Connells Group Reviews 

Connells - Rainham/Mothership/Ashford/Headoffice
CONNELLS.CO.UK

Abysmal service, Ashford area director (Robert Coleman) and the Rainham manager (Kieran Dooley) seem to be part of a disturbing culture that is not fit for purpose and sharp practice. In my experience I would totally avoid and I have managed to get out from them.

As with the 80% on this site with trust pilot who are extremely unhappy with Connells is it any wonder after you are blanked by David Plumtree.

When you get the silly person who claims to be and area manager.

REMEMBER: NOBODY AT CONNELL'S GIVES OUT THEIR MOBILE TELEPHONE NUMBER. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS ?

(1) They are cost cutting to give their minimum wagers mobile phones, they have lots of high street fronts (cost).

(2) They don't want employee telephone numbers being compromised/threatened as they are so bad at their business and it probably happens frequently (expense) Hence they could have legal problems potentially in the tribunals.

(3) They record everything (via their landline, should be careful before doing this, i.e. no warning), likely for legal purposes. albeit they never sue as their fees would outweigh and they have a good likelihood of being in breach of contract.

(3) Their junior management would rather threaten to sue than act professionally and negotiate (some people cave-in, its fear campaign).

COOLING OFF PERIOD TRICK TO LOCK YOU IN TO THEIR RATED BAD service.

They also do the cooling of period trick... first 14 days are them delaying around so they can lock you into their contract for what you negotiated (cheap trick), also lie about experience. If they had done this quicker you could have seen their level of knowledge, ability and you could choose to cancel. Cant deliver viewings (watch out for the block trick where they claim to have an open day and your lucky if one person turns up), generally unprofessional. Senior management complicit.., blame everyone else this goes to the pictures of the heads on their website... I asked for help from the head of Estate Agency David Applegate, in the mothership in Leighton Buzzard and it appears he was probably looking forward to POETS day or going back to his own planet for the weekend.

One of the estate agents, that get little to no viewings for you the and suggest (based on the crap they say in writing and sales pitch) knocking of a large amount off price based on no evidence after 10 minutes of not doing their jobs as they don't know the area or have clients and pretty much no viewings.

Anyhow off to a professional outfit now...

Don't use these clowns, I would not again and they have such a dreadful reputation according to this site... many of whom describe utterly shameful attitude.

I wish I had done my homework, alas I was sucked in.

The rate for them is 1% plus VAT including FREE professional photos (they will try and charge as an extra £200 quid plus). Also, despite what I have written, if you go with them, do not give them any more than a 3 weeks contract from the date the agreement is executed. If as they claim in the current climate they literally WILL sell unbelievably quickly, a couple of weeks with a week for set-up, must be ample.

PS. Be careful with the drop "20K" to get people thru the door rubbish after they failed to get anyone or minimal interest (2 viewings), sloppy and lazy attitude. where they have no evidence to support thus. Lots of people fall for it !!!!!

Potentially, there are a couple of reasons for this...

Cant be bothered not my money, so Id rather have my commission (less) or perhaps mates rates for their next house buy.

This business is pathetically regulated and open to manipulation.

PLEASE DO YOUR HOMEWORK

HOPE THIS HELPS

Dreadful service from Connells lettings, Basingstoke.
Six month rental with fees paid in advance. No customer support, in fact blatantly abrupt and dismissive of my concerns over many months by email (when eventually replied to). No heating or boiler-fed hot water from outset - had to use immersion heater for hot water. Complained - ignored completely on this issue for 3 months until I approached landlord directly. Moved out after 3 months owing to these issues but still had to complete the contract. Repeated letters from bailiffs relating to previous tenants - again, no help or support whatsoever. Felt insecure in the property. Beware of using this agent. I will never use them again. If there was a zero stars option I would use it.

