Bennett Jones Reviews 

Everybody I spoke to from Bennett Jones was incredibly friendly professional and helpful. The process was easy and they made it as simple as possible as complicated as the whole thing appears to be. I would recommend them if anybody is struggling.

Very Helpful Would Recommend To Anyone In The Same Position As Me

***unresponsive***
I had my IVA with another company and it was all going well. Unfortunately Bennett Jones took over this company and since then I have had problems. My IVA ended 8 months ago, yet I am still waiting for it to be completed. I have emailed and they have failed to reply which has now left me uncertain as to what’s going on and how to get it resolved. They are not backed by the financial ombudsman as I contacted them for help but they weren’t able to. I am now stuck and can’t move forward with my life.

Avoid do not reply to emails cant get though to talk to anyone due to the office closing at 5 i work 8 till 5 i need to talk to someone asap very unprofessional service

At the beginning of mine and my husbands IVA everything seemed perfect, as some would say too good to be true which has turned out to be the case, we was given our payment plan for the 5 years which we agreed to. Shortly after the IVA started a certain debt wasn’t cancelled and they continued to take the payment from my universal credit to which I made Bennett jones aware off and they agreed a payment break which I have an email of stating that the payment breaks would be added to the end of the Iva upon completion as AREARS!! To now be told after 5 years in and only one more month left of payments that no they haven’t been added as arrears and they have extended my Iva by a further whole year of higher payments that i cannot afford and they simple don’t care, I had a job offer to start work next month which I have now have to decline because I will not be able to afford childcare for my son as well as pay higher amounts for another year to Bennet jones. I have a written email stating that the payment breaks would be added as arrears and not as an extension to my Iva which should be finished as of next month. AVOID THIS COMPANY

They absolutely saved my life. That’s the bottom line. My mental health was on a downwards spiral with my debt and this company really supported me.

At first, Very quick to get me on board.
When it came to reveiw time, very quick to increase what i owe and would not listen at all to me explaining anything, would not decrease the extra they added. Very defencive and quick to suggest that there was nothing i can do. Any contact was not listed on the file and keep getting contact over the same things. Dreadful. Only interested in what they can gain. Even when you lose your income.

***Do not use this company *** profit over people. I entered an IVA with these clowns but they didn't invite the majority vote holders to a creditors meeting. The creditors have now rejected the IVA and I'm now left with more debt because of arrears than I originally started with. Absolutely true and I will verify this if needs be.

This company really took the weight of debt off my shoulders, 6 years after taking out an IVA I am finally debt free, the 6 years taught me to live within my means, would highly recommend this for anyone with debt they cannot manage

Bennett Jones have always supported me though the hard time and was always there to help me. I received my completion letter today but got a courtesy call off Ralph to wish me well, you could hear the excitement in his voice that my letter arrived and that he genuinely cared.

5 and a half year ago I made the first step into trying to find a solution to my problems, I found Bennett jones online and the next day a man called Ralf called me. I was nervous and if I’m
Honest embarrassed, he listened to me cry, However he didn’t judge me, he spoke with me and listened and told me they could help. And they certainly did! Every person I had ever spoke with on the phone shown me respect and kindness. When ever I had to email them within a couple of days they always got back to me, even helped me with a payment break once when I was struggling with the family being poorly and loss of earnings made paying the bills harder that month. The people that called to complete expenses and things were always so kind explaining the importance of not leaving yourself short even when I said but I want to pay back as much as I could, they again reassured me that we still needed to have “just in case money” whether we wanted a little holiday or we needed new clothes a hair cut anything. In my head we wasn’t allowed that “spare money” as I wanted every penny to go back into paying off my debts, but they shown me that we still needed these things and that was okay! Fast forward 5 years and I am debt free and when I got my email to say it’s all finalised I called them back up and I spoke with Ralf again and again he was just as kind and caring as he was back in August 2020! Thank you Ralf I honestly think without you being on the other end of the phone back then I may have not go ahead with it all, I may have left thinking no way it must be a scam or something! But you was so reassuring and I really appreciate your kindness!

