Connells Torquay reviews in Torbay

★★★★★ 1/5

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Underhand, inefficient and rude. They give estate agents a bad name

Connells made buying a house extremely difficult. They refused to accept our offer unless we used their mortgage services which they charged at £600 and did not offer the best rates on the market at the time. Trying to discuss this with them was impossible, one member of staff became very rude and hostile towards us. We were lied to and told the seller was ready to move and had found a place when she had not. The whole experience dampened our interest in the property so we ended up withdrawing our offer.

Mr · 23 May 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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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

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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

Useless

Useless, waiting hours to get in cntact with the vengeaful lettings agency that have opened accounts into our names with utility companies and council to pay tax for the period we HAVEN"T LIVED THERE, we have left the property and Connells knows but still Connells have sent emails to these guis to tax us? WHY?

Florin · 19 May 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

No problems when i was in the property

No problems when i was in the property. But once I gave my leave date it went down hill. Connells requested to shorten my contract so that they could let the property as soon as. I agreed as that would work better for me. I was promised that because I had paid a full month's rent, I would get half of that money back as my contract was ending two weeks earlier. On the paper correspondence, it was stated that if there were any significant problems when it would take up to 3 months. From the report, there were no significant problems.Literally 5 days later, the property was let for the agreed date. I handed my keys in and was told that my deposit and half of the rent would be with me after 5 days. I gave it two weeks and followed it up by e mail. I had the report through and it was good except for a couple of areas in the out building which had a leak and became mouldy. The landlord and letting agent knew about this it had been reported numerous times. Yet, nothing was done. I understood therefore that some of my deposit would be used to pay to clean this. Fair enough, shouldn't cost too much. So I gave it another 2 weeks and gave them another prompt for a timeframe. Yet again, another 5 days. 7 days later and no correspondence, I asked yet again where my money was. Luckily only had to wait another 2 days. But i didn't get my full deposit with which I kind of expected and no sign of the rest of the rent. So I gave up. Absolutely useless company and I will not be using them again.

Kath · 25 April 2017

★★★★★ 2/5

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My husband and I rented out our house

My husband and I rented out our house, and moved abroad. Connells were hired to manage the letting, which worked very well until:1. No one explained to us that being abroad we would have to pay tax at source on our rental income. This is the law, but no explanation.2. My husband died 8 months ago. Only now, after so many phone calls and emails, I have lost count, have they finally moved the account into my sole name.3. Every time there was an issue with their accounts department, i.e. a change had to be made, the rent just stopped coming, even though the tenant had paid. This usually tool up to 3 weeks to resolve, and the first time took a solicitors letter.4. My branch manager is polite and helpful, when I can get hold of her, but has never returned a call. I am a patient person, but finally, I decided to make an official complaint. Turns out they have a complaints department.5. The general attitude is: No empathy, no apology, no acknowledgement that a bereaved person might not actually want continual emails, and letters to their deceased husband.6. They do not have a process for dealing with the tax that has been paid to HMRC, so when my husband died, they continued to send his portion of the tax, despite my boring numerous requests. This is still ongoing after 8 months.7. The lease came to an end. What now? No contact from them, and no rent paid either. I had to initiate the call to consider renewing the lease, and have now changed my mind.8. The annual statement showing income and expenditure, does not show the tax paid, by either me or my husband. When asked why. was told, I can figure it out myself from the monthly statements!!!!! Not forgetting that they charge £66.00 x 2 for 2 useless bits of paper.9. They have no idea what to do in event of a death. I mean they are a huge company, and apparently no process. First send a death certificate. Then send a solicitors letter. Then 6 months later, oh we need probate. Basically they have no idea, just say whatever someone else in the office says.10. I am now going after them for the refund of all the management fees since my husband died. This is around £1113.60, and I am not afraid to take them to the small claims court.

Moira · 20 April 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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Avoid Connells Property surveyors!

Connells Property surveyors Did a home buyers survey which has proved to be completely inaccurate - the house has structural problems, failed double glazing, leaking conservatory roof with rotten wood on the door frames and windows - giving evidence that it has leaked for some years. We are looking at £30,000 minimum to put right what the surveyor who was either drunk or blind missed.Complained to them and they fobbed me off with an offer of £1000?!! Now taken it to their Ombudsman for full investigation Complete cowboys! Terrible customer service AVOID THIS COMPANY

Rosa · 3 April 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

★★★★★ 1/5

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Liars and scammers

I've had such a bad experience with them trying to buy a home. Put an offer which had been accepted - as a First Time Buyer they are trying to blackmail us to use their mortgage broker rather then look around. If we don't use theirs then we will not get the house/ won't be in our favor as the seller are all using Connells broker and solicitors. Really poor customer service and do not trust them with buying or selling my house. they give people a bad experience and lie to make you increase your original offer.

