• Roommates.com

Roommates.com

Overview

Roommates.com has a rating of 3.44 stars from 321 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally satisfied with their purchases. Reviewers satisfied with Roommates.com most frequently mention customer service. Roommates.com ranks 2nd among Roommate sites.

  • Service
    47
  • Value
    47
  • Quality
    38

This company responds to reviews on average within 13 hours

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 50%
Positive
5
Neutral
0
Negative
5
17
See all photos

What reviewers want you to know

Positive highlights

  • The site was very user friendly, and the Roommates.com customer service is just absolutely incredible (A+++).
  • Your website has always been a great connection for me to find the right roommate.

Critical highlights

  • I contacted roommates.com and they refused to provide me a phone number and said have the police email them.
  • I kinda cheated and listed an Outlook email account I created just for finding a roommate.
How would you rate Roommates.com?
Top Positive Review

“Frustrated”

Nina E.
3/18/24

I have a Premium account with Roommates.com. Why are all messages going unread? I've never had this happen in the past. It's like no matter how many potential roommates I reach out to, this is happening. Frustrating..

Top Critical Review

“Full of fake profiles”

Dustin G.
2/13/24

I spent the money on a premium membership and completely regret it. I reached out to over 20 people and got a response from one. Let's do a side by side comparison! Number of responses for a roommate: Roommates.com -1 / Craigslist-28 Actual showing for 3 rooms: Roommates.com - 0 / Craigslist - 7 Rooms rented: Roommates.com -0 / Craigslist - 3 Cost: Roommates.com - $17.98 Craigslist - $0.00 Avoid this FAKE website.

Reviews (321)

Rating

Timeframe

Other

Reviews that mention popular keywords

customer service (10) email (58) account (26) right roommate (4) phone number (6) 3 days (4) couple days (4) 20 bucks (3) 30 days (3) message (44) 2 years (3)
Thumbnail of user ninae74
1 review
0 helpful votes
March 18th, 2024

I have a Premium account with Roommates.com. Why are all messages going unread? I've never had this happen in the past. It's like no matter how many potential roommates I reach out to, this is happening. Frustrating..

Products used:
Platform to get a roommate

Service
Value
Thumbnail of user dusting52
5 reviews
5 helpful votes
February 13th, 2024

I spent the money on a premium membership and completely regret it. I reached out to over 20 people and got a response from one. Let's do a side by side comparison!
Number of responses for a roommate:
Roommates.com -1 / Craigslist-28
Actual showing for 3 rooms:
Roommates.com - 0 / Craigslist - 7
Rooms rented:
Roommates.com -0 / Craigslist - 3
Cost:
Roommates.com - $17.98
Craigslist - $0.00

Avoid this FAKE website.

Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that you did not have a good experience on Roommates.com. We do not post fake profiles, but we are a bulletin board service so you should self screen and follow the Safety Tips posted on all profiles. We also have Report/Block buttons to notify customer service of suspicious accounts.

You can send messages to users on the site for free, and include your contact information if you would like. Once you start getting replies then you can pay for a membership to read and respond. Finding a roommate can be tough and there can be many reasons why users do not reply. Adjusting your preferences, and doing a broader search could bring up more matches.

We appreciate your feedback. If you have additional questions or would like some helpful tips on finding a roommate please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Wishing you the best on finding the perfect roommate!

Thumbnail of user frankm2300
1 review
0 helpful votes
May 30th, 2023

Roommates.com has been giving me successful results for over four years. I've learned to use this tool effectively; thus, I always find outstanding roommates on this website: financially responsible, respectful, discreet, clean & organized.
I get the VIP membership for the most effective results.

Products used:
Roommates locator services

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user pamg758
1 review
0 helpful votes
December 10th, 2023

I had several people respond to my profile with one prospective roommate that was perfect. The person asked to see the room then no more of my messages were read and I don't receive anymore messages. I know they were unread because under my message it said unread. I believe they don't want to actually put roommates together, they just want you to keep paying for the service. Beware!

Products used:
None

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you're experiencing difficulties with communication on our platform. It's important to us that our users have a positive experience and find the roommate situation they're looking for. Sometimes, users may not respond for various reasons, and it might not necessarily reflect the intentions of our service.

If you're concerned about the lack of response, I would recommend continuing to reach out to other potential roommates. Our platform is designed to help users like you find a match, and it's quite common to have to contact multiple people before finding the right fit.

