Dowen Bishop Auckland reviews

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

We bought our house through dowen bishop, Lisa Ridehalgh handled everything for us and we couldn’t be happier. Great communication throughout the whole process and extremely helpful, very pleased with our experience.

Alex · 16 April 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Very helpful team at Bishop Auckland

Very helpful team at Bishop Auckland. Especially Lisa who managed our sale. She kept us updated at every stage and really went the extra mile..... Thank you very much Robert S

Robert · 4 September 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Very easy to communicate with

Very easy to communicate with, very efficient and polite. 5 star rating, I would definitely recommend to anyone buying, selling or renting, they helped me find a great new tenant Special mention to Ashleigh & Anya who where very helpful throughout. Alan

Lyndsey · 12 February 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely dreadful service

Absolutely dreadful service! Rang this morning spoke to an absolute delight told her I’d like to view 2 properties in adjoining streets cash buyers told her the dates I was available to view giving times over several days to be told no can’t do them! If you’re selling you’re house with them in Roker I’d suggest taking your own viewings I’ve never known an estate agent work for them selves and not the sellers they are Charing a fortune for the pleasure!

Karen · 14 August 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

House saleFirst class service from start to…

First class service from start to finish. Lisa and the team could not have been more helpful.

Mr · 19 March 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid This Estate Agent: A Disastrous Encounter

My wife and I used Dowen Estate Agents as we were initially very impressed with the manager who came out to give us a quote and what her organisation could offer us. We therefore decided to go with them to sell our home. This however was a huge mistake. During a period of 6.5 weeks the interaction between the staff and myself was nearly non-existent, and it was very difficult for us to know why we were getting absolutely nowhere in selling our home. There had been one viewing booked during this period but this was cancelled one day prior to the viewing and although I requested feedback on why this happened, received no response. I challenged the manager in her office about the little progress being made and she stated that she was not aware that there had been little or no contact between her staff and myself, which clearly indicates that she has no idea how to manage her staff. Her other response was that there are 2 reasons a home does not sell, the price and location. I responded that it was their own valuation of our home that we were selling at and the write up on the various online websites advertising our home stated that the location was in a wonderful position for local amenities and schools. I eventually terminated our contract with them and would 100% NOT recommend anyone using this organisation to sell their home.

Jim · 9 August 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

We dealt with Katie at Sedgefield…

We dealt with Katie at Sedgefield branch , cannot fault her for her professionalism thought out the process , thank you & when we do decide to sell we will definitely be using Dowens

Elaine · 18 June 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Catherine was amazing and helped me sort a rental property out last minute after another company let me down. Huge thanks to this place she was the best ever!

Shaun · 16 April 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

We have been renting a property with Dowen for the last 6 months and Ryan has been our point of contact throughout this time. We have been extremely pleased with the whole process. Ryan is a delight to deal with; professional, helpful knowledgable and friendly. He is always at the end of the phone if we need him and has always followed up any issues quickly and effectively. Top man!!

Yvonne · 14 June 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

My late mums house was put on the market in 2019 with the upfront fee of £900 and was sold December 2020. The service/professionalism was atrocious and as a consequence my sister wrote to the MD with a complaint. He responded immediately ringing first myself and then my sister. I will not go into a lot of detail. John Nicholson (MD) was supportive, a true gentleman. He had first said we had 13 VIEWINGs when in fact you could count on one hand what we had had. He later apologised to both my sister and myself and said that DOWENS had failed us. He could not have been nicer and offered to put it right. HE DID NOT PUT THIS IN WRITING! He re advertised the property correctly with photos and a video. The house sold within 3 days. The property had stood almost 18 month with insurance, rates and the maintenance to be done so we therefore asked for some compensation of some description. Oh my goodness what a change, normally talking to us on first name terms he then used our surnames and turned tack. We then wrote to the ombudsman. This man who we thought was honest, full of integrity completely changed his story and like he mentioned in other reviews he had evidence to back !Dowens story up! I never met Dennis Dowen who no longer owns the company, but it has been said that he was a fair and honest man, pity he still was not running it. My advice is Dont use Dowens and if you do and you have complaint write to Dowens( you have to do this first,) only accept your reply IN WRITING, HOW IT SHOULD BE. then contact the ombudsman. It is the only way to bring about change.NegativeResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

Lesley · 26 August 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

What can I say. From putting the offer in on our new home back in October and running into an issue few days before the original completion date, we have only had dealing with Thomas, I cannot recommend him enough. The communication has been above expectations, his ability to ease us as customers, and had he have not come up with solution for us, we would not be in our home now. I have been completely satisfied with the way Thomas has done his job. Top work and thankyou so much for everything.PositiveResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism

Kirsty · 26 August 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

5* good service. We had a short timeline in which to move in to the property and Dowen helped to push along both solicitors. I would like to give Lisa Radleigh a shoutout as our sales agent - she was very helpful.

P-B · 25 September 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Catherine has been amazing at helping us find a property, professional and friendly I could not recommend her enough. An excellent asset to the company. Thanks again!

