Reviews (1)

A customer service person whom I will call Zorro called me today while I was in the middle of a particularly difficult problem in my work, and asked if I had yet talked to any of the real estate agents that HomeLight's lead-generation service had referred to me. I was amazed at Zorro's condescending attitude. He:

- Tried to correct the wording of my questions.

- Wouldn't tell me his last name.

- Said he didn't know how much the agents who work with HomeLight pay for their leads, claimed this was immaterial because I didn't have to pay it directly (but of course I do pay at least part of it indirectly, and this, of course, will ultimately influence the sale price of my home), indicated that others in the company would know the answer, but refused to forward me to someone who did.

- Accused me of "interrupting continuously [sic]" when I failed to wait for him to finish explaining things to me that I've known for 30 years.

- Told me I wasn't listening to him (I was).

- At one point said, "Let me tell you how the real estate industry works" (I've been buying and selling real estate since 1979).

- Refused to let me talk to his supervisor.

- Refused to listen to my suggestion that his company revises its online claim that "agents can't pay us to be listed" (I'm paraphrasing), which most readers will misinterpret in a way that constitutes a corporate falsehood on the part of HomeLight.

I must admit that I was unusually blunt in my reactions to Zorro's foolish attitude, but as I've learned from 50 years in business, no matter how angry a customer gets, for the good of my business it is my job to remain polite and de-escalate his or her ire, not to fan the flames. Zack seemed clueless on this account. Maybe he, too, was having a bad day - but he was being paid to maintain a businesslike attitude, and I wasn't.

When I asked Zorro how long he had had his job at HomeLight, he said, "About a year." I suggest that HomeLight look into improving its customer service training.