BEWARE LANDLORDS AND TENANTS. I hate that I have to award any stars to a group who are just a bunch of money grabbing and totally unprofessional people. They are linked to Home & Legacy Insurance and Markel Solicitors, all of whom are in cahoots with each other. Trading Standards need to get involved with the advertising and claims Connells make about providing a managed service, the FCA need to get involved with Home & Legacy about shafting people who pay good money for insurance policies that they have no intention of honouring and the Law Society need to get involved with their solicitors - Markel who have refused to communicate sensibly with me for almost 3 months because they knew I had given notice to Connells as my Letting agent, and if they could hold out for long enough knew they wouldn't have to act on my behalf. The whole shower are grossly unprofessional and quite deceitful.

Nothing but high praise for Dan Thomas and all the team at Connells Eastleigh Branch. Thanks for adding real humanity back to the selling process and for your professionalism, friendliness and devotion to supporting us though the selling journey. You're all amazing.

Incompetent Immoral Imbeciles.
The advice is never to use this company for either managing properties or as an estate agent, they are complete Incompetent, Immoral Imbeciles.
As a landlord they have cost me thousands.
They lost the tenancy agreement, the check in inventory and the keys.
Due diligence, care and professionalism are not in the dictionary at connells.
Without your sanction they will sub-contract works they deem necessary to another connells company, who sub- contract to another connells company, who sub contract to a local supplier. You are then advised by a company you have never heard of that you have been charged for the privilege!
People correspond with you from a different company name then claim to work for connells.
Connells have now repaid for the works charged plus legal costs, but only after they gave me the run around and protracted correspondence between different ‘companies’ ending in small claims court.
The only ‘Excellence’ they have is in incompetency, is this what they claim when providing training to employees?
Both the tenant and myself had been lied to by the local branch with the return of the keys resulting in days of delay and additional cost, I am well rid of this company.
Their performance is so bad I have also stopped looking at any properties they market, I would not buy through them if they were the last agent on the planet.
If this is the ‘best possible service’ they all need to retire.

Already left a review titled horrific a month back. I chased repairs again this morning. They waited until 1729 and sent a email with a fake business qoute for 900 pound and tried to blame me for repairs. Truth is if they fixed bathroom wen reported in 2017 the issues would not have hapoened. They waited til they went home to send email so i couldnt discuss. Awful awful company.

Upon our initial meeting Joe gave us a great deal of confidence in the sale of 41 Tonning Street. The phrases used included ‘We’ll put it at £150,000 to get people through the door’, ‘It will easily sell’, ‘we have people in bidding wars on properties’, ‘you should make sure the house is ready for viewings at a few hours notice’, ‘we understand that you are a teacher and we can contact you via email if it makes life easier for you’. Based on Joe’s confidence, we signed up with William H Brown, also trusting them as a high street name. However, it soon transpired that these were false promises. We have had three viewings on our property in three weeks, no offers and very little interest.

Reflecting on the initial asking price, I believe that Joe pressured us into putting the house up for £150,000 in order to heighten the fixed sales fee at £1500 plus VAT. Instead of a realistic asking price that would’ve yielded a lower fixed fee.

In addition to this, every time I call for an update, Jamie, Joe Lydia or whoever answers the phone assures me that they are talking to multiple investors and arranging viewings, however these viewings never appear. Having been arranging viewing for potential properties for myself to purchase, I know that when you call up you can generally arrange a viewing that phone call. It feels like you are fobbing us off and just telling us what we want to hear to get us off the phone.

Furthermore, after a viewing on Saturday a few weeks ago, Jamie told us we would expect and offer by the end of the day. Jamie then never responded. I rang him on Monday and then Jamie changed his stance to ‘the investor was looking at one of three properties.’ The Jamie was going to ring him as soon as our call ended. However, I didn’t hear anything further.

Following on from this, I was under the impression that Joe would be handling our sale but then it’s passed to Lydia, Jamie and god knows who else. I don’t know who I’m asking for when I call up, and I believe this this is done deliberately in order for William H Brown to pass clients around and deter communication.

Another example of unprofessionalism is that when we had our first viewing (I think with Lydia but God knows who actually I was speaking to). We returned home to a house we had left immaculately, to find sugar all over the table as if someone had eaten their lunch or a pack of doughnuts at our dining room table and not bothered to clean up after themselves.