K · 13 March 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Its all gone wrong for Connells Letting

I used to speak highly of Connells letting department, but unfortunately this is no more since they've moved all the property management to a call centre in the Wirral. They are a waste of time and don't seem to have the experience, to deal with any thing that is out of the ordinary. I have threatened to terminate my contract with them, they are so reactive, they actually send you a email telling you how to do it, instead of trying to calm the situation down and get problems sorted.My advice find a letting agent, with their property management locally, who can know the area and may have even seen your property. ( I have had a couple of times, where the call centre staff talked about a flat when I own a house that I rent)

Pip · 8 March 2017

★★★★★ 1/5

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What a waste of time!

What a waste of time! The branch manger (Giuseppe Varano) valued our house and did his sales pitch etc. and then we began negotiating rates. We eventually settled on a rate which was 0.3% lower than their original rate. Another week went by with me considering other agents. I decided to go with Connells and asked him to send me the contract. I then got a phone call from the Giuseppe saying that they could not offer the rate they promised and it has to be the original percentage offered on day one. He said he doesn't have the authority (even as branch manager) to offer rates below the 1% they originally stated. So the couple of weeks negotiating was a complete waste of time. If he doesn't have the authority offer different rates then why did he waste my time. I'm really glad this happened at this stage as it shows how trustworthy they are and how unprofessional they are.

James · 26 January 2017

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Fantastic Estate agents

First time i have rented a property through Connells Estate agent, and was the best choice I made! The staff have been fantastic keeping me up to date with the process of my application form, was so patient with it all, and answered all questions every time i called them (was a lot)And even now I'm in my lovely new home they are still always happy to help. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to private rent 😊

Steph · 17 November 2016

★★★★★ 5/5

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First time buyer with wolverhampton branch

As we are first time buyer Connells Wton couldnt have made our experience any easier. From calling and arranging viewings with Tish, To going through the buying process with Amo/Jackie. We cant thank you all enough for your hard work in helping us to get the house we wanted. The professionalism was brilliant, always keeping us posted with any update and doing the chasing for us. Its been a weight lifted knowing now we've got our first home all thanks to the fab team at Connells. Will recommend 100%..... Thanks you.

Amy · 20 October 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Failed to sell house then when other agent sold it demanded over 12K 3 years later

We instructed Connells to sell our property in late 2012 after moving from another agent. The were utterly useless, they promised to accompany all viewing but ended up by use doing most viewings, sending people round when no body in. When we went away for a few days requested no viewings they sent people round again. After the 8 week contract period was up we could wait to get rid of them. I phoned and wrote to them informing them we were terminating the agreement. We moved to another agent who sold the property within weeks. We didn't hear from Connells again or have any more viewings from them but three years later they demanded £12840.00 as an unpaid fee for a house they didn't sell!!!!! This is still ongoing.Update two months of grief with them taking them to the Ombudsmen and they finally admitted their mistake and offered £75 compensation!!!!!!!!

Tim · 4 October 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

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DO NOT USE - DO NOT CARE & BREACH GOVERMENT RULES

This is there worst experience I have ever had in terms of a letting agency. Branch don't care as pass buck to property management company who also don't care. They said here's your landlords number and deal with it. Thankfully we had a nice landlord but who knows why he would pay them a fee. Despite repeated warnings about breaching government code for return of deposit - we still have not had it even though we had full agreement. Court action here we come - I think the other comments speak for themselves and sincerely hope management change their ways but unlikely.

Helen · 26 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid like the plague

Use another agent you will regret it if you do notAs a landlord we persistently pestered Connells who were managing our properties to get maintenance issues done etc as quickly as possible,some jobs really took forever when instruction had been given early We have now moved this property to another Agent and in the process of removing other property as maintenance is only one issue of a really really poor service givenCommunicate is absolutely appalling I have got to give a star rating but it should be zero rated

Richard · 22 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Failed to sell house then when other agent sold it demanded over 10K 2 years later

Tim - we have had a similar experience. After terminating agreement in 2014 due to poor service we went to another agent who sold the house in 2015.We have just received a bill for professional services?? for around £10,500. Is this happening to other ex Connells clients. Perhaps the Property Ombudsman should get involved? UPDATE: after having sent an email giving information of sale etc. and informing them that we would be consulting the Property Ombudsman they have emailed an apology and retracted the request for payment.

Vanessa · 7 September 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Giving estate agents a bad name

The initial sales experience was very positive, but that ended once we were signed. After that, they never returned or calls, they would not deal with interested prospects of our property outside of the chain they were dealing with. Very non-proactive, very rude when we could get hold of them. Never provided feedback post open day so we had no idea of the level of interest; only had one prospect presented to us which I can assume was also a Connells prospect in their chain.I would NOT recommended this estate agent. When I raised my concerns they acted as though they were not delivering a service, and as long as they found a buyer for our house why should it be a problem. The epitome of bad service, as, it IS a service they are delivering. And until they can get their heads around that fact, they will never stand out above the smaller estate agents that actually give a s**t. DO NOT USE.

