Barnard Marcus Dorking reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

No idea whatsoever

I used the letting service in Clapham for seven years. I bitterly regret not changing in the first year. 1) The property management section was useless. There was no relationship with plumbers/electricians/other contractors. Only one quote was ever given unless I objected. If the same job had to be redone a few months later the same contractor would be used with no question of querying the quality of the first job. The property manager changed regularly - I communicated with 11 in the course of 7 years. Three months after they took over the flat they recommended replacing a 'broken' blind (it had got stuck) and changing two of the mattresses. The woman I spoke to had no idea that the flat was a new build with new furniture and fittings or even what condition it was in. 'Replace it' was always the answer. We had several leaks in the flat but no one ever telephoned or texted - an email would be sent with the message, 'How would you like us to proceed?' Urgency was an alien concept.When we finally took over the flat it was a mess, with several outstanding jobs to be done including the repair of the balcony doors, which had been an issue for over two years. It was sorted in two weeks. If there was a problem over a bank holiday weekend or Christmas there was never anyone to deal with it. Finally, the agency was unable to do an effective handover of the utilities when the tenants moved out. There were no meter readings and it took repeated emails to find out the names of the suppliers. They were uninterested in ensuring I got all four sets of keys back from the tenants. I gave up chasing them and changed the locks.2) The actual letting service was efficient in that we rarely had more than a few days between tenants but the information was dire. We were never advised what costs would be incurred. We had to fight for a rebate where we had been charged wrongly. Letting conversations hinged round how quickly they could do a deal which often meant they advised a reduction in rent which we didn't always agree with. We ended up securing less rent than other landlords in the same block who also had no problem with voids. One woman in the lettings office said she recommended a low rent because then the flat would be let before Christmas which was good for us and she would get a bonus.I've let a house and a flat with other companies and these are the worst agents I have ever encountered.

Lynda · 5 November 2020

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Arif at Barnard Marcus Dorking has changed my opinion of estate agents, unlike others he is very informative, engaging and efficient, We felt like he was on our side throughout the process. We viewed the property 4 times before we moved in but he never made us feel like we were being a pain. There were some snagging issues that we were worried about at the new build property but Arif got sorted straight away. Great service thank you.PositiveResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

Daniel · 23 October 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid selling with them AT ALL COST

Avoid selling with them AT ALL COST. Totally incompetent and borderline dishonest.

Louis · 14 September 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

holding deposit taken before offer submission, property stayed advertised, deposit retained

The agent told us we had to pay a holding deposit before they would even submit our offer. We paid to proceed, yet the property was never taken off the market and continued to be advertised on Rightmove/Zoopla throughout (dated screenshots available).

Aquila · 17 January 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Don't trust anyone from Barnard Marcus

Don't trust anyone from Barnard Marcus. What they say to you will be very different to the reality. They blamed the tenant (to the landlord concerned) for not giving access to the property for sales viewings; when the reality was their inability to find prospective buyers. They would ring the tenant again and again asking to view the property in 2 hours knowing that was usually unacceptable to most people. And when the tenant said come tomorrow and not in 2 hours, Barnard Marcus said no as there weren't any prospective buyers at all. Do not trust Barnard Marcus.

Fiona · 16 November 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Chloe and Barnard Marcus

Chloe was incredibly responsive to texts and emails, staying in touch and tending to details throughout my rental process. She made what can be a difficult process much easier. Would highly recommend her services.

Angela · 17 October 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely Awful individuals

Absolutely Awful individuals. No communication re protocol re moving out no checkout/leaving report received. Nearly a month has passed and no word re the reimbursement of my deposit. Head office are absolutely useless Poppy A in Head Office is useless no response to emails. I’ve had to raise a complaint via the Tenancy Deposit Scheme to get my deposit back.

Hannah · 29 March 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolutely Unprofessional

Absolutely Unprofessional! Would never recommend.We pulled out of a property due to it having mould, they offered to get some of it taken care of but not all. The property was not in good condition. Fire place broken, lights and curtains broken. No handover to inform us of any of this. Gave us keys before do an inventory check. We gave the keys right back after seeing the mould. Had already paid 5 weeks deposit and 1 months rent in full. Its been nearly 4 weeks without a refund. They have not responded to emails and never contact us, we have to call the office every time. Contacted TDS and was informed to get legal advise. The sad part is most of this could have been processed or received better by means of communication.The Agent was Nana AkotoI woulds advise not to use him or the branch in Elephant & Castle area

Tyla · 26 September 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

They don't do their work unless it's an…

They don't do their work unless it's an emergency!!!

