Connells Group Reviews 60

If I could leave no stars I would.
They never get back to you, if they do it's just to say they're 'looking into it's and make fake promises they have no intention of keeping.
We have been brought to the brink of financial ruin, our tenant is in arrears to the tune of nearly £5000 and we have only received one payment of £745 and their only explanation is that it's Arc Legal's fault. They have a complete disregard for the distress a non-paying tenant causes and don't honour their obligations to landlords who insure through them. Avoid avoid avoid.

Bad service! Tried to claim issue with roof tiles drifted due to wind the representative says there was 43mph winds but that's not enough for a claim. Don't recommend anyone
Ageas underwriter are also the same

Absolutely awful and incompetent.

I have an ongoing complaint since October in regards to a company under Connells Group. They refused to look in to my complaint, conveniently forgot that I had made a request and made an excuse that it was not noted on the complaint. LIES.
I have been emailing them repeatedly since October to get an answer and data I have requested but they are refusing to give it to me and will not answer any emails.

DO NOT USE ANY COMPANY UNDER THIS GROUP. COMPELTLY INCOMPETANT.

Hmmm. Where to begin. With most things Connells it depends on what side of the fence you are on. If you are selling a house, they are pretty good at that. They will make up stuff to sell it but it does get sold.
If you are buying however, not so great as you are on the receiving end of the BS.
Then there is the letting side, we initially got schmoozed into a landlord contract, the person who sold us the contract did seem genuine and when problems arose, sorted them out and had integrity to admit when Connells failed their level of service. However one person does not Connells make. He left and now it’s been one disaster fret another of poor service. Their contractors did something to our building, Connells paid them for un verified work and now Connells will not answer any questions or refund us the money they took without permission.
They have refused to answer emails unless it it’s them. And any potential complaint gets ignored so it looks like we are going to have to go legal.

At offer stage I was explicitly told that the buyer’s deposit had been “verified by the solicitor.” That assurance was material to my decision to accept the offer. It later became clear that no actual verification had taken place at all. The agent had simply asked the buyer’s solicitor what the client said he expected to receive, and this was relayed to me as “verification.”

In reality, the deposit depended entirely on a third party refinancing, with no proof of funds, no confirmed timescale, and no independent confirmation. This was never properly disclosed to me. Unsurprisingly, the transaction then dragged on for seven months, with repeated delays caused by the buyer’s inability to access those funds.

When I raised this issue after completion, the agent refused to accept any responsibility, denied that their representation was misleading, and immediately threatened legal action for the full commission rather than engaging constructively with the complaint.

I fully accept that commission is contractually due on completion. However, basic accuracy and transparency at offer stage are fundamental to an estate agent’s role. In my case, inaccurate information was given, material risks were not disclosed, and the consequences fell entirely on me as the seller.

Based on my experience:
• buyer finances were not properly checked
• key information was presented inaccurately
• complaints were handled defensively rather than fairly

Proceed with caution.

This is the worst letting agency/property management company out there.

Their favourite thing to do is tell you that they will respond "as soon as possible." Well I can tell you that ASAP for them can mean years, literally. We have had the same recurring problem with them for almost a full year now and they are showing no urgency to fix it. They simply do not care about their tenants beyond collecting money from them.

Awful service. I have just bought a flat from O Connells. My experience has been awful. Never again. Even today when my solicitor said the purchase was complete, turning up to expect to get the keys and told they were not ready. Them having to wait around and then being told my seller would post them. Such awful awful lack of understanding of how stressful a move can be. Walk in the shop and everyone stares at you. Terrible set up. My seller has left the flat dirty. Not technically o Connells fault but doubt they would even care. I sold through Charters and they were brilliant

My family and I have had an extremely distressing experience with Connells Group (William H Brown) during a recent tenancy application.

From the start, I raised concerns about the Keysafe automated referencing system, which is known to be unreliable and biased — especially for applicants who prefer not to use open banking or who verify income through benefits. Despite my repeated requests for a manual referencing process (which is both reasonable and permitted under the Equality Act 2010), the branch ignored these requests and relied solely on an automated system that ultimately failed.

I believe that obstacles have been deliberately put in place to block or discourage applicants who receive housing benefit, as the process has been inconsistent, opaque, and unreasonably rigid. Even after offering two financially capable guarantors, the same manual method used successfully for my first guarantor was refused without explanation.

Throughout this process, staff members Victoria Dewhirst and Mike Hay were aware of my situation and our intended move-in date, yet repeated miscommunication, ignored requests, and procedural obstruction caused my family to lose the property altogether.

To make matters worse, the branch has repeatedly refused to provide me with the landlord’s contact details, despite several requests — which raises serious questions about transparency and accountability.

This experience has caused significant stress, loss, and emotional harm to my family. I have now escalated the matter to Connells Group Compliance, The Property Ombudsman, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Resolver for formal investigation and compensation.

In my opinion, this branch has shown a lack of fairness, openness, and compassion, particularly toward applicants on alternative or benefit-based income. I strongly urge Connells Group to review its practices and ensure all customers are treated equally, in accordance with housing and equality law.

We are having the most dreadful experience with this agent. Unfortunately we used them to fully manage our property. But we ended up having endless problems with the tenant that they have found for us, They showed extremely poor professionalism, negligence, carelessness for their customers and overall costing us a lot of money and continuous headaches. Never again and I would not recommend them to anyone and please stay away from the group sequence as they work for them showing the same standards!

Absolutely shocking.
If I could give 0 stars I would. What a rip off.!!!!! Will never use again. DO NOT waste your time. Bridgford's are also to blame & will be getting a separate review for themselves.

