Target Group Reviews 268

There should be a zero star rating. The way they function is shocking! I have been waiting for my redemption statement for about 5 months now. I wait in queues for about 1 hour min and then they simply apologise and say there is nothing they can do about it because homes England are reviewing the cladding issue. I have had to do my second evaluation and I am close to doing my third because of their ridiculous unexplainable delays. They have also said their useless £250 administration fee is only valid for 8 months. They are literal criminals and there is nothing that can be done about it.

Life destroying service. Target have missed any SLA they originally set. We’ve spent 12 hours on the phone trying receive updates. They changed the requirements of our redemption part way through the process, even though they knew the information would always be required. Our sale is due to fall through at the end of this week as a result of their delay.

We are powerless. We’ve never received a call back or email response despite requesting and begging for help. We’ve called 15 times telling them it’s urgent and providing them with all the deadlines we need to meet in order for the sale to go through. You never speak to anyone with responsibility or accountability. We are powerless, don’t know what to do.

I was quite worried about obtaining my redemption statement after reading the reviews online however I had a good experience. I emailed Target with my RICS valuation, Form B and proof of payment for the £200 admin fee on Wednesday 12th November. Target emailed me the following day to say they had received my documents and they were being processed. Also to advise it would take 5-7 working days to receive at statement. I called them today as i was getting impatient and was worried about any delays. I called the number and waited on hold for about 10 minutes to get through to an advisor. The lady I spoke was very helpful and was able to email me the redemption certificate whilst I was on the phone. All in all a very good service.

Should be “0” star due to their negligence. 21 months of trying to remortgage and still not completed due to their shocking service. Breaching their own 4-6 week deadline. Asking for copies of documents sent months ago.
Never get a call back or response to your emails. Never spoke to someone who sounds like they know what they’re doing. Absolute joke, wilful incompetence

Appalling service. Nobody answers a phone! How long is it acceptable to keep someone waiting? Do they have one telephone line?
I see everyone else is in the same boat. What an awful company!

The waiting time was 25 minutes which was better than I thought after reading about other people's reviews. The call handler was polite and helpful reassuring me the letter to proceed would be delivered withing 48 hrs. The letter arrived within 48 hrs communication was clear. Excellent service.

Have always been met with a 60+ minute wait time when I call target, and every response email is so slow. When trying to pay off loans (that are time-sensitive due to house valuations), this is stress that you just DON'T need. Can't even bear to think how other people, who are less persistent or tech-savvy are treated.

I've had to call up twice to request and then get our redemption letter. 1.5h in the queue both times. Not great. But my requests were handled very well and a big thanks to Gareth for that.

For anyone wondering, it took 5 days for the redemption letter to be done.

Unfortunately I have had a similar experience to pretty much everyone on here. House dropped by more than 10% which meant we went through 8 months of immeasurable stress to complete. We must've spent over 100 hours on the phone, constantly getting different information depending on who we spoke to. The nightmare is now over for us and I wish everyone going through it all the best - persistence and determiniaton is the only way unfortunately.

Trying to repay the equity loan was probably the most stressful 6 months of my life. I have never seen anything like it.
It went something like this:

1) 10/06/21 It started off ok- I was repaying using my own money, rather than remortgaging, but they wanted proof of how I accrued the money. The obvious answer of saving clearly didn't cross their minds, so I sent off a bank statement. Fair enough.
2) 15/06/21 They then said they had to send it off for special review as the value had dropped by more than 10%. Again fair enough.
3) 09/07/21 Didn't hear back from them for a month. I rang them to be told that I had sent the wrong valuation (Desktop not a full valuation). This was wrong, and when they checked at my request, they realised that it was in fact, the right valuation. Why they didn't contact me or check is beyond me. A month of the 3 month deadline wasted.
4) 09/07/21 Rang them back a few days later. Was told I need to get an extension in by September (desktop valuation for another 3 months) as it was unlikely that they would approve it before the deadline. Obviously I had to cover this cost which was irritating.
5) 27/08/21 Sent in the Desktop valuation.
6) 02/09/21 They contacted me wanting market commentary on the valuation, what was sent wasn't enough. They only realised this 3 months after receiving the original valuation?????
7) 06/09/21 Sent updated valuation with market commentary.
8) 09/09/21 They wanted a copy of my Mortgage redemption letter. Why they needed this is still a mystery.
9) 24/09/21 Sent redemption letter to them (delayed as had to be sent to me by post not email).
10) 29/09/21 I rang them to check all was ok, was anything else needed? Told no, redemption letter was fine, wont be long now until all sorted.
11) 04/10/21 They contacted me to say that they were now sending it off for review and they need market commentary. I rang to ask what was going on as they had received this months ago. Apparently the market commentary was not sufficient, they needed more info. Made a formal complaint.
12) 18/10/21 Sent the updated report to them (It was basically the same thing, just slightly reworded by the surveyors).
13) 19/10/21 Rang them to check all was ok with the report. Surprise surprise, it had to go off for a review. At this point I am wondering if the review team need a review team to review their work?? How many review teams are there??
14) 25/10/21 Rang for an update, none given.
15) 26/10/21 Rang for an update. Got annoyed and said I am not paying for yet another 3 month extension. They advised that they would not require a further 3 months as it had been sent off for review. Once the valuation was accepted, the 3 month deadline would start from there. Didn't believe this for a second so I asked them to send me that in writing. They did not do this.
16) 05/11/21 Rang for an update, no update given. Advised I would receive a letter in response to my complaint in the next few days. I said I was contacting the financial ombusman in order to make a complaint about their conduct and the excuses they were giving me.
17) 09/11/21 Clearly the threat worked as I was finally advised that my case had been approved
18) 15/12/21 Solicitors received final paperwork from Target and I was able to repay the loan.
19) 20/12/21 Received an outcome letter to the complaint I had made to Target. Was told that due to some subsection, paragraph blah blah that they were within their rights to take as long as necessary if the value decreases by more than 10%. I suppose the £25 bank transfer they sent me for the "inconvenience" was meant to be a nice gesture, however a slap in the face would have been less insulting. This doesn't even begin to cover the cost of the hair dye I now require to cover up the grey hair I started sprouting from the stress.

