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No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

By
Commercial Real Estate Agent with Matthews Capital Markets NMLS 2415712

www.RealEstateAgentSearch.info  is a scam.

Real Estate Agent Search, run by IMS Leads and Lisa Scherzer, is nothing more than a veiled attempt to steal your money.  It's a hoax, a joke, a fly by night operation that doesn't respond to repeated attempts by phone or e-mail to explain or justify their service offering.  They are a company certainly deserving of the "Cheeseball Award" bestowed upon them and their induction to the Active Rain Hall of Shame.

Lisa lists the following "Associates" on her profile:

03/26/2007 Benjamin Jenks (First Rate Mortgage) Loan Officer  
05/08/2007 Hank Parmenter (ERA American Realty) Real Estate Agent Always good to have another ERA contact 
06/18/2007 Tom Braatz (Realty Executives Elite) Real Estate Agent Contact 
06/29/2007 David M. Childress (Realty One, Real Living) Real Estate Agent  

If any of you can contact her, please suggest that this thief return my phone calls.  My number is 858-699-4590. 

Let me give you some background:

This advertisement, FREE REAL ESTATE LEADS, was run by Lisa Scherzer of IMS Leads on March 26, 2007 here on Active Rain.

Lisa was a new Active Rain member at the time and "spammed" the groups with her advertisement.  She was met with derision by many a member here.  The title of my post,  "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" explains how Lisa Scherzer conducts her business.  I quickly rose to Lisa's defense and chastised the critics of her ad.  I felt that they were unjustly slamming someone who was just trying to make a buck.

I put my money where my mouth is and actually paid ten bucks for the 90-day trial period.

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED 

I gave you all a thirty day update with its tepid results.  This is when I started e-mailing Lisa to see how I might improve my "listing".  Clearly, this is not new ground for me.  I've advertised on Zillow, Yahoo, and Google. I was always treated fairly even though the ads didn't always work out as I might have hoped.

I was quite surprised that she didn't embrace my attempt to legitimize her new directory.  I have been fortunate enough to garner some readership here on Active Rain.  One would think that success with me might silence her critics and generate quite a bit of business for her.

Scam artists are in it for the hustle, though.  They're never in it for the long term.

I have e-mailed and called Lisa over ten times in the past 30 days.  I knew I was about to get charged $27 for three months and didn't feel comfortable pursuing an ongoing advertising relationship with IMS Leads.

Lisa's phone has been turned off.  Her cell phone goes straight to voice-mail.  The e-mail address, which worked fine when she took my money, doesn't seem to respond.

Lisa's Pay Pal account works, though.  She charged me $27 last week.  Against my wishes.  I'll bet it takes me months to stop Lisa from stealing more of my money.

Comments (86)

Joe Zapata
Keller Williams Realty Media World - Burbank, CA
Your Burbank Real Estate Expert

I love when I get a phone call from one of these fly by night operations. 

I tell them that I am busy and that if they would send me an e-mail with there site and program information.  Most of the time they can't.  Then I just go off on how can they expect me to entrust them with my business when they cannot even validate for me something simple with an e-mail.

Most of the time they just hang up

Jul 06, 2007 07:35 AM
Paula Henry
Home to Indy Team @ HomeSmart Realty Group - Avon, IN
Realtor - Indianapolis Real Estate - 317-605-4174
Brian - I have to admit I made it over here after reading BB. I remember back when you defended her....it just stinks! Thanks for telling us your story. I have fallen for some of these in my day - now I don't trust any of them...
Jul 06, 2007 08:23 AM
Christina Ethridge
The North Idaho Dream Team powered by SKE Realty Group - Coeur d'Alene, ID
I love Broker Bryants response -ROFL!!!  We've just made it a policy that we do not purchase leads or use lead services, ever.
Jul 06, 2007 08:32 AM
Cindy Lin
Staged4more School of Home Staging - South San Francisco, CA
Host, The Home Staging Show podcast

That's just terrible. I believe you can email/call paypal to explain the situation and stop the payment. If you paid via a credit card on paypal, you can stop the payment from your credit card. I usually use my Amex with purchases from vendors I am not familiar with so in case there is a dispute Amex is fierce when it comes to fighting for my money!

