John Francis Reviews 84

Avoid renting with JF. It’s not a local firm anymore.

Countrywide Lettings who now own John Francis are a bunch of cowboys.

We fought for 3 years against a no fault eviction. The owner of the house ended up having to spend thousands putting things right as house was unfit for human habitation .

We moved out last month and are now fighting to get our bond back. CWL are refusing to engage and have asked for our permission to let them have the bond!

They are trying to claim for damage that was already in the property that we can evidence.

There was also a rodent infestation for the last 6 weeks of our tenancy that they failed to act upon until the last week by which time we had found alternate accommodation. This rendered the property as unfit for human habitation again.

If you’re thinking of renting with them- DONT

Very poor communication and a delayed refund

We left the property more than a month ago and are still waiting for our refund. Soon after leaving, we were asked to pay a £600 termination fee, but we have not received clear communication or a proper explanation about the remaining amount owed to us.

I have made several calls and sent multiple emails, but the response has been extremely poor. This has caused unnecessary stress and inconvenience. Tenants should not have to chase repeatedly for money that is owed to them.

I am very disappointed with the way this has been handled and would not recommend John Francis based on my experience.

We were buyers not sellers and completed the move very quickly. Rachel was our contact person and proved very professional,cheerful and knowledgable. She was contactable and kept us informed of progress at all times. We found all the staff at Pontardawe dealt with our pestering with patience and politeness! Thanks all.

We marketed our house for the required ten weeks with John Francis Killay as they were selling two bungalows we were seriously interested in. The initial contact was with Grace who was excellent, the photographer/measurer came out and made a complete balls up of it requiring me to re-measure the house myself. We had several viewings with Daisy who was also excellent at her job. Unfortunately things went downhill from there, first the phones were down for a week meaning that potential viewers had no way of arranging an appointment. Two weeks ago we had two viewings booked on consecutive days, we came from holiday early to ensure the house was presentable before going out. Nobody turned up.(Ring doorbell) The following day, nobody turned up . There was no phone call or e mail to advise us of this. I called the office where Josh advised me that the first viewer had cancelled and that the second viewing was cancelled due to the staff member going sick. He re booked the second viewing for the following Friday and assured me that these people had their house on the market. Just after coming off the phone another message was sent to me with a booking for the following Tuesday. I called the office the following day to ask who the person was. During this conversation with Amy who was helpful I mentioned the Friday couple and was told that they hadn’t had their house valued, let alone marketed it. I didn’t want people viewing who couldn’t even bother to value their own home and asked that they be cancelled. That left the Tuesday viewing , a first time buyer coming from Kent apparently so once again we sorted the house and garden and went out. Nobody turned up. I phoned the office twice that afternoon and left a voicemail asking for feedback. No reply received. 8th April I attended the office to get my key back and take the house off their books to move to an independent. I think my attendance was expected as an immediate apology was given by the lady in the office as soon as I introduced myself. I asked what had happened to the Kent viewer but no information regarding her was on the system. Read into that what you will but I am of the opinion that this was a phantom viewing added to keep us on their books.

We put our house on the market around 3 months ago with a local branch and had a few viewings in the first couple of weeks. Recently had 3 viewings booked in but nobody turned up and we weren’t informed, so we think they were phantom viewings for whatever reason. Really inconvenient after all the cleaning/ tidying involved. They do not communicate, would definitely not recommend.

Had a valuation from Mags Whitehouse of John Francis Estate agents, lovely woman, polite & very helpful. I would definitely recommend her & the estate agents.

I’m disgusted 🤢
Drive 80 miles to pick up keys from Ammanford office . 5 pm arrival . Office closed . But told in til 5:30 . Contacted aberystwyth office . Who said the estate agency would get the keys . We waited til 7pm . And no one showed up .

They have totally ruined my experience buying my new home . But return to sender and God sees ALL .

John Francis in Gorseinon are absolutely fantastic. Staff go above and beyond to look after you . I have used this company several times and every time they have been fantastic . 10/10 for customer care and service . Would highly recommend them . First class team !

Communication is a problem with this letting company. Their telephone is always on answerphone. Leave a message to no avail. They need more staff who know what is going on and who can answer the phone re. both tenants and landlord queries.

Just purchased a bungalow and from the first viewing with Kimberly and the second viewing with Aimee the service these two ladies provided was outstanding.
Above and beyond from start to finish.
All my questions answered helpfully and quickly.
I highly recommend these ladies to anyone.
100%

Absolutely disgraceful estate agents. Made me travel 4hours for a viewing after I placed an offer I ly to tell me on the day there were other offers. They had 2 weeks to Inform me. Got there to others also viewing the property when I was told this viewing was just to confirm my offer. Absolutely time wasters and just push for viewings to have bidding wars! Not the first time this has happened.