It seams that Joe cannot commit to even the simplest promise, he took our house key to get it cut and copied with the promise that the original would be return on the first viewing. However, this was 4 weeks ago and we are still waiting for our original to be returned. We only live a 10 minute walk from William H Brown.

Lastly, and most prominently, Lydia conducted a viewing on Friday, the 25th of June in which our 50 inch smart TV was smashed, by the looks of it in order to access the gas meter. This was outright denied by both Jamie and your area manager. However, my partner and I were both out of the house from 7 am until 6 pm on the days of the viewing and so Lydia and the viewing participants were the only people in the house. The comments of your area manager were, was laughing, phone the police then. I found the police who said it was a civil matter and that it wasn't a police matter. I think the way I've been treated is disgusting and the outright lies that I've been told are despicable. For future reference the correct way to deal with this is to find me a soon as it happens apologise and replace the item immediately. This would have resulted in me being very understanding as I'm aware that accidents happen. However the way that it has been dealt with is disgusting.

I am utterly dissatisfied with the lack of service William H Brown have provided to use as vendors. You promise the earth and don’t even deliver a pebble. It’s disgusting and I feel taken advantage of as a first time seller.

If I could give a 0 star rating I would.

At the end of 2020 I left my abusive partner and was promised by the Connells agent looking after the property we rented together that he would get me removed from the tenancy as my ex refused to leave the property. They then went back on this promise and have left me financially tied to a man that physically, mentally and emotionally abused me.

My ex demanded he wasn’t going to be made homeless so I had to leave and that he would take on all rent and bills. He has now gone on not to pay any rent since I left and tried to demand I pay it. As you can imagine I have had to find somewhere else to live and can not afford to pay for my abuser to live in a house I (being pregnant) should of been able to stay in.

Connells have continued to ignore any correspondence from me and just let the property go into 4 months of arrears with no efforts to remove my ex from the property.

All I will say about Connells is that you should avoid them as a tenant and even as a landlord. They have no morals and are not interested in anyones circumstances.

Update, regarding Kevein Henry, Sequence Connells, Sharman Quinney and all the other names they hide behind.
Regretfully, I cannot give no stars. This is a really vile company. The review is for SQ but the company we went through are Kevin Henry. Kevin and Henry had a fantastic reputation in my town and when they retired, SQ kept the name to benefit themselves.
They still indulge in their dirty little practice of rowing in their own preferred energy supplier for a nice little backhander. It took more than one year to get compensation from Spark Energy and OVO Energy because of their nasty little practice that caused a cancer sufferer and an NHS employee inordinate amounts of stress. 15 months on and this disgusting company have done the same thing again, EVEN THOUGH WE ARE THE TENANTS AND HAVE THE SOLE RIGHT TO CHOOSE OUR OWN SUPPLIER. They actually told SSE (part of the OVO group) to take over our energy supply. We went straight to the Ombudsman AGAIN and got a grovelling letter of apology and a measly cheque for £30. The supply is now going back to our supplier. This dirty practice has to stop, particularly when there are people like Gary Morton handling their complaints. Nasty, irrelevant little man accepts no responsibility for what we have gone through.

Very poor service- i used Connells Ipswich to rent out a property. The service was dreadful- poor communication generally. However the worse of it was when I tried to raise issues and the complaint processes- nobody ever took the time to phone me to discuss my complaint- they just sent letters and nobody takes responsibility. I finally got to speak to one person who was very helpful but when she escalated it up i received yet another letter from another faceless person- if you want someone who cares go elsewhere.

Useless

Connells Group (including William H Brown & sequence)

The issues I have had with this company are numerous. They are useless at all aspects of property management. I have had issues with getting repairs completed, poor communication, poor workmanship, inaccurate reports, false promises, poor data protection handling and general incompetence. Avoid if you are looking to rent or a landlord

This utterly incompetent firm told my lender that the lease had just 9 years to run. In fact it was 970 years. This caused a big delay at a time-critical point in the chain. So, so amateur.