If you have any further concerns or need assistance with your account, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support team at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user paul.e
1 review
0 helpful votes
June 16th, 2023

If you're looking for a roommate, Roommates.com has twice found me a great roommate. Their matching technology is spot on. As long as you enter your information correctly and fully, you will get accurate matches. You can also message with potential roommates to discuss things before actually meeting in person. You can weed out anyone who you might think is not a good match. If I ever need a roommate in the future, this will be my first stop.

Products used:
This site does not sell products.

Service
Quality
Thumbnail of user jpal
5 reviews
20 helpful votes
November 10th, 2022
Verified purchase

Every message I received from Roommates.com was a scam. Not one was a real person with a real room to rent. Of 12 people who messaged me in the 48 hours I was on the platform, all 12 immediately went inactive. Of those 12, a total of 11 had their messages banned for violations, and the one who wasn't banned went inactive immediately. Not one person who I messaged even read my message, so those seem to be bot accounts with no rooms to rent. Do not join, do not spend money, do not use this site.

Tip for consumers:
Roommates.com is a disaster. Do not use it for any purpose.

Products used:
Services

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that you did not get more legitimate responses. Roommates.com is a bulletin board service and we do our best to keep the scammers off the site. If we remove an account we do remove all messages they sent out to keep our legitimate members safe. We do not have bot accounts, and we cannot guarantee users will contact you. Hopefully you will be able to find a roommate soon. If you want to give us another try please contact us at support@roommates.com and we can give you some tips on using the free portion of the site.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user rhondag481
1 review
0 helpful votes
July 26th, 2023

Diana has rooms for rent bur, I would NEVER EVER recommend her! She keeps your deposits at the end of your lease! She will make up excuses just to not pay it back. She lives off her rent money! She's very controlling, will get up in your business and go through your room. She has rules on how to share the bathrooms and kitchen. It's common sense! If you choose to use her, don't say you weren't warned.

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user susanw2817
1 review
1 helpful vote
July 3rd, 2022
Verified purchase

Roommates.com did exactly what it advertises. I got on and paid for the use of it. The person renting a room also paid her part. It took me about a week to find a roommate. The reviews complain about scammers, but you will find them everywhere, Craig's list and Facebook included. I am very satisfied with my experience with roommates.com and if needed, will use them again.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user sawyerh8
1 review
5 helpful votes
January 26th, 2022

Don't waste your money. Go through Facebook, Craigslist, or literally anywhere else.

This site throws fees at you every step of the way. They charge to verify your account. They charge to read profile information. They charge to view full size pictures of the roommates and the apartments. They charge to read roommates profile bio's. They charge to send and read messages between roommates. All that for a measly number of matches to begin with.

Tip for consumers:
Don't.

Products used:
Roommate Matching

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

You are able to see member profiles and send messages to other members for free. You are also able to include your contact information in the messages you send out so that only one of you would need to pay for a membership in order to communicate outside of the website.

If you would like additional information on how to get the most out of the free portion of the site please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user joshg340
1 review
1 helpful vote
June 29th, 2022

I had 4 weeks to find a roommate. I paid for 1 month. I found 3 different people interested and ended up finding a roommate whom I really like in just 3 weeks. After a month or so of inactivity, they automatically deactivated my account. I know not everyone will have the same experience, but I have 0 complaints and I'm very satisfied with this service.

Thumbnail of user mikeb3374
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 27th, 2023
Verified purchase

I've been using this service for about a month now and have unfortunately spent around 30 dollars on it. I have used it in the past before the great change of 2020 and it used to be good. Now it is nothing but scammers. Seriously, the first person to contact me 5 minutes after I joined was a scammer. The next three people after that was a scam. Next, I reached out to 8 people who, half of them read my message, but none of them ever responded. I found one person who, as soon as we were supposed to meet to view the room, texted me to let me know the room had been rented. The next two people who contacted me were scammers. I had another person contact me who seemed legit but they were in the wrong area and now I am writing this review because the last person who just contacted me had the literary skills of a Nigerian prince, supposedly from "NJ" and conveniently not available to meet me in my own state. You will also constantly get notifications of these scammers who are "perfect matches", only to have their profiles up for a few hours before they are removed as they troll the website which gets annoying. You might find some one on here but I strongly recommend not paying for this broken service seeing how the website is absolutely useless unless you do pay.