Be VERY careful when you deal with BJ, on the one hand they're very friendly and chatty with you when you're looking for financial stability, it's very calming and reassuring.

However the reality of being several years in, and some of the finer points to note should be taken into account:
* firstly the friendliness is removed once you move from the initial stages into the agreement. It's very apparent that they're working for the CREDITORS first and foremost, you are now locked in and are purely there to maximise the returns to the creditors.
My account has moved between at least two bodies, both of which have no interest in you as a person, so my extrapolation from this is that your stability and situation is secondary to you paying as much as possible, irrespective of your life. You aren't here for your own stability, you're here for BJ to ensure the creditors get the biggest return.

*secondly, when your yearly finance update comes, this is BJ's time to squeeze every last penny from you, so don't expect to be able to save any money, I was told explicitly by BJ that the agreement is not there for you, but for the creditors. So if you think you'll be getting back into a more stable situation, be VERY careful about your yearly review. do too well and any extra you have will be soaked up by an arbitrary decision made behind your back, in which you have next to no say in. Which makes saving money for home repairs, or car repairs very difficult. You'll scrape by however they decide.

*communication, which starts off warm and friendly quickly changes post agreement. You'll get moody agents, a lack of responses and until it's time for your pockets to be squeezed, you'll get next to no after care.

*these agreements are handcuffs on your finances, your home if you own one and your ability to even replace your car with finance, BJ have to agree to any deal and how much they allow you to spend on a replacement car.

*its not unusual to have over 50% increases in monthly payments, challenge this and the robot on the other end will simply sneer 'it's not 50% it's based on your available money' well two things can be true. So if you're paying £200 a month now, this time next year they could just decide you have to pay £400 a month. And they couldn't care less what it costs you, because in the yearly financial details, it'll show you that the percentage you'll pay back over the course of the agreement will go up, but the length of the agreement won't change. So even if you're paying double what you were, you won't be taking any time off the agreement, you'll just be paying more for longer.

*had I known this prior to going with BJ, I would absolutely have never started the agreement with them. You are the asset of the creditors, first and foremost. It's next to impossible to interact with a real human being once you do. Shop around and look for reviews not from the start but further in, because once they have you, you're locked in with nowhere to go, and with nobody who cares.

*in summary, they'll pull you in with warm and friendly sales staff, then once you're handcuffed to BJ, only time will get you out. It's not far from a prison sentence for your finances, you'll pay what you're told. Shop around, and look for reviews from people over 12 months in, because it's easy to sell you their services, but the REAL BJ comes out post your first finance review after your first year. £200 a month now, could easily become £400 a month in a year.

Bennet jones helped me to resolve all my debts, I have just completed a five year payment plan that suited my income, I would highly recommend this company for any debt repayment , they are understanding and work with you, if your struggling with repayments they also work with you

Quick to sort your Iva but anything you need after that they are appalling. They tell you to put everything in an email but take weeks to reply! Putting your life on hold unnecessarily when they could just ring you or put you through to someone who knows the answer. I’ve been calling them everyday for 5 days to send me an important document to be told next day, three days. Today is the third day and still nothing .

I was going to leave an amazing review until recent events made me feel disappointed and let down so i will explain.

Yes I am happy to say that BJ have been brilliant in helping me to clear my debt and I want to give a shout out to Ralf who was the first person i dealt with and now the last person thank you.

He was very helpful did not judge or make me feel ashamed (i was doing that already) instead helped me. His view was that i was taking responsibility for my debts and quiet right I was. I got in this mess and wanted to sort it out.

BJ only got in touch once a year for updates on expenditure which was okay.

I have been very fortunate to be able to complete my plan 3 months early thanks to a pension claim or 'windfall' as it was put down as and have paid me debt 100% with no write off needed. It is a fantastic feeling knowing it is all done.

So why the disappointment you ask?

