Connells Reviews 

They over state value of your property then get you to reduce.
They promise they have enough interested parties for open days.
But after months and 2 price reductions they fail to even produce one viewing. Avoid these scam artists.
They have no ethics and then tie you in to a 26 week sole agency contract that means you miss serious buyers who are not beneficial to their sales bonus incentive programmes.
Plymouth

Wish I could give them zero stars. They are absolutely shocking. My elderly father had his holiday home in Paignton on sale with them for the last 6 months. They were rubbish from the start. Very little communication, always promise a call back, never bothered. They’d book a viewing and cancel it the same day. He had a cash buyer, who made a very cheeky offer that was excepted. 2 weeks later fell through, as the buyer pulled out. (Apparently) after watching the paranorma show on BBC about them, we see it’s a common sneaky tactic they use. Put off cash buyers in favour of someone taking out a mortgage. They called him last week and said he needs to drop by £10,000 to get people through the door. He’s not desperate to sell, so said no. Yesterday we sacked them after waiting or a week for them to call us back. They are pure filth, do not trust these people!! Any of them. He was dealing with the branch in Paignton. Absolutely shocking.

Far too pushy .
Working to constantly increase sellers offer whilst supplying buyer with mortgage.
Is this even legal?

AVOID - Connells of Taunton have invoiced me (as a landlord) a £300 bill for a £25 a month rent increase notice to my tenant. That will mean taking their monthly management fee into account, it will take more than a year of this £25 rent increase to pay their fees, and by this time it will be time for me to possibly look at another rent increase. With fees like this its no wonder landlords have to put in large rent increases. I wish I had now!!

I had put a lot of trust in the house buying process until I came across the Connells Walsall branch. Everything went smoothly up until the point I was being upsold on the in-house mortgage brokers (with Neelam), this was at the not so amazing price of £800!! I refused as I had my own brokers and the entire sale and agent communications went cold.

This £800 for an internal lifetime mortgage broker fee seems very suspiciously like taking money under the table to complete a sale, anyone dealing with these estate agents need to know that you are not obligated to take these and other services they are forcing to sell you (commission based Solicitors or Surveyors).

These unethical and unprofessional tactics has really been one of the most off putting experiences I have ever witnessed.

Anyone in communication with these agents please proceed with caution.

Do a quick google search of “Dubious sales tactics at two leading estate agencies uncovered”, this article brings more light to exactly the experience I’ve just had, there is also a documentary aired recently by BBC on this too.

Very pushy branch manager! Dealt with Autumn in the Peterborough Cowgate branch. Autumn promised the earth when fishing for us to market our property for sale with Connells. Poor service thereon. AVOID

We were weeks away from completing on our house when a close family member received a terminal diagnosis. We couldn’t pull out of the sale so had to find a property to rent whilst I cared for my dying relative. We were reluctant to use Connell’s as they rented out a house close to us where there were no end of problems with the tenants, neighbours complained continuously but they did nothing. A flat came up that gave us the storage we needed and was close to my relative so reluctantly we took it. The sales person Adam Channing (Aylesbury Temple Street branch) came across as a bit of a David Brent character, he had all the chat but nowt else. My husband moved in to the property whilst I moved in with my relative to do Hospice care at home which is incredibly stressful. We discovered the flat had a number of issues. None of the windows had keys and the main bedroom window was locked shut which was a problem as it was on the second floor. One of the patio doors was locked shut without a key. I requested keys from Adam on numerous occasions as it was a fire risk and eventually he handed me a bag with around 100 keys in it to sift through. He tried to insinuate that we’d lost all of the keys but unfortunately for him I’d taken a video and photographed every room on the day we got the keys and no keys were visible. The windows and doors had built in blinds and the one in the bedroom failed and had to be propped open. I reported it in their online system for faults but it was never fixed before we moved out. Some of the electric heaters didn’t work. They were digital and had to be programmed, it didn’t appear that you could just switch it on at the wall. As there was no manual, I requested one from Adam who again gave me the runaround. The TV didn’t work and my husband spoke with Adam who told him it was because our TV was old and we needed to buy a smart TV. I reported it as a fault and a handyman came round who said there was nothing wrong with the aerial, we needed to buy a smart TV. I complained and this time they sent an engineer who checked the aerial and came back to the flat and removed the box behind the TV where the aerial connection was only to find that when someone had screwed the top on, they severed the wiring inside hence no working TV! The same handyman came to look at the patio door which wouldn’t always close shut especially in the hot weather. He fiddled about with it and then said a window fitter would have to come and look at it. You guessed it, it was never fixed. When we got the flat it came with one allocated parking space and you had to register the cars that would use that space otherwise you would get a ticket. We weren’t informed of this and it was only after a few days we noticed the car parking sign. We asked Adam how to register and were told to go online but when I did this, I needed a QR code. We tried ringing the parking company several times and could never get through. After two weeks my husband received a parking fine which was appealed but they weren’t having it. We eventually got through to the office and asked for a code and then received 3 in the post on the same day. Adam had given us a welcome box when we picked up the keys containing silly things like bath salts etc. There were also a dozen takeaway leaflets which were of no interest to us so we didn’t look through them. After a few months I went through the box to get rid of it and buried at the bottom of the leaflets was one about the car parking with the required QR code! Is it me? I would have put that in an envelope with the keys and pointed it out that the cars must be registered asap. The big problem with the flat was that the kitchen had no splash backs or tiles anywhere. The entire flat was spray painted in a cheap white emulsion. We rang Adam and highlighted this and said with the best will in the world we are going to stain the walls whilst cooking and any marks can’t be wiped off as the paint comes off and exposes the plaster. His reply was don’t worry the flat will just be resprayed when you move out. It’s sprayed every time before a new tenant moves in. We queried this with him on 3 occasions as we were concerned about them withholding our deposit but he kept saying it wasn’t an issue. I went online to record it as a fault but there wasn’t a section to report it so I took him at his word. When we moved, I receive an email from the head office of Connell’s to say the flat had been inspected and it was as clean as a new pin but when I enquired about the deposit they said they were not returning our £1400 as the kitchen walls had food stains and had to be resprayed and I hadn’t reported it online. I complained to TDS and it took 4 months to get our money back. Connell’s never responded to TDS. I had all this to deal with whilst caring for a dying loved one, adding to my stress and they were aware of this. Connell’s are a disgrace! I would give zero stars if I could.