Tip for consumers:
This site just made things more frustrating than they needed to be. You would have better luck using Craigslist and that should be saying volumes about Roommates.com (8/2023)

Products used:
N/A

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

Thank you for your feedback it will be taken into consideration for future site improvements.

We do our best to remove the scammers as soon as they are found or reported to us.

As a bulletin board service we can't guarantee users will respond to your messages, but you can post your contact information in the free messages you sent out to other users so that only one of you would need to pay for a membership in order to communicate outside of the website.

Roommate hunting can be difficult and frustrating but hopefully you have found a good match.

If you have additional questions about how the site works or want more tips on using the free portion of the site please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user tonyd734
2 reviews
6 helpful votes
September 21st, 2021

It's a waste of time. There are few individuals on it, that's assuming they are real profiles. You can't message anyone to find out because you need to pay for all contact with anyone. It's not free. It's not useful. Use Facebook, Craigslist for roommates. Both free both more chances of finding someone.
This is the 2nd time I tried using this site. I have never received a message. I get 10 a day or more on Facebook.

Tip for consumers:
Don't use this site.

Products used:
it's online roommate matching service that doesn't allow contact between people.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that you didn't have any luck finding a roommate on our site.

You can send unlimited messages to other member for free and include your contact information in your sent messages so that only one of you would need to pay for a membership to contact each other outside of the site. Countless members have found roommates with this free option.

If you would like to give us another try and would like some additional helpful tips on how to get the most out of the free portion of the website please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user jessical2227
1 review
2 helpful votes
December 4th, 2022

Great results 3 years ago to find tenants/roommates. Lately we don't even get a real match, all of them are miles away and not even within our preferences, and our preferences are wide. We have a 4 bedroom house with 1 of the other 3 rooms available for rent usually twice a year. This last time trying the website we decide not to pay subscription anymore because the last two years we didn't get any potential roommate to even look at the place, so it was a waste of money. Attached is an screenshot of today visit to the website, we are looking to rent a room in our house in Kent WA, the closest "match" is looking like 10 miles away from us.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that you aren't having much luck on the site. As a bulletin board service it will always depend on what area users are looking to live in, and the preferences they have chosen to match with other users. Hopefully you will be able to find a renter soon.

We appreciate your comments and they will be taken into consideration for future site improvements.

If you have additional questions please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user dallask35
1 review
0 helpful votes
May 24th, 2023

Delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

Thumbnail of user sherril299
1 review
0 helpful votes
August 31st, 2023

I moved in and found a camera in my room, video recorders everywhere in the house, and found out he wanted me to pay his mortgage and taxes

Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

Discovering cameras in your room and video recorders throughout the house without your knowledge or consent can raise serious privacy concerns. If you feel your privacy has been violated or you are uncomfortable with the situation, consider reaching out to local law enforcement. They can guide you on the appropriate steps to take and investigate potential legal violations.

Given the uncomfortable circumstances, you may want to assess whether it's safe and suitable for you to continue living in the current residence. Your well-being is a priority. Please contact your local authorities.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user christopherr715
1 review
0 helpful votes
March 14th, 2021

Fine a roommate female relationship girl roommate get pay me live here 1117 south 74th street west muskogee Oklahoma

Tip for consumers:
Need help clean up me house

Products used:
Fine a roommate

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user lissettev11
1 review
0 helpful votes
January 14th, 2021

I had inquiries within a couple of days. These are descent, responsible people with work who are serious about finding a good roommate. I would recommend it to my closets friends.

Thumbnail of user gmaj1
1 review
2 helpful votes
October 18th, 2022

4* for not making everyone pay and the limited number of people I can communicate with inside the app. I used roommates.com to find a roommate to move into my place in 2005 and again after I moved in 2007 (14 years, then he moved out and got married). I'm looking again and pickings are a little slim since I am looking for only a mature/no drama male. I am a woman and prefer not to tell someone my name and where I live until my fiance and I have had a chance to meet and chat with them, so Facebook is not an option. So, I'm resigned to paying $15 a month and staying on top of the new listings so I can contact potential renters before they get jaded by the scammers. It isn't perfect, but I don't blame the site for that and they do have a report button and you can block people from messaging you. If they can't read my message and aren't willing to pay $15 to find a place to live, they probably aren't going to pay $45 for a background/credit check or pay their rent either so I won't contact them off-site. As far as paying, do you work for free? I'd love to find a roommate site that does a background/credit check as part of the sign-up process, would get rid of the scammers and some of the non-paying and violent/dishonest roommates and well worth the price.

