Connells Copthorne reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

At least I know which agent NOT to use in future

I have been using another letting agent who I am perfectly happy with for years. Then I got a call from Connells promising that they were better, faster and a whole lot cheaper than my current agent. I told them I wasn't interested but they kept badgering me day and night until I finally gave in and let them find a new tenant for me. That was a mistake I won't forget in a hurry.Connells were reasonably slow finding tenants, and the tenants they did find were all dodgy fraudsters. In the end I reluctantly agreed on a tenant with a CCJ. Who turned out to be less than ideal. On top of that, far from being cheaper, Connells turned out to be very expensive. As an example, they send a report every 6 months showing rent received and expenses. Any normal letting agent would do this for free. At Connells, that'll be £102 please. At least I know which agent NOT to use in future.

Dean · 27 April 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Kevin Henry aka Sharman Quinney aka Connells - Vibrant Energy

Local agency, Kevin Henry, was taken over by Connells and my experience of renting has become a nightmare. Vibrant Energy is the same group and did my interim inspection. I'm a long-term tenant of an unfurnished property and this inspection was intrusive, including taking photos of my own belongings and me. Assessor also read my gas and electricity meters, measured the rooms of the house and asked questions about my rent - for an interim inspection? Since then, I have discovered that Connells have tried to get the landlord to increase the rent and charge commission to anybody doing maintenance on the house I've read the feedback about them changing a tenant's energy supplier and am wondering if that's why they read the meters. Communication has been awful. Sometimes they don't contact me - other times they send the same information twice. My landlord supports me. I'm a good tenant and he's a good landlord - we were both happy, but Kevin Henry/Sharman Quinney (Connells) have changed that. Avoid them if at all possible!

S · 3 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Waste of money

We were encouraged to select Connells to survey the property we were interested in. We bought the house based on the survey results. The level of inaccuracies which we learned about after moving was unbelievable. For example: the roof was deemed in good condition and, according to the surveyor, “only required ongoing maintenance”. In reality, we had to have the entire roof rebuilt and asbestos tiles disposed of at great cost. The surveyor hadn’t even mentioned the possibility that they could be asbestos. There were further horrors which any competent surveyor should have picked up on. To cut a long story short, we ended up paying more than £30,000 just to make the house water-tight. This was the only capital we had and which we hoped could be used to replace carpets etc. Now we’re broke!We lodged a complaint to Connells, the response to which was insulting, patronising and full of even more inaccuracies. This was taken to the very final stage, but our claim was dismissed. Our roof claim wasn’t upheld as we hadn’t taken photos of the roof at the time of the survey!? Who would even do this? There’s no way that the roof could have deteriorated from a level 1 rating to 3 in 2 months of normal weather. It seems that the surveyor doesn’t have to prove his/her case, but any complainant has to have all manner of evidence which very few of us would think of collecting during the stressful period of the move.I would strongly advise not employing Connells. In fact, rather than have a survey I’d recommend asking a roofer, plumber, builder and electrician to survey the property prior to completion. They’re the real experts!Surveyors are paid handsomely for either pointing out the obvious eg: gutters need to be cleared of leaves etc. or have so many subclauses that even if the house were to collapse, when they’d said it was fine, they’d be covered!

Sam · 1 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely useless, avoid

Connells took over my Tennancy from a previous letting agent and have had nothing but hassle since. They changed my Energy provider without anybody's authorisation from landlord or myself. Then were no help in resolving this. I had to deal with a miserable renewals coordinator, who has since apparently "left the conpany", she hung the phone up on me twice and told me I was at the wrong department when I phoned then didn't bother to give me any information about who I needed to call and hung up the phone. I got passed around between all kinds of connells staff ranging from senior to team leader, no one really wanted to deal with my case and at no point was any genuine apology given or an ounce of empathy about everything. My landlord and I eventually came to an agreement on contract because connells were such a liability. They hadn't fulfilled any agent duties by this point and had the audacity to ask me for a £110 renewal fee. So I'd done every bit of work for them and they'd messed me about ten fold then they asked me for money?! They kept replying with hollow apologies and eventually knocked it down £20, I paid this to finally not have to deal with them anymore. Up until the renewal contracts they sent through had misspelled my partner's name! They are absolute shambles do not give them your time or your money

Customer · 26 January 2019

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Wendy, Jo and the team were very helpful in the process of buying our first home - would recommend.

Ben · 11 October 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Worst letting agency ever. Avoid at all costs!!