Michael · 11 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

aviod at all costs

First impressions on this company were great. Friendly staff & very informative. Once we found a property we liked negotiations started. The estate agent wanted this done over the phone.. cut a long story short we offered just a little over our budget with the promise of the house being taken off the market and future viewings cancelled. Once the offer was accepted i emailed to find out if the viewings had been cancelled and i got no reply for 5 days! We phoned the agent and he assured us things were ok even gave us some advice on a solicitor. 45 minutes later he phoned and said 'no easy way to tell you but you've been out bid, im so sorry, it came from someone who saw the house before you, it was from another branch i didn't even know the viewing took place they have offered 5k more than you so lets just get all the final figures together and put final offers on the table' I was devastated and angry as on the phone 5 days before he led me to believe that the house was ours! We had been gazumped! He knew that we was already pushing our budget and he was trying to squeeze more out of us! I emailed and explained that 5k was too much and our final offer would be the one we previously agreed on and do you know what.. i didn't even receive an email back! nothing! Disgusting customer service! I do not believe the offer came from a buyer who saw the house previous to us. I do believe that the viewings went ahead on that saturday and the offer came from there! Greedy Liars. They lead you to believe lies. Im glad that the sale didn't go through though actually as i can only imagine the hassle we would of had with them! We have now found another house & offered with another estate agent and once our offer was accepted the house has been taken off the market like they promised. See not that hard is it connells...

Belle · 4 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Disgraceful and dishonest service

We was going to buy a house with these chimps. Certainly would never buy or sell with them again. They didn't pass on correct information. Also lied to us on occasion and when I pulled them up about contradicting what they said they could only apologise. Their misconduct is one of the reasons we lost the house in the end and 3.5 k out of pocket due to them allowing gazumping. I received an email apologising for what happened because she couldn't sleep at night knowing that we did nothing wrong. (Guilt talking there) they are not very professional either. They promised to take the house off the market but then changed their mind. As the sale was going through our anxieties were high because it was still for sale on the open market. They promised no one would view it and they wouldn't accept any offers however they did do both! Not very happy with this company at all :(

Nicola · 3 August 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Incompetent

Not a single action taken by Connells has been successful in my 18 months of letting a property with them. First of all we lost the property due to them forgetting to pass on our application to the landlord, we were subsequently then offered the property as they had failed to conduct proper referencing on the successful Tennant. Minor maintenance issues went unresolved due to staff simply taking the call and forgetting about any actions. Staff are frequently rude and threaten to gain access to the property without permission due to tenants not being available for house inspections at 24 hours notice due to them forgetting to arrange with the tenants. Upon renewing the property contract, we paid the fee only to find Connells had failed to action our request, as a result of this we were left out of pocket and without a contract, Connells then failed to pass our rental amounts onto the Landlord for a period of months due to there being no contract. Upon the property being sold off by the Landlord, Connells failed to show up to any house viewings leaving it up to myself to completely manage the requirements for the house sale independently. Once the house was sold and we were required to vacate, Connells failed to process our end of tenancy request leaving us again receiving correspondence saying we were in rental arrears despite clearing a previously agreed amount as agreed with both Connells and the Landlord. I have not had a single successful interaction with Connells & in future will actively avoid either renting a property or purchasing a property via Connells due to their total incompetence & inability to perform even the simplest of tasks.

J · 29 July 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

overall poor service

I sold my property with the Kent branch, I would avoid this company at all costs, they recommend I except an offer under the asking price as the customer was a cash buyer. We agreed to this as we was moving 300 miles away and had a property all lined up. The buyer was not a cash buyer and they strung us along for months before finally admitting the purchaser was waiting on a Morgage. When ever you phone they fob you off, I was so sick of this one day I went to the branch and called them whilst standing outside, I asked to speak with my agent and was told he was out of the office for the rest of the day, although I could see him though the window sitting at his desk. We have now moved but the whole experience was stressful from start to finish and the £3k fee charged was not worth the service we received, this company just does not care about the customer.

Ashleys · 16 July 2016

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Letting service is incredibly poor

I have just let with connells - poor service, lack of guidance, keys didnt work, and they told us we had to sort this our ourselves. Whenever I have walked into their branch (considering there are at least 8 people that work in that branch) no one jumps out of their seat to offer assistance, and I have been made to feel like a nuisance. When signing the contract, we sat in silence and a stressful experience was made to feel even worse. I would avoid using them again in the future if I could and would never recommend them. Future landlords, beware how they are treating your tenants.

EB · 24 June 2016

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

We had an appointment with an agent to…

We had an appointment with an agent to value my father's house. He is going into a care home and we have to sell to pay the fees. We waited and waited and no one turned up. No apology or communication even though I've contacted them. Leave well alone there's better in the area so use them. Unproffessional

Peekycat · 25 January 2023