Escrow.com

After I turned over funds, Escrow.com informed me that merchandise was shipped by SpeedPost and gave me a tracking number, not bothering to give me a link to the proper website for tracking. When I inquired, because the item was not found on the website linked to SpeedPost, Escrow.com told me not to worry, that it sometimes takes several days for the item to show up in tracking. The merchandise is a big-ticket item, and I was anxious to make sure it was on its way to me. I finally emailed customer service on the website linked to SpeedPost, and someone at SpeedPost took one look the tracking number and told me that I should be looking on the India Post website -- not SpeedPost. When I complained to Escrow.com, I got nothing but a bunch of condescending double talk. I spent three or four days checking and rechecking the SpeedPost website, trying to track my item -- three of four days of high anxiety, for no reason -- all because Escrow.com couldn't be bothered to pay attention to me, a customer who paid over $250 for their unservice.

**UPDATE** Escrow.com reached out to me and addressed all of my concerns. While the experience with the one customer service rep wasn't the best, Escrow.com does care about their customers. Escrow.com took the time to send me a very professional email, addressing each of my concerns directly.

I recently tried to use Escrow.com and had high hopes! Seemed pretty legit, and they might be. Might beef with them comes from their lack of willing to listen to their customers.

I had an app I was purchasing from someone, we set it all up and everything seemed good. I wired the (substantial) amount of money to them. They received it. I sent them the required documents, agreement terms for the sale, etc. The agreement between the buyer(me) and the seller were signed by us with our legal names.
NOTE: With google play apps, ANYONE can go on and create a developer account. When you do that, you then choose your Developer name. The name that goes under your apps that you create. They don't ask to verify a business or anything at all. I am on there and I chose my name, I'm just a hobby android game creator. I just made up a developer name. No registered business, nothing at all. This is due to taxes automatically being withdrawn from the money you make through admob, which is also a google company. My point is, developer names are not necessarily businesses or companies, I would say most are not.

Escrow.com did a little 'research' and saw that the developer name was different than the seller's legal name (which makes total sense) and they stopped the process until the seller sent them his legal documents for his company or business. I explained to them what I explained to you in the top paragraphs, but the customer service rep kept repeating that the legal department needs those documents and they sent the request to the seller to get those submitted.

WHAT Documents? I explained everything to them, and they ignored my concerns and blew me off stating that the legal department needs them. Right after stating that they would send a repeat message of, 'Is there anything else I can help you with today?'. I was pretty dang nice and even apologized for being a little bit annoyed.

Later I come to find out that the same thing happened between them with the seller. They refused to acknowledge anything and kept with their shpeel of 'we need those company documents!'. So the seller cancelled the transaction.

HERE'S THE KICKER. THEY STILL MADE ALL OF THE MONEY FROM THE "TRANSACTION" LIKE THEY DID ANYTHING! So now I'm going to be getting the money back in my account, MINUS over $200.

They need to listen to their customers and actually understand the situation before they choose to take people's money. It's their fault and no one else's.

Not sure why eBay started using them, but it is a totally a way of tying up your money from a sale (guess Escrow.com are getting interest, on top of there charges), they have no clue what an Auction is and want you to let customer have what they bought at auction """" BEFORE PAYING FOR IT """", been an eBay customer for 17 years, with a 100% rating selling many Classic Cars, and get paid at end of auction, as an auction should be, never had to release a car to ship across country before buyer pays for it and has to let them know to release the funds to you. What part of an auction don't they understand. I canceled my sell just because of Escrow.com as that's not the way to do business and all there doing is trying to play with your money and charge you for it.

Seems like Escrow.com don't have someone with an actual background in escrow running the show. Problems included:
Bad wording on website led to multiple days of delay around shipping vehicle. When they said "do you need shipping" what they mean is "is this item being shipped?"
They do not automatically release funds at end of transaction. You have to call. No explanation why.
They failed to release the funds after the first call.
They take 3 business days to execute an ach. 1-2 days is typical.
They will close out the transaction BEFORE the funds are sent. This creates the very unnerving status of the funds having apparently disappeared

In the end they covered a wire transfer for my funds. Instill can't help but wonder about their claim that they hold the funds non interest bearing. I bet not.