Thumbnail of user michaelb9875
1 review
4 helpful votes
February 17th, 2023

Used the service for two days, only received messages from spammer/scammers. When I immediately ceased use of the app and asked for a refund, they said that my reading of messages from one said spammer constituted use of the premium service, as it wouldn't have been possible without paying.

Indeed, being spammed on your terribly moderated service would not have been possible without spending $20.

Tip for consumers:
Don't.

Products used:
Roommate finding service

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

I'm sorry you didn't get more legitimate responses from users on the site. Roommates.com is a bulletin board service so we do our best to keep the scammers at bay.

We do have a report button on every profile for you to utilize to report and scammers you come across so our fraud department can get eyes on them quickly.

Please contact us at support@roommates.com Attn: C/S Manager to receive a refund.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user bishopg9
1 review
0 helpful votes
July 22nd, 2023

I have used Roommates.com to find roomates to.rentnin my home for.years. I have always found good roommates with the site. I hughly recommend Roommates.com anyone looking to find a roommate. A+

Tip for consumers:
No

Products used:
Roommate matching service

Service
Value
Thumbnail of user missabigailh
1 review
1 helpful vote
August 2nd, 2022

Don't go there. There are a bunch of scammers. They use deception to real you in. Its not worth your money. Stay away from the add below if you go to rent. Avoid the following which goes by Annie in Tacoma, WA. It's not a legitamate listing and they just collect information about you. Then they give a questionaire before a meeting and never show up to meet with you. Avoid Annie at all costs in Tacoma, WA. She will advise you to speak with Sonja Hastings. Just look up Sonja Hastings on FB. Also the address below is 3110 N. 24th Street. They claim its a 7 bedroomroom house, but when you Google it, it only shows 3-6 bedrooms.

Tip for consumers:
People finding roommates.

Products used:
room mate finder roommates.com

Service
Value
Shipping
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate the site didn't work out for you. We do our best to keep the scammers off the site. We do have a Report button at the bottom of every profile to assist in keeping the site safe.

If you have additional questions about how the site works please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user ninaf97
1 review
4 helpful votes
March 15th, 2022

I posted my ad on the site and received maybe 4 matches. Two didn't work out and one responded that their prescription had run out that day and they couldn't respond back. Another was a complete scam who said she lived out of the state going to school yet wanted her " lawyer" to draw up papers for me but they was unable to show it of course. Then a couple new matches appeared and there was nothing about them written and no response when I tried to reach out to them. It came across as fake matches to keep me on the site.

Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that the site didn't work out for you. We are not a scam and do not post fake roommates on the site.

Roommates.com is a bulletin board service, so we cannot guarantee that users will respond to you or that there will be people using the site that are looking in the same area or for the same living situation.

Hopefully you will find a roommate soon. We wish you the best in your search.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user mariek477
1 review
5 helpful votes
December 13th, 2022

Despite the negative reviews, I signed up for this site, thinking my luck would be better. Nope. Scammers paradise. I'd get a "perfect match" notification, only to find the profile gone by the time I clicked on the message. Don't bother with this site. I never thought I would say this, but Craigslist is a dream compared to this site. Their "pay to play" model is just plain dumb considering all the scammers on the site.

Roommates.com: No need to post your canned response about the site being a bulletin board in which people post for roommates, etc. We get it. Site still sucks.

Tip for consumers:
Don't bother.

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate that the site didn't work out for you. We do appreciate the feedback and it will be taken into consideration for future site improvements.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user siobhanp8
1 review
10 helpful votes
January 13th, 2021

This is the second time I have tried Roommates.com. It's cheap, 10 bucks a month but it's still a waste of 10 dollars. I have found people use it as a dating site(I'm a women, if I'm looking for a date I'll go on Match)
The people I have approached that have a listing start giving me all kinds of excuses(I can't show the room for two months, I'm renting it as Airbnb right now, etc) If you don't have a room, get off the site!
I feel like people are on there for giggles just to see how much they might get...
Waste of time!

