Zillow Rental Manager - Issues

[Erik Hull]

I have used Zillow Rental Manager for two previous rental listings (Jan and June 2020) and it worked very well.  It's nice to have a page for each listing to be able to see the responses, applications, leases, etc.

For my latest listing, the response has been great.  50+ requests for more info and 5 applications before the 2 hr open house last Saturday.  Unfortunately, I have not been able to see any of the inquiries or applications in the website.  I only received email updates that say they should be there.  The ticket was opened a week ago.  Nearly zero acknowledgement that anyone is even working on the issue.  The only feedback was to ask which web browser I was using.  I explained that I had used Microsoft Edge.  I have since tried Chrome and Safari with identical results.

Since I received no updates, I opened multiple tickets checking on status.  Those have been "resolved" and combined back into my original ticket.  Now we're back to zero updates for two days.

Since it's impossible to actually speak to a person, I have also left two voicemails with zero response.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?  Was your issue ever resolved?

I'm embarrassed to have to ask the applicants for additional patience.   

[Chris B.]

While I really appreciate the benefits Zillow has brought me as a whole, I have found specifically their application and background checks to be completely inadequate and would leave me legally vulnerable should I use them. So I don't use them. The application lacks swaths of data I need to wisely choose a tenant and the background check not only doesn't seem to properly verify information, but the information it does provide lacks personal information such as social security numbers and other essential data points. I do use Zillow rental management for the listing and most communications and would use the application and background check if it were sufficient. Zillow’s statements suggest they try to protect identity. I get the concept, but it goes out the window when I am assessing you to decide if I will be letting you move in to my expensive rental home.

I provide physical and email applications using a form that works for me.  I use a different service for background checks which does a significantly better job and provides more useful information.

I didn't encounter this issue as I could see the applications people sent me through ZIllow (it provided a preview and allowed me to determine if the applicant might be qualified and I could let them know they needed to fill out my form if they were.)  The issue I encountered after the last rental was filled is I couldn't get the posting text with the rental rates and information to go away.  I deleted everything and it was still there.  I finally discovered that adding new text was the only way to get rid of the old post.  No text wasn't sufficient.

Zillow, if you’re reading this, you are so close, but have more refinement to make this system fully functional.