Duckletts Letting Agents Blaby reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

AVOID AVOID AVOID

AVOID AVOID AVOIDI wasn't going to write this as I feel reviews are an unfair reflection upon a company but in this case people need to be warned. Such an unprofessional company. The staff at the Maidstone office treat you like dirt and feel the need to be rude down the phone having a go because you made a complaint about them. When actually this girl with an attitude which is horrific has spoken down to you all through the process of moving out. No contact when you move out and no help with getting the deposit back. I rung today to try and sort this out without raising a dispute through the TDS however was met with hostility over me not being happy with the service received. I have charges on my credit card because I need this money to pay off an essential purchase for our new home. Caused upset and stress all the way. Now because of a member of staff at the Maidstone office with a chip on her shoulder I am raising a dispute. I cannot describe how angry this experience has made me. This is such a shame as my dealings with my landlord and the manager of the Maidstone branch have always been positive. Very bitter taste has been left in my mouth.

Lisa · 15 January 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely avoid like the plague

Absolutely avoid like the plague! From start to finish, I have never in my experience dealt with such uncouth, absurd and depressingly unprofessional agents. At the beginning of the sale, there was an air of niceness: when I was first shown the property, everything seemed OK. All questions were clarified and answered, brochures were given and information was made available. Or so I thought...The second I offered my selling price, I was immediately hounded for solicitor details. As a first time buyer, the process of buying was incredibly new to me and so I was very miffed at this strange pressure that I was facing. Then for a short while, everything seemed OK...surveys took place, the solicitors completed all the paperwork and the vendor and I (at the time) managed to secure a solid relationship to ease the stressful nature and process of buying...All of a sudden came the day of exchange and completion. This is where things went utterly wrong and woeful. The agent that had initially shown me the property uttered depraved slander about me to my Mother (who had collected the keys on my behalf) which utterly infuriated me. But worst of all was the management. Never have I had to deal with so many lies. It's actually laughable. After nearly 4 weeks after exchange, the "for sale" sign is still outside my door. I have contractors coming in to start work and that to me just spells absolutely disastrous customer service. Throughput this whole process, it has been a trainwreck and a nightmare. The process of buying is never easy and you need an agent that can soothe and ease all your concerns. That has absolutely not been the case for me whatsoever. If there is any final advice I can give to anyone, it's this: run. Run as far away as possible because this estate agent will just use and abuse. Take it from me, if you see a property you like, do not buy through them.

Bhavna · 24 December 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Connell are the worst of the worst

as a customer potential buyer I am frankly disgusted with connelIs in Northampton I viewed a house which is listed with them and put an offer through I was told they would get back to me after a whole week I had heard anything then they called me as they were trying to book me in for a mortgage appointment at this point they still hadn't mentioned any thing about the house I put an offer in on, any ways I told they I didnt think I needed a morgage appointment beacuse I had been offered a morgage in principle with someone else, they tried to talk me in to getting another morgage buy to rent so basically I must have to morgages hmm ok , I said I was still not intrested i was quite content with my current situation low and behold I was then transfered to to they asked me who my house was listed with and tried to persuade me in to listing my house with them, and finallly I asked about the house I put an offer in on, he gave me this whole sop story about who he knew the people that live there and blah blah blah, and finianly said ohh I dont think they would except this offere as it too low just trying to get me to up my offer they are cheeky and use dirty tactics, if they not tryign to sell you other services which is all they did they trying to get you to cough up alot more money on offeres, they do not care about thier sellers or buyers they all about sales and a buyer or a seller is just ££££ signs to them wait hold on arent estate agents obligated by to notify the seller of all offers the fact he said oh I don't think he will suggest they haven't even notified the seller after 2 weeks of me viewing the property which I am now going to report to the The Property Ombudsman. I am also so glad I have not listed my house with them as a seller who knows what offers they don't tell you about, and also from a buying point of view what a horrible experience they are the biggest crooks in the field so please do be careful

Ella-Bella · 15 December 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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Look at the star rating...