I seriously advise everyone to avoid this company like the plague. To say that they are cowboys is a compliment. The phrase "couldn't organise a p*ss up in a brewery" comes to mind here.
AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!

Do not ever go down. The help to buy route , every step is to get as much money from you as possible. They should be ashamed of themselves

Impossible to speak to anyone. 2-4 HOURS on hold only to speak to someone completely uninformed / unhelpful. Target are not fit for purpose. Shameful that our government gives contracts to these companies to provide a service and they do the bare minimum to maximise their profit.

Their delays regularly cost people thousands in mortgage interest due to slow processing of applications. In addition it wouldn't be the first time I've heard of people losing a house they are buying due to the chain getting impatient with Target related delays.

Considering how important a HTB mortgage is for so many people, Target should not be allowed to manage the process. I was looking to settle my HTB load with target and had so many issues with them on it. had to chase so many times to get a response. Solictor could not get any updates and the sale of our house nearly fell through as a result. Once closed, I then received a letter stating that we would still have to pay interest even though we had closed our account. Spent 5! (Yes that is 5) hours on the phone waiting to speak to someone. I was next in line for 2 of those hours. Eventually I had to give up! Absolute shambles!

Woeful, wholly inadequate, not fit for purpose. I'm a solicitor desperately trying to facilitate the removal of a charge from a property we formerly dealt with. That TARGET are unable to deal with a simple, standard matter is disgusting certainly given the effect it is having on the new owner. Target should be ashamed. No management, no decision making; pathetic. The senior management and those individuals in the 'Controls team' really ought to admit to clients and themselves they're the wrong people, in the wrong job at the wrong time.

Start call at 4pm with 4 customers on the que. 2hrs past than i was next on call. After another 1hr and 35mins later have to abandon call. From 4pm-7.35pm what company treats their customers like that. Pathetic!!.Obviously Target group has seen all this reviews as they have been included in this reviews and have done nothing about it. I wonder if the ombudsman office has taken any interest in the bad reviews about this company and pathetic service that they provide. Its a shame that the Govt is working with this kind of Private companies that does not care about the lively hoods of its customers but are only interested in lining their own pockets. Pathetic service.

I read so many negative comments here and can absolutely relate. I am trying to repay part of my Help to Buy loan and it seems that they couldn't make it more complicated! Speaking to someone on the phone is practically impossible, you need to take a whole day off for that. They answer to emails only when they want to, and haven't replied to the last 3 emails I sent (first one over 15 days ago!). They require a RICS survey that is at least 3 months old, well mine is about to expire due to delays that they are causing and I can see them coming back and telling me I will have to pay for a new one. They have no respect for the customers and couldn't care less if we are spending more money because of their failure to provide a decent service.

What a disgrace of a company. Had our admin fee since July 2022 and still haven't allocated it to our account 2 days before completion date of paying them back the equity loan. 2-3 hours on hold multiple complaints raised. Now getting multiple interest charges due to them dragging their heels and stopping us paying back the loan.

So far so good...?

So yes, the call waiting is long - but it's got significantly better, compared to some folks here. It took me about 45m to get through to a person, and they were really great. I paid my redemption fee of £200 over the phone and got an authorisation code, and the operator explained what would happen next.

I'm not thrilled about the timelines - none of this should take 7-10 working days in my opinion - but the experience has been smooth so far.

So far...

Never answers phone. Needed a Deed of postponement to remortgage. Got put on a 6% rate while waiting for them to get it back to me. 8 weeks still waiting.

Redemption of loan , long waiting time for calls