Decided to rent a property with the Poole branch. We are both working professionals and have a dog, which Connells were advised of at the start of our property search and were very clear on. All went swimmingly at first, we passed the referencing, the landlady agreed to allow us to have our dog in the property, the date was set for when we were to move in and pay the deposit. That's when the trouble started. According to Connell's the landlady started making unreasonable demands on us as a tenant and the day we were to move in and pay the deposit landlady pulled out on the rental. We were left with no property to move into. Connells then immediately showed us another property in a block of managed flats (not ideal for us but better than nothing). Prior to the viewing the property particulars stated "Sorry no pets". We queried this and we advised that this was an error on the particulars and pets were accepted. Prior to agreeing the let we asked the agent to double check with the landlord that pets were definitely accepted (we actually checked multiple times) and the landlord agreed that the property accepted pets. We then moved in and after only a couple of days of moving in we then spoke to a neighbour who advised that actually the block management company doesn't allow dogs in the top floor flat. In a panic and extremely worried about this we spoke to Connells who again said yes pets are accepted but we will check again with the landlord. Cut to 3 weeks later to receiving a phone call from Connells Management in Liverpool from some random woman (Luanne/Leanne?) we have never spoken to before, we were advised that the landlord failed to check his lease properly and spoke to the Block management company and guess what! We are not able to have our dog in the property. We have been given an ultimatum by the block management company to either remove the dog or move out within 2 months. After a heated phone call with the agent we dealt with in branch in which we were basically fobbed off to speak to this Luanne person. We are both extremely angry with Connells for both their service and conduct. Their failure to ensure that the correct due diligence was carried out and that they ensured that the landlord was aware of the terms of his lease has now left us potentially homeless and also having to cough up the additional fees and deposit for another rental property. We will be complaining to their official complaints team and also The Property Ombudsman in an attempt to claim some compensation for the expenses incurred by their incompetence and also for the full return of our deposit and holding fees that we paid.

Angel · 11 January 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The most shocking service ive ever had.

The most shocking service ive ever had. About to move into a house i was informed by the cleaners that were cleaning my current property that the house smelt of cat urine. So having not signed the tenacy agreement i wanted to inspect the house . As i walked in it smelt of cat pee . I informed them im not moving in . As after 3 days of cleaning the cat smell was still there . As i paid six months up front i requested my money back. Not even a phone call back. That was 19 days ago. Cheers connells andover .

Stephen · 8 January 2019

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Delivered on promises to get viewers…

Delivered on promises to get viewers into the door. I like other local agents they had a high flow of viewings resulting in a rapid sale of my house at a very competitive sale price. Easy to deal with good communication throughout and advice.

Stuart · 15 December 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Connells generated 3 offers within a week; completion within 10 weeks of launch. Jo and Lindsay guided the process very smoothly. Thank you to both.

John · 9 August 2025

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

I would like to highly recommend Connells in Copthorne - Wendy and her team have not only been extremely professional throughout the whole process of selling our family home, but helpful, supportive and proactive at all times. They have worked hard behind the scenes to keep the sale progressing smoothly, and have always kept us informed. Selling a home is an emotional business, not just a financial one, and Wendy and her team have helped to make the experience much more survivable. We are very grateful indeed and couldn't have been in better hands.

Angela · 12 November 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely horrible service

Absolutely horrible service. I rented the flat on 20 of August with Connels. After i had moved , i reported them some faults in the property. How many times i called and emailed i could not count but they did not call me back or reply my email back then i pop in the their office i tried to explain my issues. There was nobody from letting team they said and eventually! They called me back. I told her my issues and wanted to cancel my home insurance policy and she said to me "i should have canceled my direct debit without tell up anything. Can you believe that ?! Bizarre !She thought i was a young and forgein man and i did not know how it works in this country.!!" The last conversation was a week ago and i m still waiting they are going to sort it out !! ridiculous and unresponsible services. Thank for your great professionalism !!

Efe · 24 September 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Connells were used to value our…

Connells were used to value our property for our buyers mortgage. They under valued by 38,000Our mortgage company, right move, estate agents and comparable properties in the area are all in line with our agreed price.They sent a young man with a trainee child to value and now looks like the whole thing is off because our agent put a good case together with comparable properties but they won’t budge.Exceptionally incompetent and this in turn causes huge damage and distress to all involved.They did the survey for us 10yrs ago when we moved and we definitely received the results from a different house, awful experience then and awful experience now.How are they still in business considering the reviews are abysmal???