When i was notified by the FSCS of my claim it blew my mind but the whole payment was been made direct to BJ okay I expected it.
The company who got me the claim contacted me the first working day after I was told and we chatted and they explained what will happen next and there fee which they have always been open about so all was okay.
3 weeks pass and I never heard anything from BJ not even to confirm they had received this pay-out from the FSCS. in the end I had to call them and this is where I spoke to Ralf again.
Ralf as he was on my first ever call was very helpful and even delighted for me. He emailed his accounts dept and as it was last Friday he said it would be Monday 6th before he could up date me again as it was to late in the day and also the weekend which was fine.
I was shocked he called me back before they closed and wanted to give me amazing news confirming he had been told I was getting money back £4883. You can imagine my delight and I dared to celebrate but then an email came though from the accounts team. My first thought was it was a confirmation of my pay-out and yes it was a confirmation, they had made a mistake and told Ralf the incorrect figure and I was only entitled to £59.34.
This came at 4.17 so i had no way of getting in touch to discuss this and find out why.
They had literally snatched the rug from under my feet slamming me dawn on the floor with a pinch for good measure I could not believe what had just happened. There was not even a break down or explanation for this.

Ralf was shocked on Monday and was put in a difficult position because accounts rushed. At no point did they ever get in touch to say they had received payment and what would happen next. They were discourteous and unprofessional throughout and all I got was a half hearted email apology and a full break down of where the money had gone and there has been no communication since. There comment was 'although this changes nothing we apologies'
Yes I am debt free now but to be treated with such discourtesy is disgraceful. Yes they want to help you pay off your debts but five years on I was made to feel disregarded and no longer worthy of there time.
They got what they wanted and more and even tried to blame the claim company for taking the most money my claim which was not correct.

My advise is yes always make sure you declare you have a 'windfall' payment but be prepared to get no communication from them to discuss the next step and there fees say £3600 fixed but nope more like over £5000. I felt let down and dumped and I hope no one else ever has to feel thus way.

Accepting help with debt is such a hard pill to swallow but is the right thing to do and I stand by that and you may even be as lucky as I was to have someone like Ralf who is understanding and supportive. I had no clue 5yrs ago i was going to get a windfall and for it to be so close to my completion so read everything twice and ask about early settlement fees as it is not clear on the agreement.

To you Ralf I thank you whole heartedly and wish you all the best.

To the accounts team I hope you show more respect to others in the future and talk to your clients as they are the same as you but going through a difficult time your email response time is also shocking. If people were able to stay out of debt you would be out of a job.

Honestly helped me get my life back on track I would not be in the place I am today without there help anyone who is struggling with debt do something about it the weight lifted from my shoulders is unbelievable and Bennett jones were fantastic if I could give more stars I would

What a fantastic company, very understanding and great communications from them , would highly recommend them for anyone wanting to get help and write off debt,
New start new beginning,

The company helped me out, explained everything and were really good at answering questions or worries. Really helpful staff.
IVA was for 5 years and at times I thought it wouldn’t end but worth it in the end and taught me a valuable lesson.

So I'm amending review due to latest experiences.

UPDATE: my dealings with BJ have improved lately. I actually couldn't stand them last year, due to a couple of people I seemed to always have to deal with. I rated them 2 stars, as two people at BJ caused me so much stress. I've upped one star, as the people have been much nicer lately (no names on email anymore...).

If you are in my situation where you work full-time (I'm a professional worker on Ok wages), but I still get Universal credit (I'm a single parent but rent is expensive, and life is expensive so I get supplemented).

If you get wages and UC, it's not as clear cut. As any increase in wages will result in less UC, which will result in a headache! Probably more an IVA flaw, than BJ. But something to be aware of.

I recommend seeing if you can get a fixed IVA. Or deal with one person so things get sorted really quickly, as will save you months of back and forth, and adding additional stress.

Really quick to sign you up for an Iva however customer service afterwards is abysmal. Rang them 4 weeks ago with an enquiry was told to email it to them it took them 3 weeks to respond to the email asking me for more information which was sent within 5 minutes. It’s now been a week and I am still waiting a further response