Sadly, few alternatives.

I sold a domain name for around $1500 using Escrow.com's concierge service, for an extra $100 fee. Several times Escrow.com suggested how to deal with misleading or incomplete info from my domain registrar, and Escrow.com issued many helpful frequent status emails regarding the domain transfer process. Make sure you follow instructions well and make sure your name, phone number and email match where important. Once I established the initial authorization to transfer my domain, Escrow.com did all the transfer details, and promptly issued me my ACH payment. Both buyer and seller both need to be motivated and attentive in order to deal with their part of the work. The people at Escrow.com were competent, prompt, helpful, professional and pleasant. I feel this went very well... Thanks.

Just one word - Pathetic Service. I'm not even saying about the escrow Escrow.com fee they charge but the overall service. I was in process of selling an asset using a broker. The broker insisted on using Escrow.com. The verification process is a joke. It took me 1 week to get the verification done. Apparently, they could not mention that I needed to provide my Passport for verification.

Now the asset transfer process again was troublesome, with escrow not know what documents they need to verify to mark the transaction as complete.

Now the payment part. My bank requested for the swift message copy. Which as per the escrow can be provided after 5 days of closing statement. Bunch of bullocks. After taking $800 in fee you cant provide 24x7 support, or relevant documents then purpose do you serve.

Highly dissatisfied with the service. Never ever using them again.

Escrow.com is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. I had a large transaction and a concierge was assigned to us to help in the process. He was basically useless and never did anything for us to help resolve the numerous problems we encountered. Then, he completely disappeared for about 10 days. He then suddenly answered my email and then disappeared again. And, good luck getting anyone else in their support department to help. If you send them an email Escrow.com don't have an auto-response, so you never even know if they got your email, you just have to wait and hope they answer your email. Plus, their website security sucks. They do not have two-factor authentication and, if the details on your disbursement page change they don't even send you an email to notify you that a change has been made. The attitude of this company seems to be, you have nowhere else to go, so we will treat you like crap and there is not much you can do about it. I would never use them again and I would warn people to avoid them like the plague!

Brilliant philosophy relatively simple process. The two things I would expect to change if any would be, if somebody has not used or purchased web store before make sure Escrow.com are guided clearly and they are communicated with as much as possible. There was a point where I didn't know what I had to do nor was I guided to do that but asking for help got me the answers pretty quickly.

Secondly as a middle man between purchases I would expect more of a follow up on purchases maybe two months down the line. I say this because some people do not honour their words.

Example: I recently purchased a site that lasted no longer than two months, in the description section it stated that help could be offered post purchase. Did this happen. No. There was absolutely no willingness after purchase to help at all, to me this is like selling half of a product and sometimes is a reason why people make purchases. I'm sure that this is against the law. So the other thing I would change is to be more scrupulous against these individuals. Sellers should be rated. Escrow is a brilliant platform and did help me with a security issue regarding my purchase. Very grateful of.

I began doing business upon recommendation from a friend. This was my first experience in doing business with an internet service company ( involved with material amount of funds). I was hesitant and suspicious on how the deal would be handled and consummated. Let's cut through the chase.

From the very outset, Escrow.com explained the process and security measures that would protect my investment while walking me through each step in the transaction. I felt relieved with my interaction with professionally talented employees at Escrow.com. I will go back for another transaction in a heart beat and will recommend to my friends and others to engage their transactions with Escrow.com as well. I don't hesitate to rank Escrow.com with the highest rating #5. SPP

UPDATE 2: I am updating my review to improve the star rating and clarify some things. First of all, apparently, the Buyer in my transaction made two mistakes. I'm still a bit annoyed that Escrow.com's customer service took so long to figure out one of the mistakes, especially when it was so easy to see. But my previously poor review needed to be upgraded because it was not all their fault. Should I receive my funds in a timely manner, I will upgrade the review again.

