIC
$20 CIC
$30 CIC
$40 CIC
$50 CIC
and
$60 CIC
(eight different phone numbers presently!)
The phone number shown is based on the CIC for the request...,
but there is no way to tie the phone number back to a specific quote!
(I tried to see if one could "farm" all the phone numbers for a given loan officer, but found it was way too much work and not worth the effort; besides, Zillow would have thought each of those loan requests were mine...)
- Chris Corica, "Chris Corica"
- Contributions:1075
Is there a way to delete all my quotes without going through them one by one? After yesterdays meltdown, I don't want to be contacted/charged for a quote I can no longer deliver on. What is the EASY fix?
- Larry Jacobson, "Clearpoint"
- Contributions:1214
Geoffrey,
If you know how much to charge us for the Phone CIC then you must know what quote it came from right? I mean if you don't then you wouldn't know what to charge. So why can we not see what quote the call is assoicated with as you do?
Also we can not see what the original charge was on the quote we submitted. The Transaction History will only show me what you charged me for.
If you know how much to charge us for the Phone CIC then you must know what quote it came from right? I mean if you don't then you wouldn't know what to charge. So why can we not see what quote the call is assoicated with as you do?
Also we can not see what the original charge was on the quote we submitted. The Transaction History will only show me what you charged me for.
- Ken Kopper
- Contributions:1578
Is this interest from our prefunded account applied to Zillow profit? Or perhaps David Gibbons' sunglass fund?
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Of course it is not a conspiracy. As I posted 2 months ago when I also E-mailed how to resolve all these issues, Zillow's concern is "page views"; and to get the maximum page views, it is necessary to encourage as many quote requests as possible, even if they are not useful or valid, and even if the requester has no intention of getting a loan.
As for the number of advertisers "accidentally" calling the 888 phone numbers; auto-dialers don't use 888 numbers for their calling list. People are forwarding the numbers they find to those websites for marketing.
Sure, there can be a small percentage that accidentally transpose some digits, or something similar, but from the posts, it is not a small enough percentage to be just random dialing errors. Besides, Zillow bought such a large block of 888 numbers, that I don't see how it would be number transposition or accidentally pushing adjacent keys in the first place. Statistically, that can't be the primary source of the problem.
As I posted 2 months ago, black-listing problem calling phone numbers (as Zillow has been doing) will help some, but will never resolve the problem. The problem cannot be solved until you prevent people that create multiple ID's from generating 100's of requests, and it can't be solved until you make sure the costly contacts are not available to people that didn't request the quote. As I'm still getting "rate these lenders" for looking at other people's quotes for their request, it is clear the issue is not resolved yet, even though there have been recent changes to try to address it.
And for the robo-quoters, there are two data items that need to be provided (which should be in the loan search filters too but are not), that Zillow has not provided, which prevent reasonable quoting, especially for refinances:
1) Year existing loan was initiated
2) Present interest rate (and if variable, the margin and index).
Because these items are not available, almost one thousand quotes are being generated each day that are totally useless and meaningless. And the CIC charges for these are completely set wrong because Zillow is ignoring this important information in setting the CIC charges.
This is not "new information"; it has been said many times before by many people. But somehow it is not being raised to a priority to be address; likely because it will reduce page views, which reduces revenue.
As for the number of advertisers "accidentally" calling the 888 phone numbers; auto-dialers don't use 888 numbers for their calling list. People are forwarding the numbers they find to those websites for marketing.
Sure, there can be a small percentage that accidentally transpose some digits, or something similar, but from the posts, it is not a small enough percentage to be just random dialing errors. Besides, Zillow bought such a large block of 888 numbers, that I don't see how it would be number transposition or accidentally pushing adjacent keys in the first place. Statistically, that can't be the primary source of the problem.
As I posted 2 months ago, black-listing problem calling phone numbers (as Zillow has been doing) will help some, but will never resolve the problem. The problem cannot be solved until you prevent people that create multiple ID's from generating 100's of requests, and it can't be solved until you make sure the costly contacts are not available to people that didn't request the quote. As I'm still getting "rate these lenders" for looking at other people's quotes for their request, it is clear the issue is not resolved yet, even though there have been recent changes to try to address it.
And for the robo-quoters, there are two data items that need to be provided (which should be in the loan search filters too but are not), that Zillow has not provided, which prevent reasonable quoting, especially for refinances:
1) Year existing loan was initiated
2) Present interest rate (and if variable, the margin and index).
