Darlows reviews

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Amelia provided us with a wonderful service while we viewed properties in Llanishen before finding the home that was right for us. She was professional, friendly, warm, really cared about our needs and she also personalised her approach to helping us find the right home by getting to know us as a family. She was also really genuinely happy for us when we found the home we wanted and went some way to helping us make such a big decision between a few options that were available to us - while of course being extremely professional as an estate agent. I was really surprised when she told me that she was quite new to the branch because she immediately built a rapport with us and showed a genuine interest in who we were as a family and wanted to understand our needs, so I naturally thought she had been with the business a lot longer. She came across very professional and knowledgeable about the market - which definitely reflects well on Darlows training of their team. It has been a pleasure working with Darlows Llanishen, particularly Amelia - but also Tim who finalised our offer to the seller, anyone who answered the phones was always polite. Finally and very importantly, this is not a pushy agency to deal with which I really respected, we were encouraged to take our time and think things through which I'm sure is reflected well for sellers since they are more likely to get genuine offers from very interested buyers who haven't been pushed or pressured. Thank you Amelia for being so helpful and thoughtful in your approach I am sure you have a bright career ahead - always welcome for Welsh cakes at the new house ;)

Jade · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Tim and his team went over and above to ensure the process went as smoothly as possible. I highly recommend Darlows as I’ve never experienced such fantastic service from an estate agents before. I can’t thank the team enough for everything they did from the viewings at the start with Ben and Amelia through to Tim working with the solicitors and resolving all issues that came up. The communication, hard work and effort they put in throughout the process was on another level!

Kate · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid

Avoid. We put our house up with this company and after 2 to 3 months without any viewings or even being advised of any interest, other than being told, when my wife rang to enquire, that there where just a few calls asking about the location of the property.My wife then phoned to explain to the sales manager at Darlows, that we had made a decision to take our property off the market as we felt it may not have been the right time to sell to which the manager agreed.Arrangements were then made to have the sign taken down and the property taken from all marketing sites. All good we thought.Then, my wife received an email with a standard notice of Darlows being able to still claim commission in a case where a sale is made to anyone introduced by them, which is acceptable and reasonable. However, at the bottom of the email it listed a number of people they claim to have introduced to us, which is incorrect information.We have had no viewings booked and no calls by Darlows advising people being introduced to us. This kind of tone to an email with an almost implied threat of action is so unprofessional and unethical. We signed up with the company in good faith and feel shocked they are taking this stance. We now regret signing with them and would, from our experience advise others to stay clear of them.In addition we were pusuaided to pay £65 up front towards, what we understood, was towards a set fee for the legal services / conveyancing.However, we were then contacted by a legal firm who said were referred by Darlows and told us we had to pay them an upfront fee. When we advised that we had already paid a £65 fee we were told this fee was nothing to do with them and was a charge Darlows charge thier customers for introducing this firm to them. A bit naught we think and not clearly explained. Our experiences dealing with Darlows has not been good we would not want others to experience the same. We have been left with a bad taste in our mouths and a not very good impression of them to say the least.It amazes me how companies like this spend so much on marketing themselves to get clients, when all they have to do it look after people in the first place.

Anthony · 10 May 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Joe Bartlett from the Cardiff branch…

Joe Bartlett from the Cardiff branch was absolutely fantastic to deal with from start to finish. He went above and beyond to help me in my time of crisis and handled a really stressful situation in a calm and professional manner. I am so grateful for his help and for supporting me to get the outcome I needed. Joe also called me back after dealing with the end of tenancy situation with additional supporting information for my financial situation. Thanks Joe, you really were so helpful and I'm so grateful.

SJ · 17 December 2024

★★★★★ 2/5

Google

Unprofessional, poor communication, although a couple of the agents were very nice people and polite ( the nice people have since left..). Overall I would not recommend selling with Darlows Llanishen. They even have the cheek to keep ringing me about "my property search" when the sale of my flat has fallen through!