Just like others watched the programme Undercover Estate Agent, exposing their very sharp practices. If selling wasn't stressful enough. Avoid
Disgraceful disgraceful company!!!

Dishonest. Blandford branch have taken advantage of an elderly lady which will result in her paying double agency fees, due to ignoring her instructions and advising her incorrectly just to suit their own agendas. As an agent myself I will always stay in my own lane and never call into question the service of another agent, but on this occasion I am so appalled by their actions that I feel they need to be held accountable.

Not a good company to work for at all

Data Protection issues and playing both sides for their own benefits not the sellers. AVOID

I would give them a minus 10 if I could
We live in Dorset sold a property in Parkstone Poole. Always felt that connells were more interested in the wants and needs of the buyer. Tried to bully us int a mortgage provider but being two old birds that had been around the block we refused
They threatened us saying we needed to move out if we wanted to guarantee the sale even though the property we were moving into the owners had not moved yet
They tried to get us to move into rented accommodation even though they knew we had young children so they could complete a sale
In the end we refused to be bullied or harassed we did not move and we waited
Eventually we got our sale moved to our home in ferndown despite connells
I am sure connells are good estaste agents but don't let them sell you a mortgage
If they do they have leverage
They had no leverage with us
We implicitly told them to wait or stick it
They had no alternative
They had no mortgage Info from us through an in-house mortgage provider
BEWARE
Estate agents sell
Mortgage broker provide mortgages
Never the twain should meet

Just watched the bbc one documentary on them. So glad I could tell they were trying to sell me their products to get commission. FYI they were telling me how they will handle everything. The negotiation, lawyer fee, mortgage in principle, surveyor, in house broker LOL under a set price. I would have had to pay 4k extra if I didn’t speak to my broker thank God. Also hot tip. When they start bombarding you with messages, calls for one house because they can’t find anything else use that as a way of knowing they are lying. I loved it I love that I got to string them along and waste their time like they did mine. Once I told them I have my own broker the calls stopped. Also fyi the broker took no fees my broker said he gets the fee from the mortgage lender, he also said the mortgage lender does the surveying and the mortgage in principle is quick. So yes and negotiation you can do yourself. These people act like they are Del Boy and can get people to sell them a house on the cheap because they’re such good sellers and in reality they are pushy workers who target the people
Who have little time

Just watched bbc `Panorama` featuring Connells. The Con they are running on both buyers and sellers i do believe makes them high street cowboys. Estate Agents needs government regulation fast because these type of practices are just lies and deception for monetary gain.Well done the bbc for airing a matter of serious public concern on an under regulated industry.

This company is not worth any stars! This is the first and hopefully the last time I ever have to deal with this shambles of company. I had the unfortunate pleasure of having Georgia Nicklin from their Leeds location come and do a valuation on my property for a remortgage.

She caused unnecessary problems for my remortgage process. She lied on the report saying I had mentioned mushrooms growing in a room and said the property might have dry rot from what I had said apparently. Furthermore, the report stated that there was no evidence of damp or dry rot found during her inspection, contradicting the information provided in the valuation report. I put a formal complaint in with the lender and in the end they disregarded Connell’s claim and I was able to remortgage my property.

You keep mentioning you are RICS regulated in every reply to negative feedback, but didn’t your estate agent part of the business recently get investigated for dubious sales tactics by BBC PANORAMA? If you didn’t know this already, you’re welcome! As a whole you are a joke of a company and can’t be trusted. Your bad reviews speak volumes!

I have reported you to RICS and anyone reading this should do so too!

Just watched the Panorama undercover investigation into extremely bad practice at CONnells. Simply shocking the way they’re depriving sellers of the best sale, in favour of the company’s greed for huge profits via selling mortgages etc. Despicable!

After watching BBCs Undercover Estate Agents
I would never use Connells or any estate agent
under their umbrella.
Thank you BBC for exposing these shark companies.
All buyers and sellers need to watch this show.

I will not use any of the agents linked to Connells
when selling and buying my next property.

Just watched Panorama on this company.

The aim of this company is too maximise their profit and staffs commission over the interest of the customer! Disgusting behaviour!

Firstly, the customer should be treated fairly under the financial regulations. This means equality, so Connells shouldnt be manipulating sales or directing the sale.

Truly disgusting behaviour!

Staff have to complete competency tests on financial regs so they should be sued when found to infringe these.

If I could give this company zero I would. I had to use them because I was buying a house where the seller was using them. Their branch in Welwyn Garden City was rude and dismissive.