Look at the star rating... it says so much From the moment I moved in, stains and filth were missed off the inventory and it took them 3 week (post moving in), to take an accurate description of the condition of the flat, baring in mind neighbours had warned me of underhand tactics The lettings management team don’t respond to correspondence, they took 17 weeks to fix a minor issue and then they’re now delaying on further more significant repairs and issuesAvoid at all costs

Jay · 11 December 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

AVOID THIS AGENCY AT ALL COSTS

As a property manager with 12 years’ experience never have I ever had the misfortune of dealing with such a bunch of unprofessional, rude and incompetent people. Even if you happen to speak to the managers they are just as bad. Its as though no one working at the company cares about its reputation or repeat business. They literally treat you as though you are an inconvenience to them. We are a professional landlord with a portfolio of over 100 properties, I would dread to think how they would treat a one off landlord with little knowledge. The Colchester branch let our property approx. 6 weeks ago. When we instructed them we asked for a rent guarantee policy to be taken out (in writing as part of our instruction letter), after chasing for the policy for 2 weeks after the tenant moved in I was eventually told this had not been done and wouldn’t be done as they don’t provide this service unless they manage the property. I mentioned that it was included in bold in our instruction letter and the “area manager” said do you have in writing where we agreed to this… RIDICULOUS, by accepting the property and letting it that in-itself its agreeing to the terms. . I was given their terms and conditions to sign AFTER the tenants moved in and told they wouldn’t transfer any of the rent until they received the T&C’s back signed (despite us not agreeing with the terms).. in effect BLACKMAIL.To date we still have not had all the move in money from them, they are refusing to give us a statement with a breakdown of the money collected from the tenants/ their fee etc and we now have no other option then to seek legal advice from our solicitors. They have taken a fee from the move in monies without our consent, we do not even know what amount and we have never signed t&c's. Its unbelievable.As a professional landlords we have found them EXTREMLEY difficult and uncooperative and we have the benefit of experience and knowledge on our side. Unless you are prepared for a lengthy battle to get your money & paperwork AVOID THIS AGENCY AT ALL COSTS.

Kathryn · 4 December 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Wednesbury Branch

Wednesbury Branch. I was moving house last Dec. They advised my home will be ready [new build] It wasnt ready till Feb. I was made homeless and they refused my complaint took my money deposit and fees and refused to refund. Avoid connells if it's your a 1st time buyer or need a home urgently as they are known to let you down. They also called me a liar when I advised I was garanteed my new home will be ready before xmas day, poor communication once my deposit was paid. Their management dont care about customer services once payment has been made. I would seriously avoid this company at all costs. Also from my expereince if your buying a new house go directly to the vender. Avoid connells like a plague. I have also cancelled all my investments and any b2b links as well as my associates as a result of this very poor and rude service.

Raj · 18 November 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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Horrible experience

My flatmate and I rent a property in St Albans last January for 6 months and all were problems. When my flatmate and I decided leave the property, they spent 3 months to give our deposit back and it was a horrible experience. The landlord only wanted our money. He said the property was dirty, when it was totally false. They checked the property 2 weeks after we leave and it's normal that the flat had some dust, obviously! They took 100 pounds in concept of cleaning... yes, 100 pounds! When the first day we arrived to the flat it was really, really dirty (for example; the freezer had a lot of ice with food on it, imagine?) and they didn't give us any reason. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE, anyway

Sara · 29 October 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid at all cost.

This company is the worse you could deal with. They would never stick to what they say. To get your deposit back even after your land lord has released it, it will take you ages. I am here calling them everyday to get my deposit back for past 2 weeks I been given lies after lies. Unprofessional service. The management on the top level is the worst. This company hasn't got a long road given the reviews it seems it's not only the bedford branch, they don't care nationwide once they have your money and tries to get away with it. Day light Robers. Please avoid dealing with this rubbish people altogether to save you from big stress in the future.

Harry · 17 October 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

travelled 1 1/2 hours to viewing and no agent to be seen....

I never have thought that an estate agent would simply not bother to turn up at a viewing . The owner was in when arrived and was invited in after 30 minutes of waiting outside, but kindly refused thier hospitality as it was awkward for both parties, and also not appropriate that the owner feels they should have to invite the viewer inside to have a look around the property without an accompanying agent. Travelling from another county taking 1 1/2 hours travelling time to get to the viewing appointment after work,... tired and then to be let down,....... no communication from the agent to at least make contact if there was a problem at any point,...and not to mention the time and money wasted to get there. The next working day made a call to the agent's and knew nothing of the appointment so was told that the agent who made the appointment would be in the next following day, and was told that they would make contact and said it appeared thier was some kind of mix up. The next day, still no contact from them. As a cash buyer,... the owner of the property may have a different perspective on who to market thier property....

LM · 30 September 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Very disappointing

Very disappointing. Basingstoke agency used to purchase a property. Took 2 weeks to answer questions relating to property condition. Fobbed off each time with a "I'll get back to you tomorrow" response.. chased everyday for an answer and did not get one until funnily enough I decided enough was enough communication was poor and ended my correspondence with the company. Unprofessional attitudes across the phone when dealing with more than reasonable sensible questions that any potential buyer would ask when investing in a property. Thoroughly disappointed and would certainly not recommend!!!

