Complaints
This profile includes complaints for Hibu Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 117 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 34 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:05/19/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Harassment, they continue to call after being told not to call anymore.
Business Response
Date: 05/20/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned about receiving calls from Hibu. We have told our Sales Team not to call you. We have been unable to reach you but have provided a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:05/12/2025
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I hired Hibu on April 11, 2025 to solely manage my social media for my business. The agent I spoke with was aggressive, badgering me, and badmouthing another company that I was working with and trusted, when I never even mentioned who it was. I distinctly remember arguing with him on the phone. I eventually agreed to a $1200 a month deal to manage my social media and place ads. I was never told on the phone that I would be locked into a contract for 6 months with no option for cancellation. He told me he was sending me a Statement of Work, which was the contract, which did not require a signature. The language was extremely technical and unclear that a layperson cant easily understand. After 5 pages of gobbledygook, it finally states that its a 6-month contract and does not mention that theres no way to cancel. The work theyve done is shoddy, the leads Ive gotten are all bogus (I called them all and they all said they werent interested in my services.) I dont even have access to the ******** page they helped me create. I attempted to work with the company directly, asking them to release me from my contract, hoping that since its early in the contract and I think its obvious that theyre not delivering on their terms, that they might be willing to work with me. I also cited personal financial hardship that has recently come up for me making marketing my business a luxury that I simply cannot afford. I was denied and not given a reason why. All I was offered was a 1-3 month pause, which will just further extend my contract just for a break in paying for a few months. I do not seek a refund for the $$ Ive already paid. Im only asking to be released from the contract. Im even willing to pay a fee to be let out of it. If I simply stop payment and stop paying, Ill likely get taken to collections and my credit ruined when Im already dealing with financial hardship.Business Response
Date: 05/15/2025
We appreciate the chance to respond to your issue. Our records show that you had requested to cancel, however, you are still within the terms of your 6-month contract. A request to cancel can be made after the September 16th invoice for the Smart Online Presence and after the October 16th invoice for the Search,Social, and Display. On 04/14/25, when you agreed to the advertising, a SOW (Statement of Work) was emailed to you that listed the expected results of the program. After a thorough review, we found that your products have exceeded expectations. Your ads have only been live for 3 weeks, and the results have exceeded the monthly expectations. Social ads with a traffic objective would have the expected results of an average of 40 website clicks. Your Social ads have 43 clicks after only 3 weeks. Display ads would have the expected results of ***** impressions or 65 clicks. Your results over the last 3 weeks were ****** impressions and 260 clicks. Search ads typically have a click-through rate of greater than 1%, your click-through rate is 2.31%. Based on that information, we have found all your concerns to be in order and have emailed you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Customer Answer
Date: 05/16/2025
Complaint: 23310511
I am rejecting this response because: I am extremely uncomfortable doing business with this company. I believe they mistreat their customers and lead them to believe that their complaints are unfounded, which is the experience I had with the representative who contacted me about the complaint. Every complaint I brought up was flipped around and thrown back at me with the intent of making me feel like I'm wrong and they know best. I find these practices to be extremely dishonest at best, and psychologically toxic at worst. Again, I feel like I'm being scammed, gaslit and led to believe that they're doing everything right and that is everything is my fault.All that was offered to me was to pause my account, which will only extend my contract, when I'm trying to get out of my contract. And they offered to place me with another sales representative. Why are SALES representatives managing accounts, and not a MARKETING team?? This makes no sense! I was offered no good faith attempts to rectify this situation. It seems that they take advantage of new entrepreneurs who don't know much about marketing and count on us not understanding so they can underpromise and we'll never know. Then when it doesn't work, they say they exceeded their expectations. I reject this response, but I want no further contact with this company. They are harmful to my wellbeing and my mental health.
