Ziffy Homes website suspended amid shutdown speculation

Home rental platform Ziffy Homes has suspended its website, which shows an Error 522 when accessed, setting off reports of a possible shutdown.   

The Y Combinator-backed startup, financially affected by the Covid-19 lockdown, is on the verge of winding up its business, as per an Entrackr report. The startup’s co-founder Saurabh Kumar reportedly declined the shutdown claims, but added that its operations have significantly declined. 

TechCircle’s email to investor Y Combinator, seeking additional details, remained unanswered till the time of publishing this report. 

A quick look at the firm’s Twitter wall shows posts by several customers demanding a refund of security deposits and complaining about its poor customer service.   

@ZiffyHomes I moved out 2 months back & still haven't received my refund deposit. Customer care has given no definite response & I keep following up every week. Such unethical disregard for rent agreement. Cc @jagograhakjago

— Vipula Singh (@VipzZing) September 3, 2020

Been a month I vacated my room , but @ZiffyHomes doesnt care to refund my deposit amount oe even listen to me@complaint #badexperience @sanchal02

— Abhinav Dwivedi (@dwivediabhinav) June 26, 2020

@ZiffyHomes It's been over 2 months since I served notice and I'm yet to receive my security deposit. I'm unable to contact your customer support as well. This is highly disappointingly. Please look into this asap.

— Rounak Banik (@Rounak_Banik) September 17, 2020

Ziffy Homes was under financial distress even before the onset of Covid-19. In May 2020, many vendors had reportedly not received payments for nearly six months. The dues averaged around Rs 3 lakh per vendor, Mint reported. Landlords too had started to delist their properties from the platform, while internally, employees were being laid off and pay cuts were initiated, the report claimed. 

The Gurugram based startup’s operational creditors had reportedly expected the company to file for bankruptcy last year.

Founded in 2015 Kumar and Sanchal Ranjan, Ziffy Homes helps users rent out ready-to-move-in homes for long stays without brokerage and allow tenants to pay rents online. It currently has operations in Delhi-NCR. 

Apart from Y Combinator,  the company counts Bikky Khosla, CEO of Tradeindia.com, and Anirudh Agarwal, managing director of Shree Sharda Group, as investors.