Hannah · 20 September 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unprofessional letting agency

Absolutely useless people. Such an unprofessional letting agency. They agreed with the new tenant when he is going to move in which was by the way overlapping our contract as we payed for the whole month, and they have not even notified us about this. After realising that they messed this up these two people tried to force us to move out within 2 days. No communication, no response and 1 month later they still owe us money. I definitely take this case to the court. Not recommended!!!

Kinga · 16 September 2017

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Was told if we were to use there …

Was told if we were to use there mortgage advisor and there services we would get a buyers incentive of £1000. So we did but near the end we lost the property on the survey saying steel construction and not mortgageable fair enough just look again. Found another house and put in a bid on the assumption we would get the buyers incentive like we were told and we even asked before we put the bid in then was told the property owners haven't signed up to this so we wouldn't get the incentive. We were told from the start if we use there services we would get it but what they didn't say was you only get if if the seller signs up to it. Think they have been misleading in not telling us this and getting to sign up to use there advisor. So we might lose the next house now.

Mike · 9 August 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

£1000 Buyers Incentive

I've just been bought through connells. Unknown to them we had met the vendor. We put in an offer, and got a phone call from the vendor. He had been passed on the offermminus £1000. He contacted them find out why....very interesting explanation. (We weren't going to use in-house solicitors and had our own mortgage broker. Why on earth would I take their offer of £1000 Off when I would pay their broker more than mine? )Anyway, buyers incentive goes like this, according to vendor. I haven t seen the paperwork, so don't know for sure. If we accept in house broker and solicitor we get £1000 off the asking price. And give connells full control and sight of all our correeponce too...... BUT as we didn't do that they then increase their fee to the vendor by £1000 ostensibly as it's takes much more effort to check our finances and identity as we are not using their in house companies.....So it's a rubbish deal for the vendor and buyer. I also got told they couldn't accept an AIP from my bank! As The EA didn't understand the document and needed us to go through their broker. That's their job, isn't it?So anyone looking to sell their house, read the small print, buyers incentive makes your property less attractjve.

Clairejones1987 · 9 August 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

They lie and don't show up to viewings

They lie, and do not attend scheduled viewings. They gave me a scheduled time to view a property in a busy part of Paignton. We had to park in a multi story car park, got to the property ahead of time, no agent was present. We stayed 15 minutes after the arranged meeting time and then left. I called the Paignton office to find out where the agent was and was told they'll find out and call me back. 20 minutes later, I had to call them again as they didn't return my call. They spoke so badly to me and said that they'll get the agent to call me. 3 hours later, the agent called! He said that he was in the car park around the back of the apartments! First all, who waits in the car park at the back, and secondly, we walked around the back into the car just before leaving and saw no-one! An absolute lie!

Jonathan · 5 August 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Where to begin? A truly awful service. Avoid!

Where to begin to describe the truly awful service from the Rugby branch?Took £150+ up front for a "premium package", didn't get the property onto the market/Rightmove for two weeks and even then the property details were awfully basic and missing key information (e.g. no mention of off-street parking).No sense of urgency whatsoever and slow to respond to communications. To top it all off the branch manager promised to call me last Monday to sort it out as it was clear I was at the end of my tether. He eventually called (after a chaser email Monday evening) on Tuesday at around 1100 saying he had been "busy" on the Monday. He obviously knew he'd failed us as he let us out of our contract without an notice.Compare this to the new agent we went with (Payne's) who couldn't have been more responsive and got the property onto Rightmove within 48 hours, with better photos and property details, and without the need to pay for "premium" package.

James · 3 July 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Poor, Lazy, misinformation **AVOID USING THIS COMPANY**

