Connells Maidstone reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Awful company who lack communication skills

First time renter, rented a nice little flat with them. All started off ok, only they need to be constantly nagged when making enquiries, very quick to take money but extremely slow and incompetent at returning it. I ended up handing in my notice to leave my flat due to personal cirumstances, gave my 2 months notice period as required in my agreement. Moved out asap but was told that they'd update me if a tenant wanted to move in earlier so my notice period could end earlier.Well they expected me to hand the keys back but still carrying on paying rent until my notice period had ended. I had no communication and after they took the final rent payment, it turned out that the new tenant actually moved in that day and connells never informed me. So they charged 2 different people rent for one property. I only found out due to receiving a final bill from the water company informing me I had moved out, when I never informed them myself. After several emails back and fourth I was promised my deposit and rent payment refunded to me. I only ever got my deposit. I then emailed again asking where my rent refund was, turns out they had already transferred it to my landlord and that I needed to contact them despite connells being at fault here and breaking my tenancy agreement.Luckily my landlord has no refunded me overpaid rent with no questions asked, and if it wasn't for them i'd probably be out of pocket by quite a lot by this incompetent company. Note to self: I am never going with this company again whether is regarding renting or buying.

Brittany · 10 March 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid connells

Well wanted to offer on a property ware I have a broker to do my mortgage so connells staf told me that offer has to approved by them befor they will forward it to the vender plus they speak to me about mortgage with there broker crap don't use this agents f8nd the owners tell them that put buyers offo with this tactics 👏

Manik · 1 October 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

No matter what the value it, they still get paid

The boy came in and treated me like I was dirt after being 20 minutes late, probably cause I was young he started questioning how I got the valuation. Clearly pointing out the obvious, and the comparisons to other flats, he then says that it doesn’t matter cause they value it on sales of previous homes. This flat used to be a shop so never had history and others were all studios or 2 bedrooms. After obviously undervaluing property I didn’t get the mortgage, but everything is all good because he gets paid for the valuation either way. Waste of time and lack of any knowledge or common sense.

Chris · 26 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Connells Maidstone, bad experience

We wanted to buy a house through Connells and we have been told that the vendor only accept our offer if we will use them mortgage advisor and their services! We said in the first instance that yes even though we had our mortgage advisor that we have been using it for 5 years! Our offer has been accepted by the vendor but only because we will use their services this is what the manager has been said to us ! When we said that we will be using our own broker we have received a telephone from the manager explaining to us that if we will not do ‘everything in house ‘ the vendor might reconsider our offer , which he did at the end , according to Connells !Apparently the vendor had the property on the market for several months and not being able to sell because the buyers were not using Connells services and everything was done in different ‘houses not in the same house ‘according to the manager! Very disappointed and have no words about these experience with Connells in Maidstone !

MRS · 21 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

If you want a company that ignores your…

If you want a company that ignores your complaints, doesn't take you seriously and fails to look after your rental property by letting to multiple occupancies without your permission or knowledge then this is the one for you! My newly renovated property was totally ruined. But they couldn't care less. They are happy to take your money but will not pay me any compensation for all of their mistakes. AVOID at all costs and use a professional agent that cares!

Michele · 15 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Do not use - terrible service

We made an offer on a house last October and the estate agent Burchell Edwards convinced us to use Connells Home Conveyancing as they were efficient and reasonable priced. I sincerely wish I had stuck to my gut instincts and NOT used these people. Firstly their fees are far more than they originally quoted for with add ons made all the time ( stupidly I didn’t read the small print). Secondly Communication between solicitor and client is not existent unless you contact them but this also proves almost impossible as they simply do not answer the telephone- it’s doesnt even go to voicemail it just stops ringing. Emails are not answered. Thirdly when I wrote a letter of complaint I received a reply on the latest possible day saying that I had received a ‘ reasonable ‘ service. For the amount of money paid over I expect an excellent service and not just reasonable. I then find out that the person dealing with our case is a technician and not an actual solicitor. (No reduction of fees offered for this) After requesting such I received a cash statement of fees due - several fees on there that I hadn’t agreed to . Somewere removed once challenged. The Connell portal which is sold to you as atool to keep you updated was not updated after the third week until I challenged this. Then one extra entry made 3 months later . We are due to complete tomorrow and today I find that the portal has been updated with everything left to do and completion date happening Saturday however the solicitor has confirmed completion is Friday . For this “service” we have to pay £18 which will not be refunded as I have logged on several times to get an update - but it wasn’t updated !!!I implore people NOT to use this business unless you wish to suffer a breakdown caused by frustration . Again I say PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE.