Happy · 14 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Company is completely disfunctional

Company is completely disfunctional, how they operate nation wide is a complete mystery. All tenants and landlords beware of them, they are more hassle than they are worth.I arranged to view a letting property in Poole, rang several times to make sure that it was still arranged and that I was still viewing the property. Now considering I live 180 miles away in Leicestershire, it's a 3.5 hour journey to the house, so I wanted to make sure it was still going ahead.Everytime I rang I was reassured that it's still going ahead, right up to an hour before... got to the house, and there were people inside (living inside)... I rang Connells and they advised that the property had been let agreed and they did not know why I was there! I had rang several times and no one had I formed me of this. 7 hours of driving in total, complete waste of time and all I got was a 'sorry for the confusion' and a 'maybe there was a miscommunication' from the person on the other end of the phone, almost like they're trying to say it's my fault!The property now says Let Agreed on the website, and the £60 I spent on petrol was wasted. Can't believe they would let someone travel 400 miles (round trip) and not tell them that the property was no longer available, even when they ring several times to make sure.The even more annoying thing is that the advert still says that there is an open day for the property later this Month, and that they need someone to move in, in August.Completely disappointed.

Chris · 7 July 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible experience with Amy Tingay

Horrible experience with hall & benson. Apparently the guy who told me all the lies has now “left” the company. They did nothing to sell my house. They did not follow through with anything they said they would do. Put me a board up when I specifically requested not to do that (due to personal issues)I removed my house from being on sale with them. Fast forward a few weeks and received a debt collection letter from Connells about an EPC certificate that I hadn’t paid for. The agent who has now “left” the business. Told me I didn’t have to pay for that. I rang Amy Tingay at the debt department. Left a message, she returned my call and was the most unprofessional, unpleasant, individual. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Should have gone with my initial thoughts and given anything from this company a wide birth.

Amye · 10 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Comedy of errors with my property let

I was very disappointed with the service I received when letting my house through Connells. They were managing the let. It was almost a comedy of errors from start to finish. I'm not sure who was most upset, myself or my tenants. Initially I made 3 sets of keys so that the tenants had 2 sets and Connells had one. Connells managed to lose one set. The tenants asked for some things at the property (things that needed seeing to at the beginning of the let and they couldn't access the shed). This information was not communicated to me for a couple of months and then by email not phone. There was a small leak at the property and the tennants notified Connells but I was not informed. Because of this not being communicated, I was offered a refund of my management fee for that month but a couple of days later (without explanation) this offer was withdrawn. There were several other cases of miscommunication from Connells where the tenants had asked for something to be fixed and it was not passed on to myself. In the end I was forced to ask the tenants to contact me directly about repairs rather than going through Connells so I was essentially paying them a fee and managing the property myself. At the end of the tenancy things were no better. The tenants contacted me to give a date to vacate the property. I agreed this and notified Connells. Despite this, the company pursued the tenants for rent when they were no longer at the property. I asked for a repair at the property and the contractor they sent delayed and delayed. When I contacted them about this, they said that the tenants were not at the property whenever the contractor had visited. It seemed that again, despite managing the let, Connells had not been aware that the property had been vacated a month earlier. Finally, collecting my keys when ending the contract with Connells, staff at the office handed me a bunch of keys with both my keys and someone elses keys on it. Luckily I am honest and handed back the extra keys I was offered. Perhaps that's why mine went missing at the start of the let! I was not given any compensation for any of these mistakes, rather their head office managers tried to turn the blame on me instead. So glad to be shot of this company.

Amy · 28 January 2018

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

We had a fantastic experience selling our home with Wendy & Olly. Both were super professional and 'on the ball' when it came to assisting us and our buyer. We would strongly recommend using Connells in Copthorne to anyone wanting to sell their house in Copthorne or its surrounding areas. Fantastic service and lovely people to work with a real credit to the estate agent industry.PositiveResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

Amit · 11 November 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Great experience with Connells, St Slbans

Laura was fantastic at keeping me informed on viewings, feedbacks etc and her manner when conducting viewings was fun, bubbly and professional at the same time. Sophie was great at giving me the advice I needed for advertising and within 48 hours, I had 2 offers on the same day. Whilst that was going through she was so proactive in helping me find a new home, regardless of whether it was her instruction or another agents. Couldn't ask for more. Thank you ladies.