Adrienn · 10 September 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I don't even know where to begin this…

I don't even know where to begin this is the worst agency i never seen in my life. The lady called mouna that works in Finchley branch showed use a house in 8 Darcy close N20 we put an offer and the landlord accepted the offer. after 1 months of waiting for them to do the reference we received a call from somebody else in the office telling us the landlord have given the house to his brother which is the lie and mouna she did not have the audacity to tell us what is going on but she sent her colleague to do her dirty work. I now contact another agency that's is advertising the same property and the agency gave me the landlord number. I called the landlord and the landlord told me the same agency Bernard Marcus found somebody for the asking price. What makes me angry is this particular agency took our deposit wasted our time for one month and end of the day they didn't give us a chance to know whether we want to increase our offer or not. Please people don't deal with this agency called BERNARD MARCUS because it's going to be a waste of time. Lucky for us we found a honest guy his name is David that works for SQUARE ESTATES very professional once the landlord accepts our offer everything went fine within one week our reference came out and now we have moved into the property without any problem thank you David for everything. Please people if you want to rent a place contact David he works for SQUARE ESTATES in Finchley.

Tochukwu · 5 February 2019

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Appalling! Avoid their customer service is shocking! Avoid especially Ben Almon who should be in the circus instead!

My experience has been appalling. This could be because of Ben Albon who’s not fit for the job. I regret doing any type of business with this agency. He should find alternative employment as the circus is where he belongs. I hope they release me from my contract. I can’t stand how he operates. I always keep my business relationships but I can’t stand this unprofessional man child. Any professional will let me out of my contract if a customer is unhappy but this Napoleon figure is keeping me tied in. I hope someone senior steps in as he is not fit for purpose. He has no customer service skills and I believe is actually working against me during the process.

Sulai · 16 October 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Google

Excellent service from the team at Barnard Marcus in Dorking. Advertising, viewings and contact with us, potential buyers and even next door neighbours and the cleaner were faultless.

Martin · 1 July 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

The Turnham Green branch was completely…

The Turnham Green branch was completely awful - avoid. Our buyers' experience with them was so poor that they told us multiple times they were on the verge of pulling out of the sale altogether, causing us a lot of stress. Appointments were forgotten about, leaving our buyers waiting around wondering if anyone would turn up. They were given incorrect information about the lease and ground rent.Barnard Marcus also took advantage of the fact we were first time sellers. They promised us a refund on 50% of our Purplebricks fees, but when it came to the refund being paid out, they pointed us to some small print that was carefully hidden during the sales process and refused to honour their promise.

A.C.A · 18 July 2018

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Unprofessional and expensive

I rented a place with them in 2017 and was first happy with the service the agent provided when looking for flats. There were several things I did not like at the beginning, e.g. they promised a professionally cleaned flat (which was not the case - there were cat hairs everywhere from the previous tenant).Worst of all: I think their fees are too high: £210 tenancy agreement, £120 reference charge and inventory check £180 - thats a total of over £500 - for what exactly?If I had extended my rental contract, they would have charged another £150 contract extension fee - for re-printing the contract.I would avoid them by all means!

Nancy · 8 May 2018

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

What a truly horrendous site to use

The website for this company is just terrible to and try and get any information from, a lot of the things such a legal packs for auctions seem hidden (I had to email to ask for a link to find it). Then you had to make yet another online account to access the pack but once that was made the site just kept saying all the login details were incorrect despite me making the account less that 30 seconds and all long in and confirmation emails coming through to my email fine. Suffocate to say I have moved on from this property and will not be looking at anything else by this provider.

Jonathon · 1 October 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Fantastic Service from Demi at Chiswick branch

Demi at the Chiswick office was enthusiastic, obliging and went out of her way to get this deal done. This was a probate sale and there were various "hiccups" along the way. Demi chased outside contractors, liaised between parties, negotiated and pushed the deal to a successful and early completion. And all with a cheerful smile and boundless energy. Thank you Demi so much!

Rachel · 18 July 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Archana has been really amazing

Archana has been really amazing, she has been really proactive in searching for properties for me. Very reliable and patient. I feel very lucky to have her as my agent as I will continue my property search with her help. Thank you :)

Suria · 15 March 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Priscilla Mohanarajah, Mortgage Advisor.

Priscilla from Barnard Marcus has been a real angel. She was amazing during the process of finding the right mortgage. Her professionalism and friendly approach have made a real difference, to secure the best deal. But she didn't stop there. She supported and helped us even after she did her part. It's a rare thing to find someone who is highly professional and has empathy as well. Thank you Priscilla.

Roberto · 17 June 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible service.

Terrible service. Lied about my buyer being a first time buyer, he was in fact selling his own property and I accepted a lower price on the basis that it should’ve been a quick sale but 5 months later I don’t have a completion date and my buyer’s buyer threatening to pull out. The conveyancer they recommended (Taylor Rose) are shockingly bad. Slow, do not chase or keep you in the loop at all and either Barnard Marcus or the conveyancer they recommended breached GDPR legislation by passing my email address on to my buyer without my permission. Update: I have now completed and not heard from Barnard Marcus at all since exchanging contracts 2 weeks ago. I ended up contacting the buyer directly on completion day and handing over the keys myself!