I have worked with all of the john francis office for nearly 20years not all is as it seems with a few of these reviews ,one wer the decking was rotten, I actually worked on ,I attended and told jf most of the decking was rotten and a lot of the sub base was as well ,to be told by the llandlord I only want the bear minum, ie only change what is rotten not anything else ,so that us what was done ,I attended many times with tenants issues, full gutters ,windows blown ,etc to be told llandlord will not have it done ,she also new of the dogs as was requested when tenancy started ,im not saying jonh francis are the best they make mistakes as do all ,but there is always another side

The John Francis team -Richard and Stephanie in particular - did a fantastic job of getting a difficult sale over the line. It took about 18 months, and throughout that time they worked hard to advertise it; organised many viewings; liaised expertly with potential buyers. They were proactive, responsive and kept us update every step of the way. Would highly recommend them

Not an exiting experience, poor customer communication, I dontmknow what they are smoking .

John francis swansea letting agency, countrywide and the lanlord wrongfully accusation for already paid rent in reference to contract terms "THEREAFTER" and have provided them proof of bank payment but still ignored and denied , they keep twisting their email wordingsand crearing more confussions which make them sound insane.

Gave proof of bank payment for already paid 3 months which was emailed to the agency John Francise Swanea but was ignored and claiming rent is in areas.

All payments were made in full prior to moving in and onward till now.

I dont understand why all the persistant phone calls and their contradictions email harrasment, threat of References, threat of eviction e.t.c, when the proof has been provided to them that we up to date with payment.

I have never dealt with such rental contract term that was signed and agreed on contract terms wording "THEREAFTER"
• This means rent is due after the rental period has passed and that what we are sticking on by.

Instead they are asking rent be paid " IN ADVANCE" of each month but that is not what the wording in the contract terms.

These two word are completly different
"IN ADVANCE" VS "THEREAFTER"
Ambiguous wording like “thereafter” can lead to misunderstandings.

And the funny part is that they are not accepting their error of contract terms and dont want to change it, no appologies, very rude, ignorant, unproffessional, keep repeating themselves like robot reading from script.

If they want us to pay rent IN ADVANCE that not an issue, we have asked them to correct the contract terms wording from THEREAFTER to IN ADVANCE so we can resign the contract and then next payment will be paid IN ADVANCE but this people dont want to do it.

After our contract end, no more renting , with all the other issues of contract breached we experienced with persistant next door barking dog, Landlord not fulfiling his part has not fixed the rotten door, was previously using our home address for his letter delivery, left his personal itmes in our backyard, sending uninvited surveyor who claim to check for damp, leakage , cracks , which turns to be another lie but just to spy on us. , we will be buying our own flat, enough of this nonses.

John Francis Llanelli

Recently sold our house through John Francis and although it’s a stressful process, Natasha and the team were always on hand to help speed things up. The getting on the market process was a dream with Aled being ever so helpful and the photographer Robert was great. Throughout the sale the ladies contacted the related sales and really helped us get to the end. If we sell our new home eventually, (not yet), we will most definitely be using the team again, we couldn’t recommend them enough.

Me and my husband was relocating from Milford have Pembrokeshire to Ryde isle of wight. We used John Francis to deal with our move and the sale of our house. We were signed to Emily who went above and beyond and helped us to achieve a sale . The sale went through. Very quickly . Emily was 100% good with her job very polite and helpful along with her colleagues. We have been moved 8 weeks today Sandra and Patrick smith

Llanelli branch visited my property on 19 May to provide a valuation for sale.
They said they wanted to go away and think about it. 5 months on, I’ve chased them up several times but never had any further contact.

On a number of occasions, I have contacted the rental department of John Francis (Narberth) via their website - they have ignored my communications. Due to a medical problem (deafness) I am unable to use the telephone - does anyone who has left a review of this Company have an email address for them?

Very poor experience with John francis and a team of people in different local offices who can't find out who was responsible for not turning up to value my property.
Took a day's holiday as I work in West Wales 1hr 30 minutes drive away and they couldn't come on the 2 days I work from home hence the holiday.
They never turned up even after a phone call an email and a txt 2hrs before the valuation should take place. There answer when I phoned 1 hr after the no show was sorry I will find out where they are 30 minutes later I had to phone again passed to another office who said they would find out and would phone back, 30 minutes later I phoned again another person who said exactly the same thing . That was Friday 1st August today Thirsday 7th August i decided to phone again after being cut off then passed onto 3 different people all I got was sorry someone cancelled the appointment but there's nothing there to say who it was who cancelled.
People's livelihoods mean nothing to this company unfortunately

Just sold my house in Loughor through the Gorseinon Branch. I was kept informed throughout the process by friendly and informative staff. They were all great but I have to single out Aimee and in particular Michelle who helped me get over the line with a smile. Would most certainly recommend them and if I do ever sell again they will be the only company I consider.