M · 15 March 2026

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Courtney Smalley and Danioll Hussain were both amazing when trying to sell our property. The attention to detail, proffesional manner and expertise would be hard to beat. Courtney always gave amazing updates and feedback and nothing was …

Amanda · 16 April 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

I was really pleased with the super-friendly service received from Courtney and the team during the sale of my property. Courtney is very pro-active and with her and the team's help I successfully moved happily and love my new house.

Gaynor · 21 March 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Joe Bartlett at Darlows Albany Road

I would like to thank Joe Bartlett from Darlows Property Management at Albany Road. Joe has quickly and efficiently dealt with a maintenance issue at my property, communication has been excellent from Joe who has resolved the situation and provided feedback. Joe is polite and professional and has provided an excellent service.

Roger · 22 September 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

We have had a fantastic experience at Darlows Llanishen thanks to Ben Scanlan. Ben is very approachable and has responded promptly to all of our emails/ calls as well making the effort to update us himself regarding our offers ensuring that we were kept in the loop! Ben has been professional throughout and has clearly advised us of the next steps in the house buying process which has made our experience of buying our first home very smooth. Thanks Ben!

A · 10 November 2022

★★★★★ 3/5

Trustpilot

Updated

I want to provide an update to my review….. I contacted Elinor as offered below. Darlows should be grateful they have people like Elinor. In a few days, my feedback was taken seriously and I had a successful viewing of the property I'm interested in…. Thank you Elinor!Shocking customer service! I called to enquire about a viewing & the lady I spoke to sounded bored. I asked about a viewing for a property I liked the look of & she bluntly asked “have you got a house you have to sell”, with slight attitude, which took me back a bit. I said yes, to which she sighed, quite loudly & replied “fine, I can book a viewing” - if first impressions count, then I’d advise that you put people on the phone, who actually know how to engage clients. What sort of attitude is that to have, when your customer facing?

Lisa · 30 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Tim has been amazing! We have had an absolute nightmare with our house purchase with people dropping out last minute, to solicitors making ever increasing requests. Through the whole process Tim has been so helpful and put so much time and effort in. He’s worked late and on his days off to get everything sorted for us. If this purchase ever goes through it’ll be down to him! I can’t thank him enough.

Rachael · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Special thanks

The appallingly stressful Lettrak system would have put us off Darlows forever if it hadn't been for kind, patient and efficient Emma Wilson of Lettings holding our hands through the process. After moving into our rental property, we experienced a period of frustration with a seemingly inaccessible Property Management team. Then Sophie Peake appeared on our horizon and things looked up at once. She was helpful, efficient and reliable; such a relief. Just recently we have been in the kind and very capable hands of Lauren Kierle who not only sorts out any problems efficiently and, importantly, follows up promptly but also goes above and beyond. For example, our Landlord recently had work done on this property. Even though this wasn't within the scope of Darlows' management, Lauren was extremely helpful in liaising with our Landlord when we had concerns during the process. Her cheerful and willing assistance really helped to ease our anxieties at a difficult time. We are really grateful to her and congratulate the Albany Road staff for being a five star team.

Mike · 29 September 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Worst Service

My entire process for a rental property in Cardiff was done in early August and we were waiting to sign the contract and get the keys for our move on the 29th of September. Got a call from so called manager to tell us that the landlord will not move out from the property till November and asked us to check another property which we did apparently our move-in date did not suit the landlord and Darlow's Albany branch did not even update or negotiate with us on that. Well, I am chasing them for more than a week now to get my holding deposit back. They want us to pay the holding deposit soon to secure the property and now if the property is not for us then not ready to return it back. It is either the call gets transferred to other branches or other departments and the concerned people are not contacting me. I would rather give the star in minus if there was an option.

Preethi · 10 September 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Tim has been fantastically professional throughout my house selling process, constantly communicating well and making sure that I felt comfortable and settled in what can be a stressful process. The professional service has completely paid off and the flat has sold within just a few days. Tim was extremely smart with taking great photos and was not at all intrusive and worked around our busy schedule which is much appreciated. I can not thank Tim enough for being so friendly and professional.PositiveResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

Ruth · 24 August 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Be Advised….

