I had a HouseValues contract - a 6 month 'trial'. It was a waste of time, money and effort. Numerous people I had contacted as part of the program did not read the fine print about how the HV system worked and were NOT expecting to be contacted by an agent. Several were represented by an agent already and wanted a 'second opinion' on the value set by their REALTOR(R). And some were just wasting time to see what their home was worth this week.

As for being liable for the remaining 1/2 of the contract, you should check with your state Attorney General's office and see if your state has adopted an amended version of the E-Signature Law. NC, my home s tate has. Ours says that if you enter an electronically signed contract - it is considered signed in the state in which you reside (NC). Any lawsuits, mediation or arbitration must occur here in NC. Also, in the event of "liquidated damages", it does NOT allow for them. You can't owe for what you did not receive. They can't claim you owe them for services that they did not render to you, nor for services that did not incur a "cost" to them. Their leads can be sold to some other person. They have no "damages" to claim for.

Either way, I tried their service and was horridly disappointed in what I had received - so I cancelled the card to which the payments were tied to, notified them via mail in advance, and put the brakes on the whole works. Yes they sent my "file" to their friendly collection agency RPM, but I politely told them to go pound sand.

I chalked this entire event up to a learning experience and I hav e shared this with all of the agents that I come into contact with. This type of business model "sucks" and it is for the benefit of the lead generating company only. They do not care as to the quality of the lead they send you, they do not care about you as an agent- they want the money. This entire scheme was designed to make them as much or more money on the back end than the front. They have no obligation to you at all. You, as their customer, are tied to paying them whether their service works or not. (After all, you signed their "Iron-Clad" contract didn't you??)

IF I had done my due diligence, then I would have checked them out on the www.ripoffreport.com site before I signed up. Unfortunately I did not and I had to learn the hard way.

I came away with a number of important pieces of info:

Never do business with a company that has a one-way contract. Never sign up for a NON-CANCELLABLE contract. Always check out th e company online - particularly as to abuses, satisfaction and referrals. Good companies will let you out of a contract to keep you happy. Bad companies will have LOTS of bad press and will be listed on every blog, bad busineess bureau and consumer site.
Did they call you? Look to their motivation. Do they really offer anything you can use? Do you have to sign up TODAY?? RIGHT NOW!!!!???? That is an OLD TACTIC, hurry before it's too late!!! What that really says is: We don't want you to think about this too long, you might realize it's a REALLY bad deal for you....

So, yes they might have your feet to the fire, but like I told them, I was NOT PAYING their liquidated damages. They could go pound sand and....well you know the rest.

Jason Messer
e-pro

PS, as a side note, check out their stock price. It WAS in the upper teens, now it is $4.98/share. Do you think there is a problem? Hmmm......