Sincerely,
***** *********Initial Complaint
Date:05/05/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
My company ******** hired HiBu to take care of our marketing campaigns,The *** ***,promised we will receive certain amount of leads based on other companies spending amount between 4 to 5 calls per week,first website supposed to be ready in 10 business days,took month and a half,after 2 months paying for the services only received scams calls,not even 1 real customers,the record is on the ********************** dashboard,is real,I call in good faith to talk and fixed whatever was going on,wait 2 more weeks and didnt receive any leads or real calls,called them again cause my *** was nowhere to be found to my calls or messages ,to cancel or fired them for not delivering what they and the *** ************* I cannot cancel and they are refusing to,never see any ads of my company running anywhere,my friends and customers never saw them either,they said the ads are running,but no one has ever seen them,the only work they actually did I saw was send my contacts,emails to leave reviews on my business page,and for this they want $1500 every month,I stopped the payment cause this is outrageous,even a old customer reached out to request a different service and showed up on the call list,this is the worse,unprofessional marketing company service Ive ever experienced,do not recommended to anyone,is a scam company,I want them to accept my request to be fired for not delivering.Business Response
Date: 05/14/2025
We are still trying to reach Mr. ********* to discuss his concerns. We will respond as soon as possible.Business Response
Date: 05/15/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand you were also concerned about your campaign performance. When we first partnered with you, you were given a Statement of Work that said the Search would have a Click-Thru-Rate greater than 1% and Cost Per Click of $11.74. We exceeded that with a CTR of 9.93% and CPC of $3.07. The *** also said the Display would have ****** to ****** impressions per month. In the past 30 days the Display ads were seen over ****** times. We understand you were also concerned about the amount of time it took to publish your website. There were many changes to the website during the build process which can lengthen this time. We understand that you requested to cancel,however you are still within the terms of your 6-month contract. We have been unable to reach you but have provided a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:04/30/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Hibu sold us a package that at the end doesn't work and if you cancel, everything done by them and that you pay for, it belongs to them (domain, hosting, website etc etc). Their sales people lie to get you to sign a contract. Their system doesnt work how they sell them to work and they blame third party companies for their failures. HIBU is a fraud.Business Response
Date: 05/08/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned about the return on your investment. When we partnered with you, we provided a Statement of Work that said Search would have a Click-Thru-Rate greater than 1% and a Cost Per Click of $6.41. We exceeded that with a CTR of 9.67% and CPC of $1.01. The *** also said that Display would have 4.5K-13K impressions and ***** clicks per month and Social would have 12K-19.2K impressions with ***** clicks per month. We exceeded those numbers with 10K impressions and 82 clicks per month from the Display and 61 clicks with 12.5K impressions from the Social. We cannot guarantee jobs from marketing. We have been unable to reach you but have provided you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:04/18/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
My wife and I used Hibu to host our website and a phone book ad and they have claimed our business on ****** and are controlling everything and we havent used Hibu in years and they continue to deny us access and have ownership of our business.Business Response
Date: 04/18/2025
Hello, we could not locate your account with the provided information. Please reach out to us at ************ to address your concerns. Thank you.Initial Complaint
Date:04/11/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I was overcharged for services, was passed around to several account executives in my time. On their advice I followed everything, the Scope of Work is very vague and frankly is embarrassing for the past year I have been spending $260 a month simple to park the website. I have called several times to try and cancel and I have been told they are expecting heavy call volumes and to try again in 30 minutes or so. This is predatory and they should be ashamed of themselves for the money they stole from me. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to let EVERYONE know how disgusting this company is.Business Response
Date: 04/21/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned with Hibus advertising rates and we apologize that you were unhappy with the return on your investment. When you partnered with Hibu you received a Statement of Work that said the Display would receive 210 to 230 clicks monthly. The Statement of Work also said that the Social would receive 100 to 210 clicks monthly. We exceeded the Display with an average of 451 clicks per month and met the Social with an average of 183 clicks per month. You also expressed concern about difficulty canceling services. We apologize for that difficulty but see you spoke with Client Success on 4/11/25 and the website is scheduled to be canceled by 4/18/25.Based on this information, we have found all your concerns to be in order and have emailed you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:04/01/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Upon an initial meeting with a Hibu representative, we agreed to move forward only upon receipt of an email outlining what had been proposed. We received the email and sent back a confirmation to proceed on Dec. 3. The representative stated that the ads be active in a few days and the listings would activate upon transfer of our **** account. In the first month, we found that our ads were not showing and that our listings would be additional cost. Hibu also refused to share the ****** Analytics that the representative had indicated we would receive upon request. When calling Hibu support, it was confirmed that we were not receiving the product that was documented in our email confirmation. We then requested cancellation from the representative, who then referred us to their client services team. After providing the client services team the supporting documentation, we were told that the cancellation could only be processed through our representative. We then reached back out to the representative multiple times by both phone and email, but she was unresponsive. We were just recently able to get a response, but she again referred us back to client services who then referred us back to the representative. We would like assistance with the cancellation and a report that shows Hibus spend with ****** ads on our behalf.Business Response
