My company doesn't use one but I wished they did!  When making appointments for my buyers, I've found it tends to be easier to make appointments through these services then going through the listing office

I love using Centralized Showing Services.  I have my own company and it is wonderful having someone book all my appointments for me.  I don't know if I would have went out on my own if I had not had a service like this available.  My clients love the website.  I set them up with a password and they can check on the feedback of their home.  That is sometimes however a double edged sword in that agents don't think about tact when they write their remarks and sometimes my clients feelings get hurt.  I make sure to let them know that no one else sees the feedback but me and them and that seems to help.  If there is a problem with the house they figure what it is very quickly through the feedback.

Our local MLS set this up this year when they quit printing listing books (who the heck still uses those?)  The next closest MLS has had this service for quite a while and I must admit it is so much easier to get this service on the phone than most agents.  I have had some agents that it takes a week to get them to call back.  I wonder why their listings don't sell?

Rita 

We have used it for a few years now. With about 100 agents would require a full time person just to set appointment. Our CSS sets up everything. I tell the seller that we offer this to make it easy on other agents to show and when an appointment is set the agent is also sent a feed back form to fill out  and they can see them on line. They also have different reports you can pull up like how meny showings have taken place in that zip code.

Keith,

Since I am fairly new to CSS, I have not "played" with the system yet.  I was not aware of all the different report than can be generated.  Thanks for the tip!

Yes, we use CSS and I would not want it any other way. It is so convenient both for my listings and buyers. I can make my appointments any time online. They are always available to set up appointments. It takes just one phone call or a few minutes online to make a whole days appointments.

We use CSS. It is just so much more convenient for Buyer's agents to have all their appointments scheduled through a centralized location. Imagine having to make 10 calls to see 10 properties? And what if the agent doesnt pick up or returns your call promptly? That's the feature I enjoy most.

The feedbacks do not come back as often as listing agents like - even when given, they are not all that constructive (most of the time).

My office doesn't and is staffed 7 days a week, so I haven't run into too much of a problem on the listing end.

 I greatly appreciate offices that have this service when they are smaller or independent brokers.  I absolutely can't stand when I'm trying to set showings on a Sunday morning and I get someone's cellphone voicemail to set up a showing.  It drives me nuts!  I love when I can call and know I'm going to be able to speak with someone and set the showing.

Michele,

My RE/MAX office is staffed 7 days a week as well.  What I like about CSS is they take care of the appointments and our office staff is there to support us the Realtors.  This frees up our phone lines and allows our office to be more productive.   

I worked for CSS recently in the Houston office, but often times I worked in overflow which deals with the calls from Westchester, Philadelphia, Massachusettes, and Long Island. As a former employee of CSS, it is good to read the remarks that agents actually have on it. Working in the office, you don't always get to know that you're helping out, and often times agents show frustration and anger toward the person that answers and it makes that job a lot less enjoyable.

 I'm glad that CSS really does help you out and I appreciate the feedback!

I love CSS. We started our company because of them. As a former Realtor, I wanted this service for our office. We inquired about it a few years ago, but the service was not yet available in Omaha. We now are providing this valuable sevice to agents accross the country. Trying to stay out of the GIANTS way;).

No doubt it is a timesaver for the realtor, but as a client (selling my home), I am less than satisfied.  First, we were promised that Centralized Showing would call all 3 telephone numbers we provided to advise us of a showing until they actually reached someone.  What we have found is that they usually stop calling after leaving a voice mail message on the first number, while only occasionally calling the 2nd number (and never the 3rd).  As a result, we have to call and check our voice mail box continually when we are away from the house, or otherwise we will never be aware of scheduled showings.  We have complained to our realtor and to Centralized Showing to no avail.  The website feedback feature is nice, but because of this feature our realtor seems out of the loop and does nothing to follow up on her own with potentially interested buyers and their agents.  In my opinion, this is just a way for the realtor to abdicate her responsibilities, and does little more than make me annoyed at her for being so hands off.  The online feedback is typically so brief to be of little value and it seems to me that a real conversation between realtors would yield more useful information.

We use ShowingDesk and I like it mainly for the automated feedback from the showing agent that I can then forward to my sellers.

CSS is an option here in Northern Virginia, but I would say that the vast majority of agents don't use it.  Personally, I'm not sold on the "advantages" of the system.

This sounds interesting.  I don't think that it is available in California.