UPDATE 1: Edited to reduce my rating to one star and to add that after online chats and phone calls by both myself (the Seller) and the Buyer (who is in Real Estate), this company's customer service is really lacking. The Buyer did originally make a mistake by not sending the fee (their instructions are a bit confusing). But then she sent the fee via PayPal several days ago and Escrow.com hasn't claimed the funds and you can't speak to finance by phone. Now tell me these delays are not created to increase their interest income from the funds. Escrow.com had the opportunity to make two new happy customers and instead they just ticked us both off.

FIRST REVIEW: I have used this company once and so far I am not too happy.
Let's think about this... How does a company like Escrow.com make their money?
1. Fees
2. Holding on to the money as long as possible while they earn interest on it.

They seem to find all sorts of excuses to hold your money so they can earn the most interest on it. They are slow to respond to their customers while they earn interest on your money. I don't know where they are based, but the grammatical errors all over their site and in their communications makes me think they are not based in the USA, which is a little scary. I won't be using them again.

Overall the service is very helpful but there were several parts that I felt were confusing:

* at the point where I (the buyer) was to enter my registrar info, I could not do it on your site, instead I was supposed to email the information to concierge. There should be a very clear button on the transaction where I can enter this info

* The transaction was marker "complete" before it actually was totally completed. This concerned me as I had not yet received the domain name that I had purchased

* the chat help could not tell me where I was supposed to enter my registrar info - even after I sent them the page URL Escrow.com asked me for screenshots. They seemed unfamiliar with the process.

* when I called customer service about the status of my transaction I was told that the people who could help me were in a meeting. This did not give me a great deal of confidence in the escrow team

You are a fraud. I have informed the police in UK to look into it. Popular YouTube channel a friend of miens is processing a video of this whole situation, i have recorded my experience since start of sale till now. I have contacted buyer to work with me privately and also leave a input on this review. I find out escrow was sold so you could be the new scammers using the company reputation to its advantage. Shocking how i get flagged for what ever by this bull$#*! OFAC. You stories do not add up, you said the bank already sent money then OFAC held it but then your employee Dyan tells me Escrow.com were instructed not to even send the money and the whole time you lot pretended you sent the money but my detail could've been wrong. You know what keep the $900 you scumbags because it will reflect your company success in the future with what i am about to do as the video will be seen by hundreds of thousands of people. I will find all other sites and forums and leave reviews like this and get buyer to do so too. Unbelievable your support is a piece of $#*! as no one ever contacts back.

$#*! you and your company for 900$ you longed me off i probably wasted more on bills. Scum bags!

No one should use this service as it is bought by these scumbags and they are mugging the sellers!

We currently own a domain at Network Solutions and were trying to transfer a new domain to it but we kept getting the run around by Network Solutions. We were told by escrow.com that the domain we had purchased was sitting in a GoDaddy account and suggested that we open a new GoDaddy account to transfer the new domain. I created the GoDaddy account, called escrow.com and spoke with Mariana, and she helped me transfer our new domain to GoDaddy quickly. I couldn't believe how easy it was. We gave Network Solutions over a month to try to transfer this domain and it took them 3 failed attempts before we finally decided to go with escrow.com's advice and use GoDaddy instead. Thank you escrow.com for your efforts. Everything was very quick and easy once we figured out Network Solutions was the problem. Thanks Mariana!

I have had nothing but problems with my domain name escrow holding service.

I required a domain I purchased through escrow.com to be redirected (301 permanent). It took several emails and phone calls to have this setup, despite providing screenshots and step by step instructions on how to complete this change in GoDaddy. I also provided guides from GoDaddy's support section. It eventually took a phone call where I had to walk their domain technical specialist on exactly what to click on, type, radio buttons and check boxes to enable to have this change made.