Because these items are not available, almost one thousand quotes are being generated each day that are totally useless and meaningless. And the CIC charges for these are completely set wrong because Zillow is ignoring this important information in setting the CIC charges.
This is not "new information"; it has been said many times before by many people. But somehow it is not being raised to a priority to be address; likely because it will reduce page views, which reduces revenue.
- Geoffrey ONeil
- Contributions:259
Kelly,
You do not earn interest on your prepaid Zillow account.
-Geoff-
You do not earn interest on your prepaid Zillow account.
-Geoff-
- Geoffrey ONeil
- Contributions:259
@Pasadenan,
I was wondering how you came to your conclusion.
Do you seriously believe that Zillow not putting a high priority on fixing the bug preventing you from seeing loan requests from over a year ago is a signal that we "don't want you to know?" Zillow is not in the cover up conspiracy business.
@Sherri,
Believe me when I say we are doing everything we can to fix these issues. We are not inadvertently charging you for anything. The number associated with your loan quotes is being dialed, therefor you are being charged for the CIC. We credit back your account when wrong numbers are dial or hang-ups occur. Zillow in no way is attempting to cash in on these wrong calls. We are not trying to "stick it to you." We want our customers to be satisfied with the service we provide.
-Geoff-
I was wondering how you came to your conclusion.
Do you seriously believe that Zillow not putting a high priority on fixing the bug preventing you from seeing loan requests from over a year ago is a signal that we "don't want you to know?" Zillow is not in the cover up conspiracy business.
@Sherri,
Believe me when I say we are doing everything we can to fix these issues. We are not inadvertently charging you for anything. The number associated with your loan quotes is being dialed, therefor you are being charged for the CIC. We credit back your account when wrong numbers are dial or hang-ups occur. Zillow in no way is attempting to cash in on these wrong calls. We are not trying to "stick it to you." We want our customers to be satisfied with the service we provide.
-Geoff-
- Kelly Lacey, "kellylacey"
- Contributions:797
I agree the disputes work but as I ran into, $120 came out of my account for 4 days. That could have caused my account to get zeroed out. The dispute process has to be faster if the phone calls can't be tracked better.
I actually have an off-subject question. The money sitting in our accounts...is that in a non-interest incurring escrow account?
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"This is not true at all" -
Please provide evidence that a majority of people requesting are registered on Zillow and have a real valid E-mail address that works...
Please provide evidence that no loan officers are posting bogus requests to get information from their competition, and that none of them are doing it to spite other quoters.
Please provide evidence that there is not more than 5% requesting that already have a loan in process, or already closed on their loan, and are not just checking the market to see if they got a good deal.
Please provide evidence that those requesting "refinancing" have a high enough present interest rate for it to be economically practical to refinance considering all the loan initiation fees.
I made my statement as "opinion"; you make your statement as fact. If it is a fact, you must have real data to back it up? If so, why isn't it already provided on the website?
Please provide evidence that a majority of people requesting are registered on Zillow and have a real valid E-mail address that works...
Please provide evidence that no loan officers are posting bogus requests to get information from their competition, and that none of them are doing it to spite other quoters.
Please provide evidence that there is not more than 5% requesting that already have a loan in process, or already closed on their loan, and are not just checking the market to see if they got a good deal.
Please provide evidence that those requesting "refinancing" have a high enough present interest rate for it to be economically practical to refinance considering all the loan initiation fees.
I made my statement as "opinion"; you make your statement as fact. If it is a fact, you must have real data to back it up? If so, why isn't it already provided on the website?
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Where am I getting it from?
The ratio of closed loans to number of requests.
Not to mention the person that stated they took out their 30 year fixed rate loan in 1750 and kept pressing the "repost request" button almost every day for about a month.
Also, the number of contacts that people have stated were valid, and the large number that they have stated were not valid and had to be contested.
There are not enough contacts for all the requests made to make the majority of requests serious.
I was going to produce a chart on it a month ago, but the paging feature on the search loan requests pages is broken. Zillow's response was they never expected people to look back more than a few pages, and they may get around to fixing it eventually, but it wasn't a priority for them, meaning they really don't want people to know.
