Review Insights · App Store
SpareRoom
Flatshare Ltd · 3,992 ratings · ★ 4.7
4.7
★★★★★
3,992 ratings
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Top complaints - extracted from 36 negative reviews
Recurring phrases mined from 1-2★ reviews. The bigger the percentage, the more users have the same problem. Fix the top 2-3 in your version and you have product-market fit on day one.
1
"people"
7 negative reviews mention this · 19% of all complaints
★★★★★ "People are racist. The cost is too high to invest. I have been on here for months with no luck. People don’t respond when you have your pic up. I’m tired of trying" - Money wasted 2
2
"been"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WORST EXPERIENCE. i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on r…" - RodiKro
3
"money"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WARNING. This app just let me make an ad, pay $25 to boost it, and then deleted my ad. I waited till I saw the money come out of my account to post this review. Took them a couple days. I wouldn’t trust them again, personally" - Bill F..
4
"room"
6 negative reviews mention this · 17% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WORST EXPERIENCE. i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on r…" - RodiKro
5
"rooms"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t waste time. Full of scammers. Full of scammers and rooms that don’t exist or aren’t real" - bennybfl86
6
"paid"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "No response from anybody in 14 days. I paid for a rental application on march 1. All I wanted was a yes or no I’ve been approved. Turbo tenant even told me I would get a response in 2-3 business days. I still haven’t heard from anybody. This app is a scam. Tread with caution" - bnichols4
7
"month"
5 negative reviews mention this · 14% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WORST EXPERIENCE. i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on r…" - RodiKro
8
"looking"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WORST EXPERIENCE. i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on r…" - RodiKro
9
"every"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "WORST EXPERIENCE. i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on r…" - RodiKro
10
"wrong"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t Register. I tried to register 3 different ways and it said something went wrong. Then it said the support team won’t get back for 1-2 days??" - you arent it
11
"days"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Can’t Register. I tried to register 3 different ways and it said something went wrong. Then it said the support team won’t get back for 1-2 days??" - you arent it
12
"scammers"
4 negative reviews mention this · 11% of all complaints
★★★★★ "Don’t waste time. Full of scammers. Full of scammers and rooms that don’t exist or aren’t real" - bennybfl86
📋 All 36 negative reviews
Every 1-2★ review we fetched. Use the copy button to grab them all for your own analysis (paste into ChatGPT/Claude with a prompt like "summarize core user problems, group by theme, ignore bugs, focus on missing features").
WORST EXPERIENCE
i have been trying to make a single post as i’m looking for a roommate for 4 months now. i’ve talked to multiple employees including the owner and have been told i would be approved 5+ times only to be denied every single time and left on read now. i have genuinely never had such a horrible experience, and now i may lose my home because of them.
Can’t Register
I tried to register 3 different ways and it said something went wrong. Then it said the support team won’t get back for 1-2 days??
Don’t waste time. Full of scammers
Full of scammers and rooms that don’t exist or aren’t real
Liars and Thieves
Attempted to get validation and the background check provider they used claimed that I have several offenses in my background which caused me to be denied. That same background check provider approved me to drive for rideshare and I’m state certified as an armed security officer. Requested a refund and first they deflected to Apple, now they are using legalese to imply that I agreed to a no refund policy which is also A LIE.
AVOID THIS APP.
UPDATE: I actually have access to my criminal background and I REPEAT THERE ARE NO CRIMINAL OFFENSES ON MY RECORD. This company is just bold faced liars and YES I WILL RECEIVE A REFUND EITHER THROUGH YOU OR THROUGH THE LEGAL SYSTEM.
I say again; AVOID THIS APP.
AVOID THIS APP.
UPDATE: I actually have access to my criminal background and I REPEAT THERE ARE NO CRIMINAL OFFENSES ON MY RECORD. This company is just bold faced liars and YES I WILL RECEIVE A REFUND EITHER THROUGH YOU OR THROUGH THE LEGAL SYSTEM.
I say again; AVOID THIS APP.
Can’t register
Deleted the app because I can’t even register
Renews your subscription without consent
No way to cancel
Bots
Fake accts
No response from anybody in 14 days
I paid for a rental application on march 1. All I wanted was a yes or no I’ve been approved. Turbo tenant even told me I would get a response in 2-3 business days. I still haven’t heard from anybody. This app is a scam. Tread with caution
People are racist
The cost is too high to invest. I have been on here for months with no luck. People don’t respond when you have your pic up. I’m tired of trying
WARNING
This app just let me make an ad, pay $25 to boost it, and then deleted my ad. I waited till I saw the money come out of my account to post this review. Took them a couple days. I wouldn’t trust them again, personally
Rooms for rent
The App has very good features yet the exposure and response are very poor… I gave had no inquiries for over a week and yet I had more that ten serious inquiries in an alternative App that I am now using… and is not as fancy as SpareRoom… 🤔
Not worth one’s time.
