Spaces - 9 Greyfriars Road Reviews 

This review concerns our experience as a new virtual office / registered office customer of Spaces – 9 Greyfriars Road, Reading, which is part of the IWG group.

I am posting this carefully and without naming our companies, account numbers, individual staff members or private correspondence. Spaces / IWG should be able to identify the matter from its own records, and we are willing to provide details privately through the appropriate escalation channel.

At the time of writing, the Trustpilot profile for Spaces – 9 Greyfriars Road shows a 2.9 rating based on 6 reviews. I also noted another 1-star review referring to communication and clarity issues during the initial sign-up process. I cannot comment on that reviewer’s facts, but the theme is consistent with our own onboarding experience.

We are a new customer. That makes the experience more concerning, because the problems arose at the outset of the relationship, during onboarding, compliance and service activation.

To be clear, we do not object to AML/KYC checks. We understand that a regulated company service provider must complete compliance checks before certain virtual office services can be provided. The issue is how Spaces / IWG handled compliance, billing, mail handling, account restriction and debt escalation at the same time.

In our case, we were told that regulated virtual office services could not be provided until compliance requirements were satisfied. However, while services were restricted, billing and legal escalation continued. In our experience, billing and debt escalation appeared to move faster and receive more attention than onboarding, compliance resolution or service activation.

We were also waiting for an internal update regarding a contract change which had not been communicated to us in a timely manner. Despite that, legal escalation for alleged non-payment followed.

After payment was made, the account remained blocked for approximately 10 days. We were told this was because release of the account was a manual process. During the restricted period, mail for our UK companies was returned or blocked, including important statutory and tax correspondence from HMRC and Companies House.

For any business using a virtual office or registered office service, mail continuity is fundamental. Returned statutory and tax correspondence is not a minor inconvenience. It creates avoidable business risk.

The most concerning point is that IWG’s legal notice stated that an alleged debt was being reported to a credit bureau and that a collection agency or lawyer was being involved. We dispute the basis and handling of that escalation, particularly where service provision was restricted, mail was being returned or blocked, and the sums claimed require explanation.

We have since submitted the requested compliance documentation and asked Spaces / IWG to confirm what, if anything, remains outstanding. We have also asked for confirmation of the status of the accounts, details of any mail returned or blocked, and whether any adverse credit, legal or debt collection reporting has been made and, if so, whether it has been suspended, withdrawn or corrected pending resolution of the complaint.

This has been a very poor customer experience. As a new customer, we expected a clear onboarding process, prompt compliance handling, accurate billing and reliable mail handling. Instead, we experienced restricted service, returned or blocked mail, payment pressure, legal escalation and possible credit reporting.

Spaces / IWG should escalate this to a senior compliance, customer service and legal representative. We are seeking a clear written explanation, confirmation that mail will no longer be returned, restoration of service where compliance requirements have been met, correction or withdrawal of any adverse reporting or collection activity if applicable, and an appropriate account adjustment for the period during which services were unavailable or materially restricted.

Until this is resolved properly, I cannot recommend Spaces – 9 Greyfriars Road to any business relying on virtual office, registered office or mail-handling continuity.

I would encourage others to carefully consider their options and review alternatives before deciding whether this company is the right fit for them.

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Update:
The company has responded stating that the issue has now been “resolved” and that it was caused by me using an incorrect account. I do not agree with this conclusion. This further supports my concern regarding how such issues are handled, as it indicates a potential lack of due diligence and raises questions about the accuracy and reliability of the information provided in response to customer complaints. I have consistently used the same account over the past two years, including for payments, and I do not manually switch accounts within the app.

I have requested verifiable system evidence (such as detailed access logs, audit trail data, and account identifiers) to support this claim, but have not yet received conclusive proof. Without clear and verifiable records, it is difficult to accept that the issue was caused by user error.

Even if a different account had somehow been used, this would still raise concerns about how the application handles account selection, as I did not make any manual changes.

Given my previous experiences, particularly around communication and clarity during the initial sign-up, I believe it is reasonable to question this explanation. For me, this is not about a single incident but a pattern of issues over time.

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In my personal experience, access to the office has not been as reliable as expected. Despite having a 24/7 access arrangement, there have been multiple occasions where I was unable to enter the building or reach my dedicated desk area, including during standard business hours. This has meant changing my plans at short notice and, in some cases, leaving without being able to access my belongings.

On a previous visit, reception support was not available when needed, and attempts to reach the office by phone were unsuccessful. More recently, my mobile access pass did not work, resulting in another disrupted workday. While technical issues can happen, experiencing similar problems more than once without a clear long-term resolution has been frustrating.

The 4 month notice period, in my view, seems to reflect the company’s own awareness of the reliability issues in their service.

For anyone who depends on consistent and predictable access to their workspace, it is worth carefully reviewing the terms, notice periods, and support processes before signing an agreement. I hope the company will address these issues so that future customers can have a smoother experience.

We inadvertently booked the wrong day(!) and arrived for our meeting a day late!… still Hella and Amy on Reception ran around to find and set up a meeting room for us at a moment’s notice. Excellent service, thank you Amy and Hella!

Paul
Map Impact

Reception and refreshment team always friendly and helpful. Centre manager worked with us to find best new solution for our office needs.

Helpful Team at Spaces Greyfriars - despite a busy centre they endeavour to help and resolve issues. Thank you!

Everyone is very friendly, helpful staff, the place is very clean with a great atmosphere.

Great Team here in Reading. Good location and facilities too...