758,382 loan requests since 4/2/08. That would be an average of 1050 requests per day. On 3/17/10, there was an average of 8.23 quotes per request;
Broken down by CIC costs:
CIC$ Avg # quotes
$0 4.11
$5 4.38
$10 9.96
$20 11.15
$30 9.60
$40 13.69
$50 13.19
$60 8.08
Over 25% of requests received no quote, likely meaning they were not quotable.
For the requests with 1 or fewer quotes, 2/3rds of them had a CIC of $0
141,503 of the requests have a loan to value ratio greater than 96.5%, which are not supposed to be quoted on Zillow at all.
That is 18.7% should have been rejected before they were even posted.
The ratio of closed loans to number of requests.
Not to mention the person that stated they took out their 30 year fixed rate loan in 1750 and kept pressing the "repost request" button almost every day for about a month.
Also, the number of contacts that people have stated were valid, and the large number that they have stated were not valid and had to be contested.
There are not enough contacts for all the requests made to make the majority of requests serious.
I was going to produce a chart on it a month ago, but the paging feature on the search loan requests pages is broken. Zillow's response was they never expected people to look back more than a few pages, and they may get around to fixing it eventually, but it wasn't a priority for them, meaning they really don't want people to know.
758,382 loan requests since 4/2/08. That would be an average of 1050 requests per day. On 3/17/10, there was an average of 8.23 quotes per request;
Broken down by CIC costs:
CIC$ Avg # quotes
$0 4.11
$5 4.38
$10 9.96
$20 11.15
$30 9.60
$40 13.69
$50 13.19
$60 8.08
Over 25% of requests received no quote, likely meaning they were not quotable.
For the requests with 1 or fewer quotes, 2/3rds of them had a CIC of $0
141,503 of the requests have a loan to value ratio greater than 96.5%, which are not supposed to be quoted on Zillow at all.
That is 18.7% should have been rejected before they were even posted.
- Sherri Sherpy, "MN Mortgage Mom"
- Contributions:476
Geoff, you must try to understand the frustration that so many are dealing with here. No offense, but I think it may be time for someone over there to stop hiding behind the pitcher of Koolaid and try to work out these bugs.
No loan request, no quote, no CIC...the loan officer should absolutely not be charged EVER for these anonymous phone calls. We are busy enough and now we have to babysit our Lender Billing transactions for phony charges? Please.
No loan request, no quote, no CIC...the loan officer should absolutely not be charged EVER for these anonymous phone calls. We are busy enough and now we have to babysit our Lender Billing transactions for phony charges? Please.
- Sherri Sherpy, "MN Mortgage Mom"
- Contributions:476
Geoff, I can agree with you in that, Zillow has no way of knowing that someone is dialing a wrong number. HOWEVER, your system continues to CHARGE for an anonymous phone call that has absolutely nothing to do with Zillow! I just disputed 2 more tonight. Out of state phone calls...NO loan request associated...NO quote associated...NO CIC. What rationale can you give that Zillow just inadvertantly charges a loan officer for any ambiguous call that comes through to our 800 number? I thought Zillow's "dynamic pricing is market based". Market based on what? Market based on trying to stick it to a loan officer on a call that has NOTHING to do with Zillow in an attempt that the loan officer will not notice and Zillow can cash in?
I will hang up and wait for your answer...
I will hang up and wait for your answer...
- Geoffrey ONeil
- Contributions:259
Pasadenan wrote:
I'm not surprised. I'm convinced that most quote requests are bogus.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is not true at all. Where are you getting this from?
-Geoff-
I'm not surprised. I'm convinced that most quote requests are bogus.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is not true at all. Where are you getting this from?
-Geoff-
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
"I've had 47 contacts so far. Only one was legit" -
I'm not surprised. I'm convinced that most quote requests are bogus.
Besides, for quite some time, if someone looked at a quote that wasn't theirs, Zillow would show the contact charge phone number, and would incorrectly assume that the request was by the viewer. Some of that has been fixed, but as I still get "rate this lender" for viewing quotes from others' requests, I still convinced there are some software bugs still to be resolved.
If Zillow would just require registration with a real E-mail address, and send a confirmation code through the E-mail t activate the registration, most of these problems would be solved.
Charging a user 50 cents on a credit card to request a quote would be even more efficient at eliminating bogus requests and thus bogus contacts.
I'm not surprised. I'm convinced that most quote requests are bogus.