DO NOT USE CONNELLS

If you are looking to Let your Property - go elsewhere.

Find a Local Agent who can give you a PERSONAL Management service and screen Tenants Properly.

I could list my complaints but need to keep the blood pressure down. Urgh. Agents are supposed to take the stress out of Letting - NOT Induce STRESS.

As a landlord, avoid at all cost. Absolutley shocking service. They do not check up on their tradmens repairs and shed any responsibility ! Even their own 6 monthly check up report failed to report a broken fence 1 week after a tenant had already reported ! No explanation or comment on that as well. So why do we pay management fees. Fantastic at ignoring calls and emails in the hope any problem will evenntually go away. We as landlords had been charged over the last few years for 17 fence posts and 11 panels with no evidence at the property of any more than 5 panels and posts ever having been replaced. Also poor repairs carried out by their contractors for which they deny all responsibility. I spent 7 months questioning and asking for details of all the repairs for which they could never produce or explain. They are experts at circumnavigating direct questions. Area manager just passed the issue on to someone else at Sequence homes.
Also charged £102.00 for an annual statement which we hadnt requested, promised a refund, never happened.
Totally incompetent.
Do not use, management inept. Want your money only
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Looking for certainty on your house purchase? Spend your money elsewhere.

Shambolic surveyors. £1,700 for a Building Survey report that could have been generated by summer students using Google streetview and copying & pasting from a catalogue of pre-written generic statements. Any decent surveyors they have are no doubt desk bound continuously feeding their lawyers defenses to all the customer complaints. There was zero effort from Connells to address our complaint. Just a lawyer twisting terms and conditions for their benefit.
They are meant to provide confidence and reassurance during a property purchase. They left us with more doubt, worry and a significant chunk taken out of our deposit.

Have now elevated the complaint to The Property Ombudsman Service (TPOS) and reported Connells to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Go elsewhere, even if it costs more. Using Connells is worse than throwing money down the drain.

Never rent a property from Connells!
Their customer service is dreadful when it comes to the tenants, as all they want to do is please the landlord in order to keep their revenue coming in! Months of waiting for repairs to hot water and heating, even with a child in the property, and then when you finally move out they delay the check out report by just long enough to prevent you from being able to use the Tenancy Deposit Scheme to settle their made up claims. (the check in and out reports carried out by Connells matched so there should have been no claim against the deposit, but three months later they make up claims in order to not repay).
Avoid, Avoid, Avoid....

Dog sh!t poor survey. Done by a rank amateur, couldn't even find the electricity meter. It was under the sink. Get someone else to do it

Connells have Sequence Homes as their appointed representative for insurance purposes; Sequence own William H Brown.

Beware this group and their subsidiaries are dreadful.
Rent and Legal Protection insurance policy sold to me by WHB as part of my managed let , is only in force/valid if I stay in a managed let.
So a 'restrictive product, as I found out when I had enough of WHB incompetence.
An area manager emailed this when I complained.
'All of the insurance products we sell are on a non-advised basis'

So have to go to Connells to complain and their email blocked my complaint email Message blocked:-

'Message blocked
Your message to CustomerRelation*at*sequence.co.uk has been blocked. See technical details below for more information.

The response from the remote server was:

550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied [AM5EUR03FT003.eop-EUR03.prod.protection.outlook.com]

This has happened 3 times so will have to use post and snail mail, cute delaying tactics on their part.
Trustpilot wont allow emails in these reviews so replace *at* with @

Wish I had know about the ownership of William H Brown and read these reviews as their own are not so damning.

Hope the Insurance Ombudsman puts a stop[ to this, when I can get to involce them- have to wait for a 'final response' from this shower before I can even do that. Watch this space.

Did you know after the property ombudsman you can complain to ARLA.
We need to stop the bad service and loss of income to us individuals

Im on complaint no 3.

West Malling Connells, I'm a Landlord thats just used Connells West Malling to find a new tenant. It's been 15 days since the tenants paid but we've still NOT received our money from Connells!! Almost £500!