Connells Basingstoke South reviews in Basingstoke and Deane

★★★★★ 1/5

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Its all gone wrong for Connells Letting

I used to speak highly of Connells letting department, but unfortunately this is no more since they've moved all the property management to a call centre in the Wirral. They are a waste of time and don't seem to have the experience, to deal with any thing that is out of the ordinary. I have threatened to terminate my contract with them, they are so reactive, they actually send you a email telling you how to do it, instead of trying to calm the situation down and get problems sorted.My advice find a letting agent, with their property management locally, who can know the area and may have even seen your property. ( I have had a couple of times, where the call centre staff talked about a flat when I own a house that I rent)

Pip · 8 March 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Useless

Useless, waiting hours to get in cntact with the vengeaful lettings agency that have opened accounts into our names with utility companies and council to pay tax for the period we HAVEN"T LIVED THERE, we have left the property and Connells knows but still Connells have sent emails to these guis to tax us? WHY?

Florin · 19 May 2023

★★★★★ 2/5

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Why i use Purple Brick

I had three very bad experiences with this company, one on renting a property and two on buying, in two different areas Warwickshire and Dorset. Most of the people i came across were devious and only interested in selling you things you didn't want. Luckily i sold my house through Purple Bricks, it not only saved me £3000, but because everything is done online the estate agents can't con you, as you e mail directly with the people interested in buying your property, or the one you want to buy.if you need a traditonal estate agent which some people might, go to the independent local ones, not the national chains

Mr · 20 February 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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What a waste of time!

What a waste of time! The branch manger (Giuseppe Varano) valued our house and did his sales pitch etc. and then we began negotiating rates. We eventually settled on a rate which was 0.3% lower than their original rate. Another week went by with me considering other agents. I decided to go with Connells and asked him to send me the contract. I then got a phone call from the Giuseppe saying that they could not offer the rate they promised and it has to be the original percentage offered on day one. He said he doesn't have the authority (even as branch manager) to offer rates below the 1% they originally stated. So the couple of weeks negotiating was a complete waste of time. If he doesn't have the authority offer different rates then why did he waste my time. I'm really glad this happened at this stage as it shows how trustworthy they are and how unprofessional they are.

James · 26 January 2017

★★★★★ 5/5

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Fantastic Estate agents

First time i have rented a property through Connells Estate agent, and was the best choice I made! The staff have been fantastic keeping me up to date with the process of my application form, was so patient with it all, and answered all questions every time i called them (was a lot)And even now I'm in my lovely new home they are still always happy to help. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to private rent 😊

Steph · 17 November 2016

★★★★★ 5/5

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First time buyer with wolverhampton branch

As we are first time buyer Connells Wton couldnt have made our experience any easier. From calling and arranging viewings with Tish, To going through the buying process with Amo/Jackie. We cant thank you all enough for your hard work in helping us to get the house we wanted. The professionalism was brilliant, always keeping us posted with any update and doing the chasing for us. Its been a weight lifted knowing now we've got our first home all thanks to the fab team at Connells. Will recommend 100%..... Thanks you.

Amy · 20 October 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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Failed to sell house then when other agent sold it demanded over 12K 3 years later

We instructed Connells to sell our property in late 2012 after moving from another agent. The were utterly useless, they promised to accompany all viewing but ended up by use doing most viewings, sending people round when no body in. When we went away for a few days requested no viewings they sent people round again. After the 8 week contract period was up we could wait to get rid of them. I phoned and wrote to them informing them we were terminating the agreement. We moved to another agent who sold the property within weeks. We didn't hear from Connells again or have any more viewings from them but three years later they demanded £12840.00 as an unpaid fee for a house they didn't sell!!!!! This is still ongoing.Update two months of grief with them taking them to the Ombudsmen and they finally admitted their mistake and offered £75 compensation!!!!!!!!

Tim · 4 October 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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Basingstoke Lettings 'Team' / HeadOffice - AVOID AVOID AVOID

I've been renting a property in Basingstoke via Connells since May... during that time I have spent 39days WITHOUT gas (no hot water, heating, ability to use the hob, ability to shower/bath).Whilst not something they control directly the assistance in sorting the issue has been non-existent with the proverbial 'buck' being passed wherever possible. I'm sure most would agree that if you are PAYING a company for a particular service that company should deliver OR at least do their best to ensure that the people further down the chain deliver on what they promise. Here's a thought: If I booked to go on holiday with BA but Shell decided not to deliver the Jet Fuel I would hold BA accountable as THEY HAVE MY MONEY. I apply a similar logic to this situation... Connells it appears... do not.I strongly recommend that anyone considering a rental property avoid these guys like the plague.