Lola · 6 September 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Part 1: Avoid if you're looking for a rental through Barnard Marcus, everything is made into a huge faff and staff are rude.

I locked myself out in slippers, no phone, no payment method. Had to use my neighbours phone to ring BM. Spoke to a rude agent who said they wouldn't be able to give my key without ID. How am I meant to have ID when I'm locked out.You ask for many documents during reference that can be used to verify identity. Even my name is enough, how would I know what name to make up to match your system if I wasn't the tenant?Staff refused to bring the key over despite it being a 4 minute ride, I don't believe for a second no one had a car to use.Luckily my neighbour drove me to the office.The whole ordeal was so unnecessarily tedious & no one could even fake empathy - a reoccurring trend with all maintenance & SECURITY issues.You're not doing me a favour by giving me the spare key you're doing the service that you're paid to provideI've paid 27k to date to live in this cesspit, the least you can do is help & not make it such an inconvenience & have attitude.I don't ever message about small maintenance, every issue raised has been a big deal & you always air my emails & ghost me. You say people are coming for appointments and no one shows and no one contacts. The only thing I have reported in the last 18 months has been: - A sewage leak in the garden, flooded the whole garden and biohazard waste was not properly removed. My personal items were used and contaminated - brooms and mops were used and left behind, no substitutes given. Which I then had to dispose of.- Someone tried to BREAK IN to my garden and kicked a massive hole in my door and busted the lock. I'm a single woman living alone, not only was that a scary experience to happen on its own but it was exasperated by BM not taking it seriously. I had to repeatedly call the phone line to beg someone to be called out to lock my property & protect my belongings.- The garden fence is precariously balanced on crumbling brickwork. Every time there was strong wind it would fall lower and lower until it collapsed. didn't use the garden for the whole time I lived there as it was such a crappy environment to be in, biohazard pun intended.The fence issue was reported by the neighbours on the other side, I reported it, it was left for months until the other neighbours had enough and came to my door to complain and ask for the landlords number directly. It put me in an awkward position with the neighbours as they thought I wasn't reporting it/ didn't care.Eventually the fence completely collapsed and only then was someone booked.This wasn't the end of the saga.BM sent a random company round who had no idea what they were there for, they knocked on my door and said they were here to fix a LEAK in my ROOF??? that was leaking into the neighbours. No issue existed. I had to refuse this contractor coming back when they had the correct information, what sort of trust does that build with a client when you need to come into their personal space. Finally the fence was repaired and painted but again my objects were defaced and my items were used as a paint pot and left to dry on the side.- I've lived for the last 18 months unable to take my bike out and use the street door because when it was finally boarded, the whole wall build and repair was deemed too expensive to work on. My bike does not fit through the hallway so I've had to leave it there and not have an experience I enjoy for my whole tenancy.The last few weeks I have had to harass BM until they came to unboard the red door so that I can remove all of my belongings, sofa, bookcase through the garden which is the route it came in. The days got closer and closer to the van date which I've booked a deposit for & left me in so much stress thinking I wouldn't be able to get my furniture out.On top of all of this terrible service and unnecessary stress - the property is grossly overvalued for its condition. In colder months all the heat is sucked out of the poorly insulated kitchen (which connects to the garden). It means I have to pump the heating out year round, even in June!I could no longer afford the astronomical council tax which is somehow in the highest bracket for the borough, as well as bills and the insane rent of £1,550.I had to take 4 jobs and work nights to keep paying to live at this place, when I fell behind on rent (you'd think there would be some empathy-right?)Wrong - I got called &text by Anton who was so unbelievably rude, I had to block him. Going off about how I could possibly be late on rent, when it was gonna be fixed, why didn't I tell /him/, their last tenant had this issue. I took appropriate steps & had a payment plan with FINANCE at the time. I do not appreciate the way he spoke to me and made me feel worse about a situation that was already making me feel sick. This is not appropriate pressure to apply to someone in a bad financial situation under enough stress. Surely an estate agent would have awareness of the cost of living crisis

Cleo · 28 August 2024

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Barnard Marcus Hammersmith Auctions

I never dealt with Barnard Marcus Hammersmith Auctions. I then find out that they have illegally advertised my property online without my consent. I spoke to the manager over the phone, but He denied responsibility. Now I am going to take the matter with Ombudsman and legally. Very unprofessional and lack of trasparency.

Sabry · 13 August 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

DON'T USE THEM!They misled me and continued to show…

They misled me and continued to show the property without telling me if I needed to offer more. They will sell only if you take the loan from them and use their solicitors etc. DO NOT TRUST THEM AT ALL! this agency should be banned -

Souzana · 22 October 2025

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unlawful Actions Resulting in Financial Loss

The worst experience I have ever had with a letting agent. A case for small claims court but the entire experience has been so exhausting I just want to close the chapter and be done with it.

Tina · 9 January 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Atrocious service took 13 days to be fixed

13 days of a continuous leakage into my rental property causing my tenants unnecessary distress.

GILLIAN · 19 June 2026