This app is faulty. Lots of fake profiles and scammers. No way to weed out bad hosts or to check any of their credentials. Just a glorified, paid Craigslist. Paid for the month subscription and it was a total sham. Everyone who contacted me wanted personal information before even showing the room (“background check” means something entirely different to a real property manager). Would not recommend this app. Never signed up for the SpareRoomUS app and it somehow showed up on my phone, as well? Don’t waste your time. I’m sure there are some success stories. Just don’t purchase their subscription. I feel so stupid for wasting my money.
terrible app
You get a lot of scammers and they charge you a fortune and again and again they ask you to renew and then you do just to see one message after you've already unsubscribed, you get another straight message and then you can see that message but then you can't see her reply,if she even made one... and once you've unsubscribed after you another stray message that I just mentioned... you, that is me or I, have to reactivate and it charged me a whole lotta money again and it's like less than a month that you get to have your ad shown and get replies from people. There was no message and tried to deactivate and I'm calling to complain them and try to get some money back from them because they're app doesn't work for me anyway and maybe for somebody else or for some people that blocked interest but it doesn't work for me especially right now.
Do not trust these people unless you want to spend a lot of money over and over again for like three weeks 20 bucks first time and then 18 bucks second time etc. etc. it's just a rip off or at least for me. as always, Buyer Beware.
Do not trust these people unless you want to spend a lot of money over and over again for like three weeks 20 bucks first time and then 18 bucks second time etc. etc. it's just a rip off or at least for me. as always, Buyer Beware.
Hard to deal with the team
They keep deactivating my ad after i fixed
Suspicious organization
SpareRoom misused my IP and data by banning all of my accounts from my temporary IP because I questioned living with someone who discriminated against me for being straight.. SERIOUSLY. The renter (who would have held my security deposit btw) told me that “I had to be trans in order to move-in”, then when I told them that SpareRoom has a feature for preferred gender and that they were discriminating against me, they told me to screw off. I contacted SpareRoom and they’ve ignored all my customer service emails, then that’s when I found out they were blocking my IP. Personally reporting Flatshare Ltd to my congressman and the FBI for the trafficking taking place on SpareRoom today then following through after. Time to Hunt.
App refuses to update edits
Every time I try and update my ad I get a prompt stating “Something went wrong, try again or contact support.” I have to go into the website - defeats the purpose of having an app for convenience (especially when you’re paying for features/boosts, etc).
Created by scammer, to take your money!!!
This app seems to have a nice functional interface, but after using it for almost a week and sending out over 44 text messages to people who are in the same price range, looks like no one even responds to you. Basically only 2 people responded out of 44 people. And those two said, they account is old and excused themselves for not taking their account down. It’s a bit expensive for the outcome. For now I do not even feel like anyone is even interested, seems like all accounts are fake!? Should this app be helpful, I’ll write a better review. After using this app for more than a month. Dear all, it’s created by scammer to make money and I had 0 results. Pls save your money. I’m a host on Airbnb with over 1000 reviews and 5000 bookings.
Can’t sign in
I know I know my password. Chrome Face ID isn’t working . It always says my password is wrong.
App is filled with bots
Do not download or use since there are a lot of fake profiles and bots feigning interest. I actually had more success with a different app instead.
Awful app
Signs you out every time you close/swipe to another app, so you don’t get any notifications and have to re-sign in every time. Infuriating and pointless
Took my money then closed my account
I decided to post an ad for to share my studio. The ad has been up for almost a month. And I recently paid extra to “boost” my ad, only to discover later this only made the ad lettering “bold.” a few days later I received this email from their staff shown below, that they are closing my account even though they admit I’ve committed no violations to their policy. They also made no offer to refund my any money spent on the “boost” feature above. “ Whilst we do not have a direct policy that disallows shared rooms, we do carefully review each one on a case by case basis. On this occasion, we feel this living arrangement is deemed unsuitable for the site and as a result we have been required to close your account.”
Flakes and scammers
Responded to ~15 rooms on this site.
-)One person showed me a room, told me ahead of time it was first come first serve.