Products used:
N/A

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

It's unfortunate you weren't able to find a roommate on the site. Roommates.com is a bulletin board service so you do have to do your homework to find the right match, but we have assisted countless members with finding a roommate.

There is a report button on each profile so you can report those that aren't on the site for the right reasons and we do our best to keep them off the site.

Hopefully you have found a roommate by now. If you would like to try the site again and want some helpful tips on using the free portion of the site please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

Thumbnail of user jeffreyc697
1 review
3 helpful votes
January 28th, 2021

The positives: great idea, good site design (lots of features, easy to navigate, etc.)

The negatives: the fake profiles, poorly conceived monetization model

I have been a paying member for a few months. I don't fault the company for wanting to get paid for offering a service, and if I end up finding a good roommate, then paying the subscription will have been worth it. I should also add that I'm not extremely desperate to move immediately, so I wouldn't say it is the company's fault that I haven't yet found a roommate (maybe? More on that later). I have had conversations with definitely real people, and I am sure that I would have found a roommate by now if I had been motivated enough.

The above being said, I must admit that it did take me a while before I realized that the attractive people with cheap, nice rooms being offered are fake profiles and this probably lengthened the amount of time I have spent on the site. Sad to say, if a room/roommate opportunity being offered looks too good to be true, then it probably is. After a while, it becomes easy to spot them because you see the same pictures being recycled. As a person looking for a room, these fake profiles REALLY make a given area look WAY more affordable than reality, which is deeply frustrating when you gradually have to come to the realization that they have created an unrealistic expectation in your mind of what is possible. By the time you realize this, you've spent weeks chasing (unbeknownst to you) fantastical impossibilities.

Also, I have no idea why these fake profiles are on there. Is it an effort by 3rd parties to collect people's personal info? Or is it, as some other reviewers have guessed, an internal effort by roommates.com to get you to subscribe and to lengthen the time you stay subscribed? I'm honestly not totally sure. Before I realized they were fake, I messaged a few of these fake profiles, and I never got a response. I don't appear to have had an uptick in spam either, so I have no idea what's going on with the fake profiles. Here's what I do know, roommates.com REALLY needs to fix this issue for the customer experience to be greatly improved.

Furthermore, while I wouldn't consider this next idea an absolute necessity for them to get a 5-star review (unlike the issues I described above), I do think this next idea would take them from good to great. When you are talking to a potential match, there's a bit of a lack of understanding on both people's part of just exactly how to go from interested to moving in. For example, you make a match, and then you say a few words back and forth, but then what? Roommates.com as it is currently implemented is super focused on matching people but that's pretty much where it views its job as being completed. If the site could work more on helping users navigate the stretch between matching and sealing the deal, I would think that would significantly improve the value they would be providing to users.

Finally, I strongly encourage the company to consider moving away from a subscription model, to a commission-based model where they only get paid when and if they find a match for the "seller" of the room. The monthly subscription creates a really perverse incentive for the company. I'm not saying that the company absolutely IS being motivated by this incentive, but literally no customer is on here loving each additional month it is taking to find a match. So the company wants longer subscriptions, but each additional month is one in which the users are becoming more and more unsatisfied. If instead the company moved to something like a $150 commission paid by the person with the room once a contract is signed, then it really would highly align the incentives of the company with those of its users. Some might object and say that there are some logistical hurdles that make this monetization model unrealistic, and to them I just say that those are hurdles that result from a lack of imagination. In fact, if, as I described earlier, the company moved more towards helping its users all the way to completing the transaction, then I would say these logistical hurdles would mostly be solved.

Tip for consumers:
be aware of the fake profiles

Products used:
roommate search

Service
Value
Quality
Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -. – Roommates.com Rep

Hello,

Roommates.com does not post fake profiles on the site. As a bulletin board service we do our best to keep scammers off of the website. If you feel that a profile is fake there is a Report button at the bottom of every profile that you can click so that the fraud department can review the account.

Roommates.com is meant to just be a means of contact. Once you find a match that you want to move forward with you can exchange contact information so you can communicate outside of the website to go forward with any plans or transactions.

We give several membership options to make it affordable for everyone to look for a roommate.

Thank you for your comments they will be taken into consideration for future site improvements.

If you have any questions about how the site works please contact us at support@roommates.com.

Roommates.com Support

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Thumbnail of user jessicar18
Customer-Support -.
Typically responds within 13 hours

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3.4
321 reviews
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