Mrs · 7 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Happy to take your deposit but delaying…

Happy to take your deposit but delaying the release of my deposit..for what reason, absolutely none whatsoever. Poor internal communication within the team. It had taken 4 months to repair my shower but wanting to bill me for a bulb that had gone in the kitchen. I've waited over 5 weeks for my deposit to be released with the landlords consent already given. Utterly disgraceful company only interested in profit. Avoid this company at all costs!.

Gc · 7 September 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Never have I seen a company so bad at…

Never have I seen a company so bad at communicating and customer service. Don’t expect your question or query to be answered and if it is, speak to 3 other people to make sure it’s correct. Moving out of one of their properties has been one of the most stressful things I have gone through. My landlord has been amazing, it’s such a shame the estate agents were so crap.

Heather · 7 December 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible customer service

Booked a viewing on a property at 5pm yesterday. Lady who booked me in said she would call the previous day she didn’t so I called them. Arrived at viewing today as arranged. After several calls of no one answering was told that as my viewing couldn’t take place as I hadn’t confirmed. Had no missed calls to confirm and had drove 45 minutes for the viewing. Absolute joke of a branch.

S · 4 August 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

What a joke!! Stay away!!

What a joke!!These guys really don’t have a clue. I have let plenty of property’s in my life and i’v never incountered a company quite as incompetent as this. You would think that if they are charging nearly £700 in fees they would turn up to a viewing on time. I was called a liar over the phone. I had to pay a deposit of £500 just to speak to a landlord for them to tell me that the property isn’t suitable for my needs.

A.B · 22 January 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

BAD MANAGEMENT.

With all my respect, Connells are the worse management I've ever dealt with. Lied to at the beginning by being told the local office would deal with all aspects of property management, only to find out later its actually done by a huge office in Liverpool. the local office seems incapable of keeping one management team for longer than three months. Multiple people in Liverpool dealing with the account so messages are not communicated between team members dealing with issues, the same information requested from me by multiple team members on numerous occasions as staff do not communicate and clearly do not read emails - asked 5 times for EPC certificate when it had already been emailed to the initial person requesting it, same story with gas safety inspection certificates. On one occasion rent was not paid to me for two months (despite tenant paying) as there had been a "mistake" - I only found this out by repeated phone calls as Connells never contacted me to explain what was happening and then told me it took "some time" for money to be transferred to me via the banking system. Once tenant left, agent completely uninterested in recovering deposit money from tenant to cover damage to property and attitude totally uninterested and unhelpful. To cap it all agent "mistakenly" refunded tenant deposit to myself rather than tenant, made no attempt at an apology (and I assume didn't apologise to tenant either). Found the entire time dealing with them stressful and frustrating, was actually in all reality managing the property myself, despite paying them to do it. Will never use again and I recommend anyone to do the same. BEng sam talo

Sam · 17 January 2019

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Excellent service

Excellent service! Dani was polite, friendly and so helpful and she found us our perfect first home. I would definitely recommend Dani to help anyone looking for the perfect property.

Consumer · 11 December 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

BUYERS BEWARE: High Pressure Sales Tactics

Having rented for many years we are older FTB. We found a property listed by Connells and after viewings and consideration made a sensible offer. Over the next 24 hours EA said there had been many viewings and offers. EA then asked for 'best and final offers' (we did not change our offer). EA still did not officially accept our offer saying it was 'pending financial qualification'. However, we have taken independent financial advice, have an agreed mortgage in principle and deposit secured...Connells refused to accept these documents insisting we make an appointment with their Mortgage Service Manager and nothing will progress until we do. We took independent advice, withdrew the offer the next day and took our money elsewhere. Terrible reviews here on Trust Pilot reflect how poor Connell's business practices are.

Blah · 14 November 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely useless letting service for…

Absolutely useless letting service for landlords, honestly wouldn't use the full managed service as they don't respond to emails or calls. Took double payments which I have been waiting months to be repaid.Also received bills that prior tenant hadn't paid and our 'full managed service' obviously doesn't include taking this information for new tenancy. Truly appalling service!