Louise · 16 April 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

Really really poor estate agency. STAY AWAY FROM UPFRONT FEE!! Dowen were quick to take the £900 with no service to follow up. We constantly asked for market information from Rightmove which we know is available from selling properties previously, which was VERY rarely provided, even after asking 5/6 times. Regarding feedback on your property...forget it! I was CONSTANTLY chasing them, calling multiple times a day, never once getting an update off their own back. We had a lot of time wasters and so I made it very clear that I was only interested in showing people around the property who had a mortgage in place. This was completely ignored and they continued to send people round who hadn’t even visited a mortgage lender. When I pulled Dowen up on this, their reply was ‘No one goes to a house viewing with a mortgage anyway’.(????). On one occasion I called up for feedback and the manager said ‘oh havent we already sold your house?’...obviously not otherwise I wouldn’t be calling..A lot of people with multiple agents working on their homes will have dowen as one of them, however this is more than likely because Dowen have FAILED to sell the house and so the owner has had to instruct a second agent to clean up the mess that dowen have left. Really poor service, you are merely a number on their over crammed books, who simply cannot keep up with their clients due to their greed to keep gaining more new clients. We took our house off the market with Dowen because of their complete incompetence. No phone call to find out why were taking our house off the market, no action plan to help sell our house, just greedy, lazy agents. We definitely learnt that you get what you pay for and if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys! STAY AWAY!NegativeResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

India · 14 June 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Dowdens what a waste of space

Not even worthy of one star. What can I say. Given a 4.15pm appointment to view a house for rent. Another couple turned up who had the same appointment time. 4.30 no show from Dowdens. Phoned them to be told someone was on the way. 4.50 no show, phoned Dowdens again to be told by a very rude, ignorant, bad tempered member of staff that they had no properties to rent in Sedgwick Close, Hartlepool why are you there? She asked. Dowdens YOU made the appointment for us, YOU lied when telling us someone was on the way. We stood there like four fools waiting for you to show up. Embarrassing and upsetting. You Dowdens are a complete unprofessional, uncaring, incompetent waste of space. Never again will I have anything to do with your sham, joke, waste of a business. No apology just out fault. Your staff need a good jolt to make them professional, customer friendly and intelligent. You are a complete and utter waste of time.

Amanda · 7 May 2024

★★★★★ 4/5

Google

Great company Stephanie was always so helpful We have used Dowen on numerous occasions and have always found them to be very professional and friendly

Carol · 16 April 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Living in Spain and buying a property in the UK, smooth process helped along by Lisa, very friendly staff in general would highly recommend.

Anne · 16 April 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

RUN A MILE THEY HAVE COST ME THOUSANDS

Not even deserving of 1 star. Totally unprofessional and incompetent approach to managing someone else’s property. If you want the house you’ve worked so hard for to be allowed to be destroyed and kept like what can only be described as Steptoe and Sons cesspit, have dowen manage it. Can’t put into words the absolute turmoil this company has put me and my family through. Run a mile. Totally and utterly disgusted by what was once a good company, will shout from the rooftops for anyone and everyone to steer clear, do yourself a favour and use absolutely anyone else.

Cat · 3 April 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Bought a house through Lisa ridehalgh at dowen in bishop auckland. We couldn’t thank her enough for helping us get the house we wanted. Definitely would recommend dowen. We couldn’t have got where we are if it was for there help. Thanks for our forever home Lisa

Rebecca · 16 April 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

without Lisa we would not have sold our home she was amazing nothing was too much trouble regular communication with updates which I appreciated it had been a nightmare rollercoaster ride couple of years in fact a total nightmare but when Lisa came on the scene she was so reassuring and positive kept my spirits up at a very difficult time

Margaret · 16 April 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Catherine was bang on when dealing with me. Very professional and easy on the eye. She literally bent over backwards for me.

Daz · 16 April 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

I will recommend Dowen lettings to…

I will recommend Dowen lettings to anyone, any day, and any time. The staff are courteous. Heike and Sophie are exceptional and are very professional, they pick calls and return calls as and when due. Well done. You have my 5 stars already.

Olabode · 13 August 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Not for me

I was buying from a distance as I was relocating with work and found these guys less than helpful. I ended up purchasing a property through Dowen but if I was ever looking to sell I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. They were completely inflexible with viewings, incredibly miserable when you called them, they use old fashioned unbranded Word documents for letters and sales contracts and overall I felt like an inconvenience for wanting to purchase a property from them… it was just a poor experience and I expected a little better for the 21st century. To top it all off the house I purchased through them was vacant and had assisted viewings, the house always smelt of air freshener apart from moving in day when I discovered all the carpets were full of animal urine. Yeah…Dowen in Sedgefield are not really the agent for me I am afraid.

Lewis · 7 February 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Catherine was super helpful and professional helping me find a perfect property. 100% recommend Dowen and Big up to Catherine.

Osher · 16 April 2022