Dean · 29 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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DO NOT USE - DO NOT CARE & BREACH GOVERMENT RULES

This is there worst experience I have ever had in terms of a letting agency. Branch don't care as pass buck to property management company who also don't care. They said here's your landlords number and deal with it. Thankfully we had a nice landlord but who knows why he would pay them a fee. Despite repeated warnings about breaching government code for return of deposit - we still have not had it even though we had full agreement. Court action here we come - I think the other comments speak for themselves and sincerely hope management change their ways but unlikely.

Helen · 26 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid like the plague

Use another agent you will regret it if you do notAs a landlord we persistently pestered Connells who were managing our properties to get maintenance issues done etc as quickly as possible,some jobs really took forever when instruction had been given early We have now moved this property to another Agent and in the process of removing other property as maintenance is only one issue of a really really poor service givenCommunicate is absolutely appalling I have got to give a star rating but it should be zero rated

Richard · 22 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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Failed to sell house then when other agent sold it demanded over 10K 2 years later

Tim - we have had a similar experience. After terminating agreement in 2014 due to poor service we went to another agent who sold the house in 2015.We have just received a bill for professional services?? for around £10,500. Is this happening to other ex Connells clients. Perhaps the Property Ombudsman should get involved? UPDATE: after having sent an email giving information of sale etc. and informing them that we would be consulting the Property Ombudsman they have emailed an apology and retracted the request for payment.

Vanessa · 7 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

BASINGSTOKE BRANCH - DISGUSTING SERVICE AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Shameful behaviour by all the staff here. No interest in letting us view a property all they wanted to do was come and value ours. Pushed and Pushed until eventually one smarmy agent arrived unannounced and basically told us that unless we let them value our house and sell through them they wouldn't let us view the property we wanted to look at. Finally booked us a viewing and then didn't turn up or tell the homeowner we were going round which left us stood on a sellers doorstep all feeling a bit awkward. Full of lies, every time we spoke to somebody it was more lies. They most arrogant and unprofessional people I have ever had to deal with.

T · 25 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Giving estate agents a bad name

The initial sales experience was very positive, but that ended once we were signed. After that, they never returned or calls, they would not deal with interested prospects of our property outside of the chain they were dealing with. Very non-proactive, very rude when we could get hold of them. Never provided feedback post open day so we had no idea of the level of interest; only had one prospect presented to us which I can assume was also a Connells prospect in their chain.I would NOT recommended this estate agent. When I raised my concerns they acted as though they were not delivering a service, and as long as they found a buyer for our house why should it be a problem. The epitome of bad service, as, it IS a service they are delivering. And until they can get their heads around that fact, they will never stand out above the smaller estate agents that actually give a s**t. DO NOT USE.

Michael · 11 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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aviod at all costs

First impressions on this company were great. Friendly staff & very informative. Once we found a property we liked negotiations started. The estate agent wanted this done over the phone.. cut a long story short we offered just a little over our budget with the promise of the house being taken off the market and future viewings cancelled. Once the offer was accepted i emailed to find out if the viewings had been cancelled and i got no reply for 5 days! We phoned the agent and he assured us things were ok even gave us some advice on a solicitor. 45 minutes later he phoned and said 'no easy way to tell you but you've been out bid, im so sorry, it came from someone who saw the house before you, it was from another branch i didn't even know the viewing took place they have offered 5k more than you so lets just get all the final figures together and put final offers on the table' I was devastated and angry as on the phone 5 days before he led me to believe that the house was ours! We had been gazumped! He knew that we was already pushing our budget and he was trying to squeeze more out of us! I emailed and explained that 5k was too much and our final offer would be the one we previously agreed on and do you know what.. i didn't even receive an email back! nothing! Disgusting customer service! I do not believe the offer came from a buyer who saw the house previous to us. I do believe that the viewings went ahead on that saturday and the offer came from there! Greedy Liars. They lead you to believe lies. Im glad that the sale didn't go through though actually as i can only imagine the hassle we would of had with them! We have now found another house & offered with another estate agent and once our offer was accepted the house has been taken off the market like they promised. See not that hard is it connells...

Belle · 4 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Disgraceful and dishonest service

We was going to buy a house with these chimps. Certainly would never buy or sell with them again. They didn't pass on correct information. Also lied to us on occasion and when I pulled them up about contradicting what they said they could only apologise. Their misconduct is one of the reasons we lost the house in the end and 3.5 k out of pocket due to them allowing gazumping. I received an email apologising for what happened because she couldn't sleep at night knowing that we did nothing wrong. (Guilt talking there) they are not very professional either. They promised to take the house off the market but then changed their mind. As the sale was going through our anxieties were high because it was still for sale on the open market. They promised no one would view it and they wouldn't accept any offers however they did do both! Not very happy with this company at all :(