Fast forward a few months later, and I required another change to the DNS Settings. I am told I am able to change my DNS settings for free, but when I made this request to their DNHOLDING email address I was told I needed to pay $45 or to make the change myself.

When I phoned at how I can make this change, I was instructed to make DNS changes through my web hosting account, which technically makes no sense. DNS Settings are managed through a domain, not a webhosting account... I was told Escrow.com can only make Name Server changes through GoDaddy. When I indicated that the page in GoDaddy's DNS Manager that the name server changes are made I was again told I needed to pay $45. To indicate this person's technical knowledge, they continuously referred to this as "D, N, H, settings".

When I was on the phone I asked how to make the $45 payment, I was told I could do so online using the escrow account manager. When going there, there is no visible option to do this.

When I used the online chat to speak to someone on how they do this, I was first told, DNS Setting changes can be requested with their DNHoldings email address, and when I indicated they required a payment and I was instructed to make the payment using their online account manager, the person on the web chat told me someone (Either the first person by email, or the person on the phone) should have sent me an authorization form to make the payment.

Why they advertise or tell you, that you can make DNS setting changes for free on your own is far cry from being true, as it's not possible to do this as the Domain sits within the Escrow.com company's GoDaddy Account, which the DNS Manager page is only accessible form the account that the domain resides in.

This is such a nightmare. I would never use this service again, I do not suggest anyone to consider this as an option and I would urge you to use any other service than escrow.com.The only regret to this transaction is using escrow.com.
Do Not use escrow.com.

We ordered an $8000 coffee roaster and had it shipped from an individual seller who was on the other side of the country. Escrow.com was a perfect solution to safely make the purchase, receive the item and release payment! The only drawback is all of the info needed to set up the account took longer than expected. Escrow.com make it look easy with their initial "get started now" button, but we had a few hurdles to jump with all of the documents we needed to submit (took over an hour plus a trip to the bank for a wire transfer...) to actually get set up. Also, review the RATES BEFORE you commit. Our transaction fee was $169.00... not $26. Despite these hiccups, we could not have completed this purchase safely, otherwise. Guess it was worth it!

I have been attempting to purchase a used vehicle utilizing Escrow.com's service and have experienced nothing but issues and delays.
1. My bank transferred funds to Escrow.com via wire transfer at 9am - Escrow.com website states payment received, awaiting processing.
2.2 days later, status is unchanged so I call Escrow.com - after investigating, Escrow.com realize that the bank account was a joint account and my name was cut off on the wire transfer form. They process the payment and now hold the funds in Escrow.com's accounts.
3. After I accepti the merchandise and mark the payment to be sent to the lien holder, nothing happens. I call Escrow.com 3 days later and they investigate - "the vehicle services department says they are getting ready to mail a check." Mail a check? I did a wire transfer for $35,500 to escrow.com and paid $315.95 for their service PLUS an extra $60 for the lien holder payoff and they are writing and mailing a damn check!?!?!? This delays me receiving the title thus a delay in being able to register and drive the car by whatever time is needed to create a check, mail it, and have the lien holder verify the funds. As opposed to the immediate delivery of funds transferred via wire.

I would never recommend Escrow.com for an important transaction or use these services again. I could have, and should have, wired the funds directly to the lien holder on day 1. Very disappointing.

My business trades high end timepieces with connoisseurs of fine watches. I was trying to sell a $11k+ Rolex online to a new client. Client really wanted the watch but was getting cold feet and was thinking about backing out of the deal altogether. Escrow dot com to the rescue! The services you offer put my buyers mind at ease and we completed the deal. I think it would have fallen through without Escrow. Also, the support staff were amazing. Both my buyer and I made some errors setting up our accounts and support sorted it out quickly. "Ron" was especially helpful to me and deserves a shout out. I've already shared my positive experience with several of my business colleagues.

