[Resolved]  Nobroker — Unauthorized advertisement and misuse of personal information

I am an NRI. I received a Whatsapp response from Mr. Lakhan Padia, Advisor, NRI services in response to a query about services they offer now on Friday, February 4th.

I explained to him that we MAY want to work with NoBroker and would like an offer from them. I also said I have worked with NoBroker in 2019 and was very disappointed with their services at that time. I explained some of the issues I had in the past and said I need clarity on how they would work and how that may be avoided. Lakhan said my issues would have to be discussed with their management and he would escalate my request to them on email and copy them on his message.

I received his offers immediately on my email but no one was marked. No one called or wrote to me. I replied to the email next day asking who I should talk or write to and why no one was copied on his message. I did not receive any response.

Meanwhile, I got a call from my aged mother in India (who is owner of the apartment we might want to rent). She asked me if I had posted an ad. She said she received a call from someone who said he was from NoBroker and wanted to show the apartment immediately to a prospective customer. The agent gave a name of the prospective customer but no contact info. She also received 2 other inquires with telephone number and email. I immediately checked the website and found that our property was infact advertised with old pictures and an
old rent, as I had posted 3 years earlier. This was very embarrassing, because we had an active tenant who hadn’t given any early termination notice and was paying a higher rent than we had last advertised 3 years earlier.

I was naturally furious. I called and spoke to Mr. Lakhan Padia and told him I had never asked him to advertise and not given any text or pictures or name or contact number for my mother. In fact I had specifically refused to give any contact info for my mother based on my past experience and wanted to be the single point of contact.

How was this advertisement posted without authorization?
Who was the person from Nobroker who called my mother? (Lakhan confirmed that the number from which she received the call was a NoBroker landline)
Why did NoBroker call my mother when I had given clear instructions not to call her and refused to give her name or number.?
How did the caller have her name and mobile number and landline number?

Lakhan said he had put a free ad and I would not be charged. I explained that I had never authorized it and it is causing us a lot of embarrassment and harassment. He said he would have it deactivated immediately. I also reminded him that it was more than 24 hrs since we last spoke but i have not heard from anybody on his management team. I also put all this in an email with a copy to [protected]@Nobroker.com.

Then I tried to get contact anyone from Customer Service. A lady named Ayesha responded on their online chat. She said she would personally ensure that someone would respond in another 24 hrs. She said she would be available on chat everyday except her off day and that I could contact her again next day on the online chat if I didnt hear from anybody. She refused to give me her official contact info or that of any person that would be responding to me.

Today, February 7th my mother called to say that the same person from NoBroker had called again asking to see the apartment at the earliest but again he gave no information of his mysterious prospect. She also got another enquiry through a message and an email with a name, email and mobile number. Clearly the ad had not been deactivated.

Again I contacted my assigned advisor Lakhan but got no response. I checked my email. No response. I tried calling the NoBroker Agent who had called my mother. No response. I went online to chat with Ayesha as she had said. Somebody named Jack responded on the chat and said Ayesha is on her off day and offered to help. I had to repeat everything. He said he would have someone from an escalation team respond to me in 15 mins and promised to send me a transcript of our chat. Then he abruptly disconnected from his side. I received the transcript but it said I had disconnected, but that was not true. I waited an hour and messaged him again. This time he said, he will follow up and ensure someone would respond. Again he disconnected from his side. I immediately started another chat and got to Jack again. He said the disconnections were due to technical error and I would hear back within 24hrs. I asked him what happened to his 15 minute promise. Now he said, their office is closed and they do not work 24x7. So I asked why he promised me 15 minutes if he knew their office was closed. Again he disconnected. I connected once again and reminded him that he had disconnected unilaterally 3 times. He reiterated that these were all technical errors..

Here I am three days after the first promise of an escalation without any response from NoBroker while there they have posted an unauthorized ad that continues to cause embarrassment and harassment while my personal information - apartment pictures, mothers name, mobile number, landline number has been leaked to a person who my assigned advisor does not even know. He says he doesn’t know who called my mother or how they got all this information.