Nicola · 3 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Incompetent

Not a single action taken by Connells has been successful in my 18 months of letting a property with them. First of all we lost the property due to them forgetting to pass on our application to the landlord, we were subsequently then offered the property as they had failed to conduct proper referencing on the successful Tennant. Minor maintenance issues went unresolved due to staff simply taking the call and forgetting about any actions. Staff are frequently rude and threaten to gain access to the property without permission due to tenants not being available for house inspections at 24 hours notice due to them forgetting to arrange with the tenants. Upon renewing the property contract, we paid the fee only to find Connells had failed to action our request, as a result of this we were left out of pocket and without a contract, Connells then failed to pass our rental amounts onto the Landlord for a period of months due to there being no contract. Upon the property being sold off by the Landlord, Connells failed to show up to any house viewings leaving it up to myself to completely manage the requirements for the house sale independently. Once the house was sold and we were required to vacate, Connells failed to process our end of tenancy request leaving us again receiving correspondence saying we were in rental arrears despite clearing a previously agreed amount as agreed with both Connells and the Landlord. I have not had a single successful interaction with Connells & in future will actively avoid either renting a property or purchasing a property via Connells due to their total incompetence & inability to perform even the simplest of tasks.

J · 29 July 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

overall poor service

I sold my property with the Kent branch, I would avoid this company at all costs, they recommend I except an offer under the asking price as the customer was a cash buyer. We agreed to this as we was moving 300 miles away and had a property all lined up. The buyer was not a cash buyer and they strung us along for months before finally admitting the purchaser was waiting on a Morgage. When ever you phone they fob you off, I was so sick of this one day I went to the branch and called them whilst standing outside, I asked to speak with my agent and was told he was out of the office for the rest of the day, although I could see him though the window sitting at his desk. We have now moved but the whole experience was stressful from start to finish and the £3k fee charged was not worth the service we received, this company just does not care about the customer.

Ashleys · 16 July 2016

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Letting service is incredibly poor

I have just let with connells - poor service, lack of guidance, keys didnt work, and they told us we had to sort this our ourselves. Whenever I have walked into their branch (considering there are at least 8 people that work in that branch) no one jumps out of their seat to offer assistance, and I have been made to feel like a nuisance. When signing the contract, we sat in silence and a stressful experience was made to feel even worse. I would avoid using them again in the future if I could and would never recommend them. Future landlords, beware how they are treating your tenants.

EB · 24 June 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

DO NOT USE - APPALLING "SERVICE" BASINGSTOKE branch

Dear Sirs/ Madam,I write to you in the hope you will investigate matters following what must be undoubtedly the worst case of incompetence and customer services I have ever received.Within the last month I have been ignored by branch staff, Directors and the so called complaints team at Connells when simply I am trying to arrange viewings to see houses. Every single other estate agents in the Basingstoke area has returned calls, text messages and emails within a timely matter, however, the staff within the Basingstoke branch seem to have no interest in assisting. Even after I called your complaints department and was promised a call back, nothing happened. I guess this is hardly surprising given that I had also written an email directly to the most senior person within Connells and note that as a company Director he deems it unnecessary to respond too. You always question a company that readily gives out its Directors details so freely - it often gives an idea of how many complaints are being received and how flippant the company is about valuing customers.Specifically, without doubt, the most incompetent member of staff is that of (removed) a supposed Manager at the Basingstoke branch who ignores calls and emails. You would need to check against the mobile number (removed) for sure - that is, if you feel it necessary to act like a reputable company and show any interest in the issue. I see from the website that apparently he has the word Manager in his job title. I find this very difficult to believe as I doubt he has enough competence to tie his own shoelaces! He also, when I eventually did get through to him, felt it necessary to try and reprimand me on chasing him up so quickly after he didn't respond to a text/ call sent over 2 hours previous. I pointed out that I chased him promptly as on the numerous occasions previously that I had emailed, called, text, he didn't reply at all so felt it more than appropriate to chase promptly - after all, I am trying to buy a house from him and give him commission! How dare I be so proactive!!! His attitude was ridiculous, showing no remorse for his incompetent levels of service previously but yet chose to act like a petulant child with a flippant arrogant tone. Clearly he valued himself as an untouchable individual and I should be grateful to be taking up his time! One wonders how he would fair in a proper job.I first of all showed interest in a house located in Pyotts Copse in Basingstoke. Simply trying to arrange a viewing seemed to be the most complicated thing in the world with no responses to emails, calls or texts. In fact, a message sent on WhatsApp which I could see had been received and read was quite obviously ignored.In the mean time I called the complaints team. One guy took all the details and promised a return call - nothing! A second call ended in the same result! Wow! What customer service! It seems the lack of interest festers from the bottom to the very top of your organisation. I use the word very loosely as organisation portrays an entity that is organised.Today, I sent a message to Mr incompetent reference a property in Cuffelle Close. Again he ignored my text so did the rather maverick thing of calling as rather remarkably, I was keen to view and possibly buy. There seems to be a complete lack of appreciation that listing the house is just half of the job - only when selling it will you actually get your commission. With this in mind it would make sense that you fully engage with prospective buyers. I wonder how the relevant sellers would feel if I were to drop a copy of this email through their respective letter boxes alongside references of estate agents I had found to be competent? I guess I could get a few copies printed and stop off at every Connells board I see moving forward as I know, if in their position I'd appreciate a heads up if dealing with such an incompetent outfit.Although the market is buoyant at the moment and you believe customer service isn't an issue, the thing you fail to appreciate is that all these people you upset now will not only not use you to sell their houses now but will remember in the future. When the market declines and times get tough, this is when your company will suffer. I for one, will never use Connells in any capacity to sell my house and will undoubtedly spread word of my experience when the topic arises. I've spent too much time achieving very little and would be surprised if I get a response. With that in mind I will leave it with you and proceed to copy this to every review site I can find.Regards,