Obviously, I am in the minority category here with my 1* review, but I would like to share my experience with some of the staff based in the Pontypridd branch and Darlows/Spicerhaart as a whole. Although lengthy, please take the time to read it.If my negative experience helps just one person, my time is not wasted.All started very well when I marketed my property with Darlows, the valuation etc was carried out by Diane Rumble. Shortly after this, I was asked to submit a review, naturally, I gave a 5* review, as up to this point all was in order.Diane was very personable putting me at ease, having never sold a property before, it can be a little daunting. Most of the information I needed was provided with exception of their fees. Subsequently, I emailed the branch for this information and was told 1.25% there was no mention that vat was to be added.I proceeded on this basis.When Diane attended on the second occasion to take photographs, at my request, she brought literature with her as I had mislaid what had been previously sent to me.I needed to show evidence of my identity by way of a driving licence, household bills etc. This was duly noted on the paperwork which Diane had brought. I was then asked to confirm these documents with my signature.Whilst this was partially true, what I was actually signing was the contract/agreement. I duly signed where indicated in the belief that I was confirming the validity of the documents because, that is what I was told!I fully accept this was my mistake but Diane had gained my trust and I believed what she told me. Had she told me I was signing a contract, I would have taken time to read it throughly. It was all about the wording she had used that caused my confusion.I cannot categorically say she misled me, however, she was not clear.Having signed this contract/agreement, what followed next was out of my control and the actual crux of the matter in relation to this review.I only had 1 viewing of my property which I left in the hands of Gayle Chapman, and upon my return approximately 20 minutes later, the viewing had concluded.There were 3 males present, 2 of which walked back to their vehicle. The remaining male was stood in my front garden whilst Gayle was stood at the gate entrance. He didn’t appear to be in any particular rush to leave, consequently, I offered my thanks to Gayle and closed my front door in the hope he would leave.I was in the process of removing my outside footwear when I heard a loud rattling sound. I was outside within seconds to find the male violently shaking my drainpipe. He told me it was broke and could get it fixed for me, I found this very strange.Unfortunately, due to child care commitments I had to rush off, however, I emailed Gayle approximately 30 minutes later to complain that she had watched this happen.Long story short, this individual alleged that he was trying to fix my pipe which was damaged.Not only do I dispute this allegation as I had not experienced any visible leakage of water from this pipe, even if what he says was true, he had absolutely no authority to attempt any repairs without my consent. Furthermore, the viewing agent made no attempt to stop him!The cost of this repair was £40 which I requested was reimbursed by Darlows.After many weeks of emailing Senior Staff at Spicerhaart, and issuing a small claims in Court, this is my warning.Contained in the small print of their agreement is a clause which states that - Darlows are not liable for the actions of any persons they bring to your property! Therefore, if anything is broken or damaged they are absolved of any and all responsibility!Furthermore, expect them to close ranks and in my case, “prepare to go on record” that they told you something they definitely did not.For example, had I been told the true costs of their fees in my home why on earth would I need to email for this information as explained earlier.In addition, although the viewing agent was stood a few feet away, she denies hearing the conversation between myself and the male, who I allege, either caused or made a minor fault far worse.I could have evidenced everything I have stated in this review as all emails were retained. Unfortunately, Courts deal in facts, and the fact of the matter is, I signed this agreement all be it, that was my bad judgement.It must be remembered, estate agents are salespeople at the end of the day, they can appear to be friendly, trustworthy, and have your best interests at heart…Sorry not in my case, they caused me stress, upset, and left me with a financial loss.What I cannot tolerate is lies, I know they lied and they know they lied!Ongoing case with the Property Ombudsman so 🤞I can get some redress.

Jan · 18 August 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Tim Davies is an absolute HERO. He is the calming voice when it is stressful and the figure of authority when something needs to be done, ie getting Solicitors to actually do what you are paying them to do. We could not imagine going through this process without Tim. He would definitely be the person I would recommend and turn to again. Thank you so much Tim and your team.PositiveProfessionalism

Jason · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Darlows were the marketing agents for the house we were purchasing. They were great in progressing the matter as much as they could (the seller's conveyancers were quite unresponsive to our conveyancer throughout). Without Tim Davies (Darlows Llanishen Senior Branch Manager) stepping in to help, we would have withdrawn from the transaction. Very grateful Tim was able to resolve matters to get the seller's conveyancer in a position to exchange!