Date: 04/08/2025
We appreciate the chance to respond to your issue. Our records show that you had requested to cancel, however, you are still within the terms of your 6-month contract for Search and 12-month contract for Reviews. A request to cancel can be made after the 6/5/25 invoice for Search and after the 11/05/25 invoice for Reviews. On 12/05/24 when you agreed to the advertising, a SOW (Statement of Work) was emailed to you that listed the expected results of the program. After a thorough review, we found that your products have exceeded expectations. Your Search ads have had 387 clicks with an average cost per click of $7.65. The expected results would be an average cost per click of $12.90. The Click-Thru-Rate (CTR),we would expect to see is typically greater than 1%, while your CTR was 3.82%. Based on that information, we have found all your concerns to be in order and have emailed you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:03/31/2025
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
HIBU uses predatory sales practices and sells a "system" that doesn't work. They have sales people who lie to get you to sign a contract. Their systems do not actually work how they sell them to work and they blame third party companies for their failures. HIBU also used unapproved keywords in my campaign.I am requesting refunds for funds already paid and termination of contract.Business Response
Date: 04/07/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned about performance results. When we partnered with you, we provided a Statement of Work. The *** stated the Search would have a Click-Thru-Rate typically >1% with a Cost-Per-Click of $16.80. The *** also said the Display would have 35K-60K impressions with ******* clicks. We exceeded expectations for the Search with a CTR of 8.98% and CPC of $1.92. The Display had 109K impressions and 172 clicks. We understand you were also concerned over the Search keywords. We used keywords based on your services in addition to the keywords you requested for better search results. The issue with the ******** connection does not affect the results of your Search and Display products. The program cannot be canceled as the 6-month contract term has not been met. We offered an adjustment as a courtesy, but you refused the offer. We have emailed you with a direct number and email should you have further questions or concerns.Customer Answer
Date: 04/07/2025
Complaint: 23132974
I am rejecting this response because: the offer made by HIBU was an admission of guilt and agreeance that my former accusations are 100% accurate.
Sincerely,
***** ****Business Response
Date: 04/07/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you had a question about the offer. As stated in our email, the offer was made as a goodwill gesture. We have emailed you with a direct number and email should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:03/13/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Services were not what I was told it would be. I was just another number to them. They were not prompt on their response times and gave me minimal leads. Not even close to what they said I would get. I asked to cancel my contract due to lack of communication and performance. They would not cancel or let me adjust my monthly budget. They failed to meet their promises and their customer service is horrible.Business Response
Date: 03/18/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned about performance results. When we partnered with you, we provided a Statement of Work. The *** stated the Search would have a Click-Thru-Rate typically >1% with a Cost-Per-Click of $11.96 and the Display would have 9K-20K impressions with ***** clicks per month. We exceeded expectations for the Search with a CTR of 1.46% and CPC of $6.74. The Display had an average of 72K impressions and 160 clicks per month. We understand you were also concerned about your Sales Representatives response time. We have spoken with your Sales Representative who indicated she provided regular updates about your campaigns. Your program has been canceled as the contract term was met. Based on that information, we have found all your concerns to be in order and have emailed you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Initial Complaint
Date:03/10/2025
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I am not sure how Hibu marketing is still allowed to do business. I was told that they would be able to help my small business grow. Little did I know that I would be locked into a 6 month contract - spent over $7,400 and did not receive 1 new client from them. This is absolutely not acceptable. I tried to pivot and lean into what I thought was expertise... all they wanted to do was throw clicks and numbers of impressions at me that did not amount to any kind of business. They always redirected me to another department to help - no one took any responsibility for the lack of commitment to their product. They told me I wasn't paying enough for ads, so I adjusted that. They told me I needed to sign up for longer contract. I said - you have not proven that you can get me 1 client in the 6 months I have paid for... why would sign up for longer. It was an absolute waste of my time and money. How many complaints do you need to have to shut businesses like this down. As a small business this was a sacrifice that my family had to make to try and grow our business. The money we paid for ZERO marketing help was taken out of my own family's pocket. And absolutely no one wanted to take responsibility for it - instead I keep getting emails with their Statement of Work - that allows them to continue to operate in this way. I continue to wait for someone to have the guts to at least call and try to make things right as business owner that stands behind their work.Business Response
Date: 03/12/2025
Thank you for speaking with us regarding your concerns. We understand that you were concerned about our ability to fulfill our promises. On 09/18/24 when you agreed to the advertising, a SOW (Statement of Work) was emailed to you that listed the expected results of the program. After a thorough review, we found that your products have exceeded expectations. The Display ads averaged ****** impressions and over 163 clicks per month, which exceeded the expected results of 9,000-20,000 impressions and ***** website clicks. Based on that information, we have found all your concerns to be in order and have emailed you with a direct number and email, should you have further questions or concerns.Customer Answer
Date: 03/13/2025
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
****** ******
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