Greig · 15 June 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Very poor customer service

I would not recommend anyone to rent through this agency, the lack of communication is outstanding, they do absolutely nothing for the fees they charge and leave you to deal directly with the landlord. At the end of the tenancy, they expect you to read through a 40-page document to find 2 lines on page 10 mentioning that you are responsible for cancelling! Once they have your money they charge £25 for the privilege of waiting over a week until they even process your refund and then it takes 3-5 working days for this to clear.

Not · 10 May 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Waste of time and money

I contacted Connells to arrange a RICS valuation for my property. I then received between 10-15 missed calls from them whilst I was at work, with no voicemail left. I called back and set up the valuation for the following Saturday and reiterated that it was a RICS valuation that I needed, not a regular valuation. They said that they understood and that this is what was being arranged. The date and time of the booking came and went and no one showed up (this was extra frustrating because I had to arrange for a friend to be there for me as I am not currently living in the property). I phoned Connells and they were apologetic and said they would find out what had happened and get back to me... I heard nothing. On the Monday I called again and was told they did not know what had happened, and were apologetic again. They then set up another booking for the following Thursday at 5pm (again I had to arrange for my friend to be there), and I reiterated that it was a RICS valuation that I needed. At 4pm on the Thursday I received a call to say that the valuation I had booked could not be carried out as it was not a RICS valuation, and that I had been dealing with the wrong department the whole time! They said that they would send my details to the correct department who would be in touch. What a surprise, I heard nothing. Today I contacted the correct department directly and asked why I had not heard from them - because they had never heard of me or been sent my details! After then giving them my details I was told that they are too busy to take on the job so couldn't help me. They gave me the details of someone else I could contact and quickly hung up. I have so far wasted over 3 weeks due to the incompetence of this company's call centre and staff, which has cost both me and my buyer money, and had been a burden on my friend who had been helping me out. If you need a RICS valuation I would strongly suggest you avoid!!!

Karenza · 28 April 2016

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

connells maidenhead

Put my property up with a few agents in maidenhead till I found connells. A friendly welcome approach was given when walking into the maidenhead office. Spoke with a gentleman who is manager of the letting side. Tooked details down from me and asked if he could go around asap to photograph and start marketing my property. The advertising on rightmove was excellent compared to the other agents. Al found a tenant for me withen a week being with connells. The best experience and services I have had for a very long time. Great work connells letting team in maidenhead.Will be using them in the near future.

Mr · 25 March 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

We had an appointment with an agent to…

We had an appointment with an agent to value my father's house. He is going into a care home and we have to sell to pay the fees. We waited and waited and no one turned up. No apology or communication even though I've contacted them. Leave well alone there's better in the area so use them. Unproffessional

Peekycat · 25 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Another scumbag estate agency who overvalue to get your interest

The plymouth branch came to see my property and I was given the whole shpeel about how they give a proper valuation and wont over value blah blah blah. After recieving my valuation of £199,000 I decided to list with them and called the rep. She thought I was another customer they have listed from the same road as as i live in and proceeded to tell me about the bookings she had for viewing. She hadnt told me about this listing when speaking to me. It wasnt in her resaerch pack. This house was larger than mine and in better condition at £190K!!! The £199k valuation was deliberatley there to flatter me, rub my ego and get me to list... there is NO WAY my property would have stood a chance at that price against my neighbours at £10k less.... When challenged she said the market had changed due to supply and demand...WHAT!!! IN A WEEK!! What do you think I am an IDIOT!! And why wouldnt the neighbour have listed at £210k if my valuation was as she insisted, correct....scum bag estate agents, hell bent on nothing but earning commissions and collecting listing fees... Get lost connells.

Sean · 1 February 2016