Gary · 12 May 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

WORST AGENCY ON EARTH

If anyone is considering buying a property with Connells then run away asap. They are liars. They are still advertising on their website that some properties will be available to move in before Christmas. We have been in progress of buying one of those "ready to move in" flats since 3 months ago and things are still dragging on with horrible services from Connells. We are left in a very bad situation now. DON'T EVEN CONSIDER THEM. RUN!

Abcdh · 19 November 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Don't even deserve one star

I have dealt with many lettings agents and Connells are, by FAR, the worst. They are incompetent, unprofessional and dishonest. The Headington Lettings branch would be better off staffed by toddlers, for all their failings. They failed to fulfil their obligations to the landlord, despite apparently offering Full Management. I ended up doing more work than them! They have cost me time and money and they will go to great lengths to lie and cover up their mistakes. Keep well away from them, honest advice.

TK85 · 2 November 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I would leave less than 1 star if I could

I would leave less than 1 star if it would let me! We sold our flat to a cash buyer, no mortgage, no searches, no surveys. We had no mortgage to pay off either and a long lease owned by the council, so very secure. Connells pushed us to use their solicitors and both sides agreed as we were assured it would speed things along. The price for legal went up from £750 to almost £1400 and as Connells had taken £200 upfront, we couldn’t cancel. Connells have not chased or pushed, they don’t return calls, they are awful. Do not use this agent! We were tricked into using their recommended solicitor and they haven’t even attempted to speed things along for us. Absolutely rubbish, awful service. I will never use them again!

JoJo · 31 October 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

If 24 one star reviews doesn’t say enough 1 of the 2, 5 star reviews is written by a staff member 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 issues Avoid at all costs

Core · 25 October 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Google

Very bad customer service! We did the referencing and paid all the fees to rent a property. But the week we were supposed to move in, the flat wasn’t ready. They told us then that it would be ready in one week. We waited and waited, and chased them every other day and after one month we didn’t have the flat yet. It was then when we decided to go for a different property. So we finally got a nice flat, but it didn’t last for too long. Few months after we moved in, we got a letter saying the landlord wanted to sell the property. We left the flat 6 months after our tenancy started, and they took almost every single penny of our deposit. It was ridiculous! I wouldn’t recommend this state agency at all!

Alejandro · 25 October 2018

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

I recently purchased an apartment from the sales team at Connells in Maidstone and I can not thank them enough for all their efforts making sure that the whole process ran smoothly. They reassured me and regularly updated me right to the final day when I collected my keys. I have now let my property out on a fully managed service through their Lettings Department and again I am so happy with the professional and friendly service I received . I would definitely recommend both departments if you are looking to sell or let your property. Thank you Connells .

Sue · 25 October 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Horrible contract

Horrible contract: their contract locks you in for 26 weeks, even if you sell without them. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM.Oh and I've had 1 viewing in the last month.

Mieszko · 5 November 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely the worst estate agents, EVER!

Absolutely the worst estate agents, ever! I encourage everybody to give this estate agent a very wide berth. We purchased a house through them but they were not in the least bit interested in following up or to get the sale pushed through. It was very much a sit back and get paid attitude from them. We had been lied to many times by them when chasing up the sale process. I could rant or ages on them but just want to let people know NEVER use Connells as they are awful.

CS · 19 October 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Took our payment to secure house but then gave it to someone else

Viewed and paid a holding fee to secure the application for a house and was told it would be taken off the market and we had first choice. Two days later we were told someone had since made a higher offer and our money was being sent back. In which time we had told all of our friends about the new house, cancelled two further weeks of appointment viewings. Absolute cowboys messing with people in this way, a holding fee paid is a contract to which they must honour which these people seem to know nothing about.

Annika · 19 October 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I have bought a property through…

I have bought a property through them,before complete the purchase,they are fine.after the purchase completed,they haven’t give me the letter box key,I called the oldbury Connells who called Taylor,he said the previous owner told him that the key is in the property,if not I have to broke the letter box and change a new one,the letter box is solid like a small safe.unbeliveble! How helpful is that! the key is part of my purchase,they don’t care. after call them again,a lady called the previous owner to send the separate keys over. Be careful with some of the stuff.

Jen · 17 October 2018