This service sets everything up so that the buyer is the only one who can get screwed. If the seller changes their mind, escrow.com charges the buyer for it out of the escrow. There is no accountability against the seller by escrow.com, none. Once the buyer is forced to pay the amount, the only recourse is a lawsuit, which is ridiculous.

My exact situation: I bought a large priced item. I am not to release the escrow funds until I take possession. The seller wants me to release them before the product is even in my possession. I have explained the rules of the escrow that HE SETUP exactly word for word, but this dimwit doesn't want to go that route. He wants to rewrite the rules now, yet I am on the line for hundreds per his problems, not him.

I absolutely hate this company's way of screwing the buyer over.

I used them on a transaction and got royally screwed. After shipping the merchandise to the buyer signature signed, the buyer decide to return the merchandise a week later claiming damage. On the return, the buyer didn't send the merchandise back signature required (as was required IN WRITING at the time). As a result, this $1000 merchandise was delivered and left out on a porch in the rain!

But hey, never mind if a buyer doesn't comply with the agreed terms of the transaction,

To add insult to injury, I also never even received a check for a refund on my shipping from Escrow (which was also written as required). Not that it mattered on this loss.

Stay far away from this crooked company. Escrow.com backpedal when confronted with policy violations and like others have said, it takes forever to get nothing resolved. They are mainly interested in their fee which is almost always paid for by the buyer - who you think they are going to side with?

I have had hundreds of transactions online and this was the worst experience ever. NEVER sell any item through them or you're asking for trouble.

I had to call and find out why I hadn't received my funds to my bank account and Escrow.com told me that they messed up and never processed my payment. They tried to say it's because they moved their offices to San Francisco but I know they moved those offices long ago. In addition there were several times throughout the domain transfer process when they would lose my emails or just simply forget to initiate important events to keep the transaction process moving. It was terrible. Never again will I use Escrow.com. Here's my chat transcript from today "Hello,
I'm hoping you can help me find out where my money is.
Transaction #XXXXXXXXX
Lee: Hello!
Hello
Lee: Thank you for that. For verification, please provide your phone number and your registered email address associated with the transaction.
Lee: Thank you! Kindly hold on while I check on this.
Thanks
Lee: Thanks for waiting.
Lee: We have forwarded this concern to our finance team for processing.
Lee: Is there anything else that I can assist you with?
What do you mean?
Has the payment to my account been processed?
It should have been processed last week
Lee: We apologize for the inconvenience. We recently moved our headquarters to San Francisco and caused a little delay in processing out disbursement.
Okay, when will my payment be processed?
You had no problem releasing my domain to the buyer
That's why I'm on chat.
Because it's late.
And this whole process with Escrow.com has been a nightmare for me.
So I'd really just like you to send my money to my bank account
You guys never even started to process the payment did you?
Lee: It will now be in queue of our finance team. Once they approve it, it will take 3 business days to clear.
Ok, so you never started to process it last week like you should have?
Lee: Unfortunately, yes. Again apologies for the delay due to the recent movement of our headquarters.
That sounds like a bad excuse to me. Ok, this chat transcript is going to look great posted on every review site on the internet.
Your #1 job is to handle peoples money and property responsibly. And Escrow.com has failed miserably.
Have a good day."

The service Escrow.com provides when purchasing a vehicle online is valuable and the rates Escrow.com charge are fair. If you are not 100% positive about the purchase you're making, use them or someone else that provides the same sorts of protection.

That said, Escrow.com does not represent how their service will affect your purchase process accurately. If you and the seller are not both fully enrolled in and have used the service before, plan on an extra 4 business days to initiate the purchase. They don't tell you this ahead of time, but there's no way around it. That's at the beginning of the purchase. At the end of the purchase they hold on to your money for at least 3 extra days before the buyer gets it. All of this is probably somewhere in the fine print but there won't be a mention of it when they're trying to get your business and once you agree it's too late to back out.

Again, it's a valuable service. Just plan on a lot of delays. A transaction that should take a day or two will take well over a week not counting transportation. I won't use them again because they fail to disclose all implications of using their service.