Nina · 18 November 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Might as well burn your money

Just left Connells. Wouldn't recommend them even if they paid me to to be totally honest and will not go back. We've have had nothing but issues with these guys in the year and bit we were with them. It's been one long road of error after error that could have easily been fixed if they'd pulled their finger out and communicated with us as tenants.They rented us a house that they knew was damp long before we moved in and that we reported SEVERAL times but they did nothing about it. We were told that "a few damp traps would sort it", which sounded fine and made it out to be a minor issue. It became apparent that there was terrible rising damp in the living room, with mould accumulating in all rooms and a big spider/insect problem due to the constant and persistent humidity. The problem only got worse and worse and Connells essentially ignored it. Repairs were hard to come by and there was little to no communication as to what was going on. We had a curtain rail fall on me and a kitchen countertop that wasn't fixed properly and nothing came of it despite reporting it. They handed us an essentially illegal notice with the wrong dates and length of notice. Correct me if I'm wrong but if the notice is wrong then it's null and void?? There was no admission of their mistake until I pressed them for some kind of explanation as to where we stood. This could have been corrected as they admitted it on the phone as a mistake after a month of stress, but not once did anybody call, email or write, or even hand us another *correct* one. This has completely confused me as to what their reasonings were and what kind of training their staff have.I will also be going into my local office to challenge the way one of their staff reviewed the property when we left. I do not appreciate being called "dirty" over ten times and essentially lazy not by anyone, let alone some letting agent. We had both of our families and ourselves clean that house for a whole day to make sure that it was clean and presentable and I have the photos to prove so. This has pretty much enraged me as it erases all the hard work everybody put in helping sort out their dump of a house.TL/DR version: don't bother. Bad conduct from a nationwide chain ruined the better part of a year. A series of errors that could have been easily sorted were ignored and left to build up, which left us in the lurch and caused much stress and irritation. Don't waste your hard earned cash and time on such an ill managed company, but it's your choice at the end of the day.

Clarke · 21 October 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Difficult, unprofessional, incompetent

After finding a property that we liked, we went ahead and decided to put the necessary holding deposit down to secure the place. We agreed the moving-in date with the estate agent, and signed the Holding Deposit Agreement for the agreed move date and rent per month. After paying the £200 holding deposit, a few days later we were called and told the move-in date was actually now 'too late' and that we needed to move in sooner so the landlord could collect the rent on the same day as other tenants. Having already booked the correct time off work and booked the moving company due to signing the document with the estate agents, already moving in 2 weeks earlier than we needed to, we were unable to do this earlier date.We were then bombarded with questions about why we couldn't move in sooner such as 'do you not have the money to pay for it yet, what’s the issue here', and after multiple phone calls from them we were finally able to keep our original move-in date; even though we were originally told multiple times before paying the £200 holding deposit the move-in date was fine.We then moved on to Vetting, where we discovered that the tenancy agreement we would be signing is 9 months long - not the 6 months told to us by the estate agent. After calling them to double check, it was 9 months and we had been told wrong, but decided we would proceed with the application anyway. A couple days later we then got a phone call by the estate agent now saying that they 'had been told wrong by the property managing company that the property is actually £50 more per month than originally listed', so the new rent was even more expensive than what we had signed and paid the Holding Deposit for. We were told we were able to have a refund on the £200 due to the incorrect listing if we no longer wanted to go ahead with the place. At this point we decided to stop with the application as we were told by the estate agent everyone else with the same landlord was paying the original price, and that the property was probably not worth that and she did not know why it had been raised or 'incorrectly listed' by the managing company. We then asked for a refund which was due back within 5 working days. At the end of 5 working days with no £200 back in my account we rang them to find out where our money was. We were told the person who processed the refund was on holiday, but they would try and find out what had happened to it. After another few days we rang back only to be told we had to wait for the regional manager to in to ask them where our refund was, and they could not find any record of the original refund. We then contacted Connells Head Office who emailed the Connells accounts department, who said they did not have record of the refund, so it had not been processed by the estate agent. There was a clear lack of communication between staff, and we were told how the refund was 'definitely progressing' whilst being given many excuses about where our money actually was.After calling them almost every day to find out where our money was, it took a MONTH to get the £200 back; not 3-5 working days as originally promised! Please ignore the 5 star reviews below written by Connells employees, and avoid this estate agent and save yourself the hassle!

Paignton · 6 October 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Bristol Henbury branch

Bristol Henbury branch. Absolutely abysmal. Barely any communication, tell myself one thing and my partner another. They just throw estate agent jargon at you. The manager even told me that estate agents are ‘Solicitors representatives on earth’. They pushed us to go with Talbots solicitors as they claimed they have great lines of communication with them but this was just another lie. It’s been EIGHT months since we started the buying process with them and our mortgage offer is about to run out. Still not moved.