Saw, said I'll take it, lady said 'I have one more person to show, I'll let u know this afternoon' then never responded to me.
-)one responded, room was already rented (no problem there, it happens)
-)one person responded, no men, also fine, but nothing in listing to state they were not looking for men, said house had 2 men, 2 women.
-) one unsolicited person tried to scam me.
So be careful, or just don't wast your time..
-)One person showed me a room, told me ahead of time it was first come first serve.
Saw, said I'll take it, lady said 'I have one more person to show, I'll let u know this afternoon' then never responded to me.
-)one responded, room was already rented (no problem there, it happens)
-)one person responded, no men, also fine, but nothing in listing to state they were not looking for men, said house had 2 men, 2 women.
-) one unsolicited person tried to scam me.
So be careful, or just don't wast your time..
False advertising
I am writing because I thought that I was lucky when I saw the ad for a room advertised by Michael Popowich 34 months ago. He appeared to be friendly. At first, everything was going well. Everything started going downhill during the pandemic. This man is antisocial, filthy and when there was a gas leak, I had to inform the super because he wouldn’t. There is absolutely no kitchen access(which he did not mention). This person has some sort of mental illness. He appears to be paranoid about everything. Please do not allow him to use this service.
Craigslist is better
You want someone to pay 14$ to get access for a week to send messages to new listings? Out of your mind
Trash
The fact that you need to pay just to speak with someone about a a living space is just ridiculous. Trash app. Garbage
It showed my address publicly !
People showed up to my house I thought it was showing general areas... do not approve.
Frustrating and disappointing
It is the worst application I have had, I paid by mistake 3 times I tried to contact customer service many times but they never answered me, they have not returned the money and I paid 60.00 dollars for a couple of messages the first day, I tried to communicate in all ways for the refund and help in the application and it has not been possible to receive a response
What happened
I was so delighted to find such a good app for searching for housing and/or flat mates. Initially the app was free to use but that all changed with the upgrade. Now one must pay be it 7 day, 2 weeks, a month.....just to PM anyone on the site. It’s not useful nor productive by any means. I don’t see the reason why the developers set it this way. Does anyone know why?
Pay to find a room?
You pay when you find a room and then you also pay to “try” to find it.
Trash.
Trash.
Waste of time!
Not a single listing for where I live.
Linking Facebook creates a new account
I saw the option to link Facebook to your account, but doing so creates an entirely separate account - so what’s the point of seeing it if I’m already a user??
Do a Quality Assurance check on your UX.
Do a Quality Assurance check on your UX.
Looking
I am writing some people to take a room and nobady answering
Upgrade
I don’t think it helps as much as you advertise. I would think you would receive more message within a short time frame. When first posted. I would ever pay extra but other than that it’s great to find good honest people.
Had to pay every week to just send a message
Overpriced
A scam
I paid for my messages to be viewed and still received no responses.
People are rude, play with your head
I started looking for a place on this app in September 2020. It is now March 2021. I went to multiple places and most people were extremely rude and judgmental. You’re lucky if they even respond to you. One time I was all ready to rent a room out, just for the woman (who was my age) to tell me she had already rented the room out. So why did you have me come over? How is someone moving in when you told me you don’t even know the cost of security deposit? A lot of people seemed like they wanted to meet me for their own entertainment just to play with my head and then never talk to me again. I’ve been looked at like I have 3 heads and 6 arms. I did absolutely nothing wrong and was always kind to everyone. I deleted my profile picture so people won’t judge me. Don’t even know what picture to use because I became really hurt and self conscious. I knew it would be hard to find a place to live but I never knew it would be this hard. I am trying one more time to see if I can find some good people renting rooms out. I’m frustrated, but hopeful. Otherwise, the app works and is easy to navigate. I like the layout and design of the app and it’s easy to find places to rent in the area(s) you’re looking at. I met maybe 2 nice people in the fall but I was still unable to rent from them. If you use this app, be careful what personal info you give out. Be nice, and hopefully they’ll be nice back. Or they’ll just ignore you. One guy even had the nerve to make fun of me and said I looked like Bhad Bhabie and therefore I was problematic. Just because I look like someone doesn’t mean I am the same person. So now I’m starting over. Won’t be sharing pics of myself until I know the people I’m messaging are cool. I know I’m a good person and don’t deserve to be treated like this on an app such as this one. I would still give it a try though. It could have been the area, these people were in uptown NYC. Good luck to whoever reads this.
Sentiment summary
92%
Positive (4-5★)
3%
Neutral (3★)
4%
Negative (1-2★)