Besides, for quite some time, if someone looked at a quote that wasn't theirs, Zillow would show the contact charge phone number, and would incorrectly assume that the request was by the viewer. Some of that has been fixed, but as I still get "rate this lender" for viewing quotes from others' requests, I still convinced there are some software bugs still to be resolved.
If Zillow would just require registration with a real E-mail address, and send a confirmation code through the E-mail t activate the registration, most of these problems would be solved.
Charging a user 50 cents on a credit card to request a quote would be even more efficient at eliminating bogus requests and thus bogus contacts.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
By the way, Larry, on the thread Lender or Broker, Jim (straight forward, a division of Tri-Star Financial) indicating that many of his loans are funded through ClearPoint, but that he offers better rates, better terms, and better disclosure.
I disagree. Perhaps you can comment on that thread to show some quote comparisons?
I disagree. Perhaps you can comment on that thread to show some quote comparisons?
- Doug Hutchins, "90 day rate locks"
- Contributions:721
I've had 47 contacts so far. Only one was legit.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21424
Zillow figures out the charges based on what phone number shows. The same phone number shows for all $40 CIC quotes..., the free number shows on the profile...
There is no connection of a phone number to what quote was being looked at. Even if they tried to coordinate the time a phone call was being made with the quote being looked at it wouldn't work, as people write down phone numbers and call later, and there are lots of people viewing different quote pages all at the same time.
To issue separate 888 numbers for each quote request would make the 888 numbers outrageously expensive. Sure, they could add an "extension" that would have to be dialed to identify the quote prior to allowing the contact to go through, but that would require some additional hardware and software. And that could present some problems with the free contacts through the profile. Not to mention, if a user had to dial 4 to 10 extra digits, the user may give up.
There is no connection of a phone number to what quote was being looked at. Even if they tried to coordinate the time a phone call was being made with the quote being looked at it wouldn't work, as people write down phone numbers and call later, and there are lots of people viewing different quote pages all at the same time.
To issue separate 888 numbers for each quote request would make the 888 numbers outrageously expensive. Sure, they could add an "extension" that would have to be dialed to identify the quote prior to allowing the contact to go through, but that would require some additional hardware and software. And that could present some problems with the free contacts through the profile. Not to mention, if a user had to dial 4 to 10 extra digits, the user may give up.
- Geoffrey ONeil
- Contributions:259
Larry,
What number were you calling?
Any borrower who calls should be able to give you a loan quote and loan request ID. You can see the price for any contact you have been charged for in the transaction history page.
As for phone contacts, Zillow has absolutely no way of knowing that someone is dialing a wrong number nor do we know if it is someone making a sales call. This is why we have the dispute function and why we record the calls.
-Geoff-
What number were you calling?
Any borrower who calls should be able to give you a loan quote and loan request ID. You can see the price for any contact you have been charged for in the transaction history page.
As for phone contacts, Zillow has absolutely no way of knowing that someone is dialing a wrong number nor do we know if it is someone making a sales call. This is why we have the dispute function and why we record the calls.
-Geoff-
- Larry Jacobson, "Clearpoint"
- Contributions:1214
They have been great at giving me a credit for these calls, but they need to figure out a better way to charge for phone calls which would eliviate the time they are spending on disputes.
- Kelly Lacey, "kellylacey"
- Contributions:797
I received an email and 3 phone calls from 1 loan request. Got charged 4x for a total of $160. I did get reimbursed for the phone calls but that was a lot of money missing from my account. It seems like the whole phone thing has too many bugs in it right now.
Zillow Charging for any phone call?
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- 5.0/5.0
- (9 reviews)
Contributions:1214I have disputed a vast majority of my phone CIC's because they were either sales calls or completely the wrong number. Zillow has no quote attached to the phone call charge so I do not know if it is an actual quote or just someone clicking on my number through my profile. Zillow can then charge me whatever amount they feel like because there is know way for me to double check it.
I have sent emails to David G on two occasions asking about this, I've spoke to Scott when he calls from Zillow trying to sell me something and I have even tried to contact customer service but after 40 minutes of being on hold I give up.
What is the deal? Phone contacts must have the quote id attached to them otherwise I do not know if the actual person who placed the quote is contacting me, what I quoted, or even how much I should be charged.
Zillow please give me an answer or stop charging for calls unless you can assure me that it is related to a particular quote not to mention what the original price for that request was.
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