I was surprised to see the negative reviews here as our experience with Connells has been great thus far.
Particularly our interactions with Max Ward, who we understand is new to the team.
Max was confident, compassionate & knowledgeable. He made the process easy to understand & was unphased by our constant questions.

Two hours of hard selling of life insurance, income protection insurance, legal services and scaremongering over the future of our kids should the worst happen and we haven’t used their recommendation for a will service. Two weeks later, after their ‘research’ we were presented with a recommendation that we stay with our existing lender and take out a mortgage that is found myself writhin literally 30 seconds of our initial 90 minute consultation. Total waste of time.

Do NOT trust these people
BBC News 14.07.25
Dubious sales tactics at two leading estate agencies uncovered

Julie Gallagher sold her house through Connells' Abingdon office, where Panorama went undercover
Lucy Vallance and Sarah Bell
BBC Panorama

Julie Gallagher believes her home was sold at a lower price than it could have gone for. There was a buyer who might have offered more for it, an undercover investigation by BBC Panorama can reveal.
Her Connells estate agent appeared to sideline this potential buyer in favour of someone else who had agreed to take out an in-house mortgage.
That mortgage was said to be worth about £2,000 to Connells, while the company potentially stood to make £10,000 in total by arranging add-on services and selling the buyer's property too.

Useless. Valued our property months ago and instead of having someone approach us to collect payment at the time they are sending debt recovery letters out of the blue. When you are buying and selling a house it is hard to keep track of every coming and going payment. Utter garbage, avoid.

2 weeks already, we have not received the rent yet. they also take 25% of the rent as float charge and refuse to transfer the money to us.

Absolutely the worst estate agent going and also very rude over the phone

Worst agent experience of my life. I was assured of a dedicated agent before signing the contract and was then passed from pillar to post with no continuity. Had agents doing viewings who had never seen my house. Connells proposed using their conveyancing solicitors to both me and potential buyers (conflict of interest). The solicitor firm I was given (Swiitch) were beyond awful and I had to check every document for them due to their lack of interest/diligence/experience. The solicitor firm my buyers were given (Conveyancing Direct) are owned by Connells (another conflict of interest) and were slow and unresponsive. My onward purchase was also handled by Connells and that seller was also using Conveyancing Direct (third conflict of interest). Due to Connells not doing their upfront due diligence, the purchase failed and subsequently my sale failed. Lost money and spent 7 months of my life in a stressful situation. Awful, incompetent, disgraceful

CONNELLS ABINGDON
Worst estates agency ever and poorly behaved managing. DO NOT TRUST, either for selling or buying a property.
I have experienced the worst encounter with the senior branch manager Miss C-R White.
For the past 6 weeks, I have started the process of buying a 1bed property in Reade Avenue, Abingdon. The objective of this investment was for my son to live while studying at University in Oxford.
White has took over the administration of the sale from a young employee who has since left or made redundant from her job.
White has done nothing than misleading me or the vendor as she refused several times to transfer my messages to the seller/owner of the property, those messages were related to negotiation. Which lead me to offer full asking price but later on I found out through valuation than the property is worth far less. So I went back to her as she is supposed to be the one to mediate between me and the seller. She simply REFUSED to go back to the seller with my new offer which was reflecting the valuation report. Outrageous!!!
Beware homeowners and investors, her favourite word is “confused”, a tactic to misleading. So miss «I am confused » has crashed the sale, less than 24hr after the seller agreed to a £5000 discount. Yes, you read it well. All because of a misplaced ego.
Miss White this is your role, to deal with people in a kindly manner, specially people that’s paying you commission to deal with their property.
This was the most appealing behaviour and poorly professionalism, dishonest I have ever experienced in the world of buying and selling property. What a disgrace and a dishonour for her own title, senior branch manager and profession, estate’s agent.
So, please do not fall for her «confusion» game. CONNELLS Estate’s agent in Abingdon is to be AVOID at any cost. They will make you lose your hard earned money, in fees to broker, solicitors and valuer.
And moreover, at the time of writing this review, it has been more than 48hr that I am awaiting a formal withdrawal letter outlying the reasons the seller has dropped the sale. After several exchange of emails she told me to go to my solicitors and tell them about the withdrawal, that I do not need a letter. She will only give the letter when her administrator will return to work. But when miss White??? Simply appealing.
Those are the kind of people who fails businesses. She is failing CONNELLS GROUP and the panel of Connells Group’s investors.
This branch in Abingdon is definitely bringing a bad image to Connells Group and investors. Avoid at any cost Connells Estates Agencies.

Extremely poor service after a rep visited to undertake a valuation on behalf of a mortgage company for a remortgage. Our house price on zoopla is showing £244,000 as the low end up to £264.000 high end. We had previously been on the open market for sale at £260,000 - £265000 and had received lots of viewings in 2 weeks, but decided to stay put and took it off the market.

The agent had no interest in listening to me about all the works we’ve had done since moving in, (we’ve done a full Reno) and then valued it at £245,000!!! Practically the lowest possible! We had 4/5 previous property valuations for local estate agents, there lowest was £255,000 3 weeks ago. your rep was here maybe 10 minutes? didn’t want to chat to me about the house, nothing. This has affected our mortgage offer.

He is seriously undervaluing properties clearly and this is having an affect on peoples mortgages and payments. I was even told I wasn’t allowed to appeal and ask for a second opinion so we’ve had to restart our remortgage application with a diffent company completely.

Very poor service.