Thanks for exposing the scam,

Cindy 

Jul 06, 2007 10:00 AM
John Hurlbut
Keller Williams - Puyallup - Puyallup, WA
I had been spammed with their e-mail before I ever saw them on AR.  Any of those companies that charge you for leads seem suspect to me.  Just another one trying to get inbetween the agent and the client to make a buck.  Pity really.  Glad you were able to stop the cash flow though.
Jul 06, 2007 10:31 AM
John Evarts
Classic Property Management of Santa Clarita - Santa Clarita, CA
Thanks for sharing. Its going to take work to keep them at bay. I know this wasn't fun to write, but it was worth the read.
Jul 06, 2007 10:57 AM
Nattalie de la Mothe
Maximum One Greater Atlanta Realtors - Atlanta, GA
Selling Atlanta Homes like a Boss
Yikes.. I am sorry you're having to deal with this,. Like you have nothing better to do.. I wish you all the best and hope you get this resolved sooner than later
Jul 06, 2007 12:12 PM
Debbie White
Southeast Alaska Real Estate - Juneau, AK
I Sell Alaska!
It was really nice of you to test this service for us, but a drag you got burned!  Maybe you could include a copy of this blog with your dispute.  There are also a lot of PayPal users here :-)
Jul 06, 2007 01:33 PM
Ana Connell
G & C Properties - Burbank, CA
Burbank Real Estate Agent
Sorry you went through this.  Appreciate you sharing the story.
Jul 06, 2007 05:03 PM
William J. Archambault, Jr.
The Real Estate Investment Institute - Houston, TX

Brian,

I enjoy exchanging comments with you, but I'm glad that I don't have anything to say about this woman.

I do believe that you've just pioneered a great new service here on AR. It takes a lot to warn us.

Thank you.

Bill

Jul 06, 2007 06:12 PM
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes
I do not like using Pay Pal for reasons like this. If you use your bank credit card you can always get your money back in about 30 days. Banks have a good system of putting a stop of scams like is being described. Good luck with this one.
Jul 06, 2007 06:29 PM
Monika McGillicuddy
Prudential Verani Realty - Atkinson, NH
NH Real Estate Broker
Brian....Thanks for the heads up! I hope you get your money back and stop her from taking more!!!
Jul 07, 2007 12:41 AM
Galel Fajardo
Costa Mesa, CA

Thanks for the heads up, Brian!

Here's the 411 on one of her websites:

domain:                          REAL-MORTGAGE-QUOTES.COM
created: 16-Nov-2006
last-changed: 20-Nov-2006
registration-expiration: 16-Nov-2007

nserver: ns1.gate.com 64.71.47.130
nserver: ns2.gate.com 216.87.161.130

status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname: Irene
registrant-lastname: Scherzer
registrant-street1: 16692 Craigmere DR
registrant-pcode: 44130
registrant-state: OH
registrant-city: Cleveland
registrant-ccode: US
registrant-phone: +1.4402397861
registrant-email: lms241@yahoo.com

 

Jul 07, 2007 06:14 AM
Tony Gallegos
Cognicorp Mortgage Banking Advisory - Marietta, GA
Hope you get your money back soon...let us know how it works out for you and the like.
Jul 07, 2007 12:34 PM
Chris Lengquist
Ad Astra Realty - Olathe, KS
Kansas City Real Estate Investing

Sorry to hear that.  Darn shame. 

Why don't scammers use that ingenuity to get real work?  It's always baffled me.

Jul 08, 2007 10:15 AM
Irina Netchaev
Pasadena Views Real Estate Team, Inc. - Pasadena, CA
Pasadena CA Real Estate
Brian, sorry that you have to deal with this... I remember her post and how she was constantly defending herself.  What always bothered me about her is the fact that she never uploaded her picture and I thought it was a bit strange. 

Hope you get this resolved soon.  :-(
Jul 08, 2007 06:00 PM
Darren Orshoff
Team Orshoff - All things Riverside Real Estate - Riverside, CA
The Key To Your Home™
How is it that so many scammers make so much money?  Thank you for exposing this one!  At least you paid with PayPal.  Their dispute process should eventually get her banned from that site.
Jul 09, 2007 07:36 PM
Gita Bantwal
RE/MAX Centre Realtors - Warwick, PA
REALTOR,ABR,CRS,SRES,GRI - Bucks County & Philadel
Thanks for informing us. hope you can get your money back.  I am glad I read this post.
Jul 10, 2007 12:04 AM
Nakia Rowe
Exit 1st Class Realty - Severn, MD
I say you should call your local news station or that predetor guy on MSNBC and go knock on the door at 16692 Craigmere DR and demand your money back!
Aug 03, 2007 12:03 PM
Stephen C. Olczak
Mortgage Help - Fort Myers, FL

Brian, You tried to give her and her product a chance and she blew it.  I hope you were able to stop the auto-debit quickly.

Steve Olczak Trust USA Mortgage Corp

Apr 15, 2008 10:01 AM