Veenavelani · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

A big "Thank You" to Darlows team ( Especially Tim Davies) who assisted me with selling of my flat. I really appreciate their help, support and advice during the entire exhaustive process of selling my property. Very interactive and were able to quickly follow-up on any of the queries the buyer's had and also provide me the peace of mind during the whole process. I strongly recommend Darlows Estate Agent.

Sujatha · 12 June 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Beyond disappointing from start to finish (and afterwards)

My experience with Darlows Albany Road has been anything but good. My property was listed with them for around 12 months. They failed to give feedback on any viewings that took place at my property, and when asked about said feedback, I was told that the folder on my property was empty. Staff left my front door unlocked on 3 occasions, and when challenged on this, I was told that this wasn't the case. Tim, the branch Manager, is unable to use the 'Reply All' function on emails it seems, that is if he is capable of replying to an email at all. I was incredibly patient with the sale of my property, having had sales fall through twice, and when the sale was finally ready to go through, information on exchange and completion dates was not shared with me, leading to months of waiting, and financial outlays that I could barely afford.I would not recommend Darlows to anyone, and their 'after care' once I had made a formal complaint has been laughable.

Richard · 17 September 2024

★★★★★ 4/5

Trustpilot

Decent Experience

Rented in Cardiff. Viewings were professional and support was great. Didn't have any problems during tenancy. However, after almost a year, we were informed that the landlord wished to stop renting out the property and we would have to vacate by the end of tenancy. Enough notice was given so this was fine. We were then informed that we could go into a rolling contract so there wasn't much rush to move out, this was good news. Later on, we were told we had to vacate by end of tenancy, very back and forth now and pressure to find somewhere was higher. I believe the issue was down to lack of communication within Darlows.Thankfully we found a place by the end of tenancy and vacated, only to be told the rolling contract was still an option... Overall, decent experience, just wasn't great to be told different things at the end. Unnecessary stress!

Sam · 14 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

I cannot thank Stefan enough for his enthusiastic and professional approach. He gave great advice with the regards to maximising the viewing potential with minimum inconvenience to myself. Amongst one of the suggestions was to have viewings on an open house basis, I went with this option and it was a great success. Also Stefen and his colleagues were always on hand to reply promptly to emails and telephone queries. I would be more than happy to recommend Stefan and Darlows to family and friends. Thank you Stefan and team, you have been amazing throughout.

Anita · 12 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

As a lot of people right now, my family and I were faced with crippling rent increases and forced to either pay, or face the prospect of being evicted with a month or two. Looking at our finances we decided to attempt to speed up our plans to buy and registered with Darlows Llanishen where Stefan Roberts became our agent and helped us to find, view and purchase our first property. I can't thank Stefan enough for taking my numerous daily calls, emails, fitting us in for viewings during his last minute cancellations and talking us through the various processes. I must also add, it was especially noted that while other estate agents from different companies liked to rush us around houses, making us feel pressured into not asking the questions we needed to ask, Stefan gave us free roam of the houses, waiting by the door to answer questions when needed, this was really professional and much appreciated. Thank you!

Marc · 12 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

When Tim came to value our property, he was very confident and supportive. He could tell that we hadn't sold a property before and he was happy to share his knowledge with us. All the Darlows team, including Ben and Aaron who did a lot of the viewings were very happy and helpful. Every step of the way Tim has been open and honest with us and has helped us with any hurdle. Would definitely recommend using the Darlows Llanishen team.

Katy · 12 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Our recent experience with Darlows Llanishen has been extremely positive. We have been dealing with Stefan who has been polite, professional and immensely helpful with our search for a new home, booking viewings at a time which suits us and proactively recommending properties for our consideration. It is always a pleasure when we correspond with Stefan as he has a good understanding of the type of family home we are searching for and is knowledgeable about the properties marketed by the branch which always gives us confidence that we are receiving a genuine account of what is on offer. I would highly recommend Darlows Llanishen to anyone searching for their next home.

Rachel · 12 June 2022