Mel · 27 September 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Never again

Rented a property last year that was a complete mess. Looked around the house as someone had just moved out, was told it would be painted/cleaned and was met with a general positive attitude that things would be sorted. Moving in date could be pushed back if more time was needed to sort it out which I was fine with.Moved in and the upstairs hadn't been touched. There was dust all over the place, both garage doors had broken locks, one room was baby pink covered in awkward shelving, bathroom sink wasn't even connected to the piping so just leaked, bathroom wasn't even properly sealed so water leaked through the roof, shower would stop working intermittently, shower room had no door, living and kitchen had no internal doors etc.After 2 weeks of complaining I was refunded some money to make up for the money I put into painting and cleaning.A few weeks into the rental the garage doors were replaced so I felt like things could be alright, but just got worse from there.It took almost 6 months to be told "Shower room has no door, This was removed about 10 years ago and was not present when you viewed the property, and therefore will not be replaced." and "Bedroom door has a dent in it, it was agreed upon move in that that you could decorate upstairs as you wanted to move in quickly so you have permission to deal with this."Around 11 months in to the rent the shower was looked at as well, shower completely replaced, still had the issues with it.I had minimal assistance throughout the letting, a few emails saying it would be looked into or the landlord would be contacted, but I emailed around once a week to get something done and nothing was done.I've now moved out of this property and after requesting my deposit back it took 10 days for the landlord to respond that they are "looking into" issues, apparently the grass has weeds and the painting I did upstairs dripped down onto the framework.Unsure as to what to do I contacted the office I let from and was trying to sort it out with them, after a few days of asking them questions that were answered I was then met with the below."As I mentioned, you need to talk to *. This is not my job and drawing me away from my current responsibilities.I provided her contact details to you.Please continue this ongoing situation with *.Sorry if it sounds blunt and rude, but I have many things to do that are my job."The house is now available again, with images used from before I rented the property. I can't imagine anything has been changed/worked on It's available today and described as a "treasure trove of a property which is immaculately presented". One mans trash is another mans treasure I suppose.In essence, Connells have done nothing but apologise while they continued to take my money and offer minimal help for issues I had with my rent.The landlord not responding/offering to fix issues is out of their control in essence but some customer care could go a long way in helping me understand my situation and what to do. I would never deal with Connells again and in getting a new property have avoided anything to do with them. Funnily the people I have got the new property from have bought from Connells and had nothing good to say. Glad to see Connells are keeping a good image for themselves

Sam · 20 July 2017

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Great job

My wife and chose Connells to market and hopefully sell our property for us. From the initial valuation through to the completion of our eventual sale and purchase - Stephanie and the team at Connells were fantastic. They were all professional, courteous, calming and extremely knowledgable about the property market in our area. There were no over exagerated pricing expectations and this allowed us to be realistic about what we could achieve from our sale.Stephanie and team at Connells replied to phone calls and queries very quickly - even out of office hours if needed, and were always on hand to give great advice. They were a pleasure to work with and we would happliy recommend them to anyone looking to sell their property.

Simon · 30 May 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

they are unbelievable

they are unbelievable. Im very disappointed about how connells are handling us as tenants. Firstly, the transition into this property went anything but smoother, with the real estate providing us with the wrong set of keys resulting in us being locked out of the property with nowhere to go on a Friday night. We were not provided with an apology or explanation and it was left to us to fix. Further, we have been here since December. Initially on our check sheet for any issues with the property, we stated that the blinds in the second room were not installed. We were told this would be chased up as soon as possible. After several more weeks past we had an inspection in which I stated to the inspector the blinds have still not been installed in the second room. I was told this would be chased up with the owners. A few more weeks passed and I put in a form online through the Connels repairs website, to which i received an email saying this would be chased up immediately, but this once again was never followed up with me. Today I have made a phone call, once again to the real estate agent in maidstone about the blinds and have been told, once again, this would be chased up immediately. We have been living here for 4 months and still we have no blinds. Why is it so hard to fix what is supposedly their responsibility to fix, I can only report it so many times. the issue is still progressing till now that I'm writing this.

Vinska · 18 April 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

So firstly,one of the staff had laughed…

So firstly,one of the staff had laughed saying it would be a miracle if i passed referencing. I explained my situation with having 2 step children who live with me part time aswell as my own child,which i was told was okay,as was asking for stuff to be removed from the property. When discussing with the landlord,he had been told i wanted everything and that i was a complete liar! Diagusting behaviour,it has led to the landlord pulling out and us now having nowhere to live. Im now worried im not going to get my holding deposit or zero deposit back.

Tiegan · 22 September 2024