The Roommate Connection

In my opinion this is a completely fraudulent service that has no business being in business. Upon paying their $ 95 fee, I received an email with a list of potential «roommates» based on my submitted criteria (based on age, gender, rent range, location, hobbies, etc). Their website would have you believe that they are some sort of highly specialized service with «human beings» actively working to match people behind the scenes but they fall far short of what a simple Craigslist posting can do. They claim to provide you with a number and variety of options for roommates based on more than just age, gender, rent range, and location, but the reality is that they couldn’t provide me with a SINGLE OPTION that met these most basic criteria. In my opinion, any roommate connection service worth its salt would be at least be able to do THAT much. This is a complete scam and I advise everyone to stay away so these guys can be put out of business once and for all. I’m going to follow up with a dispute to the BBB as well.

Useless place. More than 50% of my weekly updates said «Sorry no Matches» or some damn thing. The phone check in is antiquated. The matching process seems to take nothing into account but location and when you call them they are just insulting. SAVE YOUR MONEY. There are much better options out there.

I’d probably give this a star and a half if that was possible. It’s a legitimate service, but I find the terms of use on the website to be misleading, the referral infrastructure (check-​in by telephone) outdated and not user friendly. I also failed to find a roommate after paying the $ 95 fee. The website gives the impression – even if it does not state it explicitly– that you can utilize the service indefinitely with no further fees.
Here is my experience: After signing on with The Roommate Connection, I found a roommate through other means. That roommate decided to move out after less than two months and I attempted to «relist» with Roommate Connection. I received an e-​mail from Roommate Connection saying that once a client stops checking in, he or she is presumed to have found a roommate and the listing is suspended. It doesn’t indicate how long you must be inactive before your listing is suspended. The e-​mail goes to say:
«Service may be reinstated within 30 days of closure for a $ 10.00 charge. If an account has been inactive for 30 days or more, current registration fees are applicable. The charge to reinstate an account that has been inactive for 30 days or more is currently $ 95.00.»
Here’s what the website says: «The Roommate Connection’s fee is $ 95, and is payable upon registration. Once registered, services will be provided for as long as our assistance is needed. .. there is no time limit.»
All in all, I wish the terms of use had been clearer and that the service had been easier to use and had resulted in at least a few suitable prospects. For me, it was a complete wasted of money.

I do NOT recommend this company’s services in finding a roommate.
I registered on-​line October 28^th, paid $ 90., received one reply email with helpful tips on staging and interviewing on October 30^th. This first email included breakdowns on 6 potential roommates and of the two compatible ones I contacted they already found housing, A WHILE AGO.
I called the 800 number and it wasn’t in service. I called the local number four times over a two week time period. Left messages and no one ever called me back. I replied to the email THEY sent me and it bounced back saying the address didn’t exist. I emailed the address on the web-​site, it too bounced back.
I never received any more info on potential roommates after the first email.
I have no idea who my $ 90. went to but in my book this was a SCAM!

I’ve used this service off and on for about 20 years, and always have found them extremely knowledgeable and accommodating. The key (and benefit) to using a service such as this is you get QUALIFIED leads, not all of the freaks and losers that you see regularly on free places such as Craig’s List.
One of the main things I like is it’s a Boston based service, not a national service. I find with most of these online national roommate services allow ANYONE to post a profile for free, but they ONLY allow paid customers to actually contact or receive emails from others. So it LOOKS like there are tons of people, but most of them are NOT paying customers, so you end up with a very tiny percentage of actual referrals that you can actually email and make real contact with — sort of a ‘bait and switch’ technique. At least all of these are screened and people that you can actually contact and respond to. And even through the national services advertise «tens of thousands» of potential roommates, in MY area, there may be only 4. Or none.
If you’re realistic in what you want to pay (or charge) for rent, I don’t think you can go wrong with the Roommate Connection.

For me, The Roommate Connection is a godsend. Finding the right roommate can be just as challenging as finding the perfect date, mate or job. It’s a lot of searching, self promotion, interviewing and running around. And if you’re like me, spare time is not always in abundance.
Over the years I have used The Roommate Connection whenever the need arose (most recently this summer). And I have to say, this company does an outstanding job. Their customer service is always exemplary: polite, friendly and knowledgeable. And although I do miss the option of visiting their Newbury Street office, working with the company online has proved to be beyond convenient.
What I love most about the Roommate Connection is that they maintain a private, ‘members only’ network (unlike the scary, globally accessible hunting grounds of CraigsList). Plus, The Roommate Connection enables me to control who can and can not see my information. So, for example, if your preference is to live with a female roommate, their database will block male applicants from cross referencing with you (and this is just one of MANY characteristics they match on).
More importantly, there’s something to be said for using an agency. The candidates I’ve met through The Roommate Connection are most definitely of a higher caliber than what I have experienced through traditional newspaper classifieds, and especially through places like CraigsList (lets not forget Boston’s very own ‘CraigsList Killer’). Although The Roommate Connection’s fee is only $ 95, I believe this helps separate the serious from the not so serious; the up and coming from the coasters; the professionals from the partiers, which in the long run, is a small price to pay.
One final note, this company always surprises me with extras. Every time I’ve registered I’ve received a little something extra, something handy. The first time it was a roommate lease. The next time I received the roommate lease and a complete layout on how to interview for a new roommate. This last time I received the roommate lease, the interviewing tips, and a complete guide on how to best present my home (which they call ‘staging’) when showing my place to potential roommates. Gotta love that! :)

I used them and paid their $ 90 fee. I was looking for a place in Boston and put a max price of $ 900 a month and an age range of 18 – 32. They sent me back a list of about two pages with places way out in the suburbs and people in their 40’s and 50’s.
When I called, there 800 number was disconnected (suspicious). I called their local number and stated that these locations were not what I wanted, they told me I wouldn’t be able to find a place for under $ 1200 in Boston. This was a flat out lie. The guy was also very rude. I then asked how many people they have in their database and they refused to tell me (so I’m assuming it’s not many). I’ve since found a place on craigslist right in Boston for $ 550 a month. There are plenty of places available in this price range. Stick to craiglist and do not use these con-​artists.

So i tried this place out, the concept is really good, but its a little difficult to use. I paid $ 95 to have my ad «advertised» somehow. I was looking for a roommate and filled out a questionnaire online, paid online and recieve the info online. The part I didn’t like is receiving prospective roommates in a PDF via email, its very basic, but just confusing as you get 6 emails all at once. I went through my matches and none of the roommates matched what I was looking for. They do warn you of things like this which is nice, they say if you are too picky you will probably find no one, i wasn’t too picky, but they didnt send me the matches that I was hoping for. Their customer service is fast and great, though.
Unfortunately, I never actually go to try out the service as I found a roommate randomly without using The Roommate Connection. You are supposed to email or call the people searching for a room/​roommate from your list.