I recently paid for a top end survey to be completed on a house I wanted to by in February (the top survey you can get)I received my report and decided to go ahead with the purchase, however upon entering the property I could instantly tell that the survey had not been completed to a high standard (there are 4 floors and I was advised by the previous owner the surveyor spent less then 30 minutes there)On my report it advised that the property had a combination boiler, no hot water tanks with instant hot water.Upon entering I found that it was NOT a combination boiler, the hot water tank was less then 3 foot away from the boiler itself, the boiler was in a dangerous location (right next to the shower)I was also advised that he had checked for damp with a machine, however upon entering the property I found evidence of damp, the area manager came around to check this and advised it is where there was damp but it now looks like it has been fixed and is purely decorative, a couple of weeks later my decorator came in and advised it most certainly was not just decorative and needed fixing urgentyThey advised that ALL windows had been checked and other then misting on one window and the fact that some of the locks were a little stiff and needed loosening.When I arrived I found several locks were actually broken and windows had dropped meaning they could not be opened, the area manager wouldn't test any of the others because in his own words "he was worried the locks would fall off and wouldn't be able to close again" (so rather then being "stiff" they were indeed nothing of the sort.I paid £495 ON TOP of what my mortgage lender already paid them to complete a top end survey but it seems the surveyor just stood in the middle of each room for 5-10 minutes chatting to the previous owner and then left saying everything was ok.At the end of each section of the survey they put a "disclaimer" saying "we are not qualified gas boiler/damp/whatever the issue is engineer, we advise you to get a qualified engineer if you wish to have more detail"I can appreciate they are not qualified engineers but not seeing this such a massive 5 foot water tank in front of their eyes and presenting false information is going a bit far and because they put this disclaimer on everything you can not pursue any of the complaints via the ombudsmen

Francis · 26 June 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Just an awful experience

Just an awful experience. Senior surveyor Mr Andrew Spalding turned up to my home which was his first appointment after a bank holiday weekend. Stayed for no longer than five minutes, stank of stale booze, and the result was a very inaccurate valuation. Undervalued property over twenty thousand pounds. Stated we had made no improvements on the report despite the fact we have spent over 50k on the house! This was just a man who had no interest whatsoever. Disgusted.

David · 21 June 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Shocking company

This company is shocking undervalued by £45,000, can't get any answers as to why , if a buyer wants to use this company my answer is refuse!!!

Lindsay · 8 December 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

So bad there funny

The worst estate agents/letting agents ive ever used. Rented a home from the swindon branch for a year and them and the office in cardiff were useless. Never returned phone calls,never logged any of the issues we raised with them regarding the property.numerous calls and emails to get our deposit back while being lied too.was given inventory upon leaving the property and was told there was various damage to the property and the landlord wanted to claim against our deposit. I happend to know our landlord who informed me the house was kept in excellent condition and he had not had any contact from connells regarding claiming.if you enjoy being lied to,messed about and love poor customer service this is the company for you.!!!

Gary · 8 May 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Dodgy and probably illegal collection of personal data_Birmingham office

For the first time in my life, when I asked for a viewing of 2 flats that were on sale in the same building I was asked about: 1) my home address; 2) my family status; 3) phone and email; 4) my savings. When I replied that this is very personal information to be given over the phone, the agent told me that the viewing cannot go ahead without me sharing my budget. I said but obviously these flats are within my budget - why am I calling you to arrange viewings. After I said to her that my budget is the asking price she arranged a viewing. Then the nightmare started: emails, calls, voicemails, letters from 5-6 companies per week advertising flats and investment opportunities across the country. After I complained to them, they said that I gave my consent for my profile to be shared with sellers so I can get the best deals...what?? Btw, the flats were originally put in the market two months ago but they were still available supposedly. Then suddenly the viewing was cancelled on the night before the viewing because they were both sold! LOL. My conclusion: these people make money by selling data / personal information to advertisers without the consent of their customers. Dodgy and probably illegal collection of personal data - avoid at all costs no matter how good the properties look on paper/photos!

Nick · 23 March 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unacceptable behaviour

When making an enquiry to view a rental property, their agent wanted a lot of personal information upfront, which as I explained, was not willing to provide over the phone. The agent became rude, basically stating he did not want to waste his time and needed to establish affordability, even though I stated I'd act as guarantor, however he then asked me if I earned in excess of £60k per annum and owned my own property. My enquiry was to simply arrange a viewing, his poor customer service and rudeness means I will no longer deal with them.

Paul · 21 March 2017

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

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

Trustpilot

Don’t use Kings Heath Birmingham

Don’t use Kings Heath Birmingham. I’m out of timescales now but before I bought my property I was forced to purchase one of their products when I didn’t want to. This is mis-selling, unfortunately I lost my record of this which is why I didn’t take it further. Date not right this was 2013

Hellybaby · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

moving home the easy way

We decided to sell the house and move to Scotland so we went to connells estate agent in shirley high street Southampton the service and help we received was marvellous no questions was to big or small each one was answered in a way that you understood no problem was a mountain because Claire bushel and Danielle cording could climb it we allso used the solicitors shoosmiths they recommend because it was easier having it all in house we have just sold our house it was so smooth and easy we did know we had done it just hope we find a good agency like connells in Scotland /many thanks Mr Mrs mcdowell

Snowy · 13 February 2017