Connells Reviews 

I have never ever met a company that really does not care as much as this one

They give you the best sales speech wver

Just don’t go with them because they really don’t gove a feck,

Bit of a post it and pray experience.
1 viewer in 6 months.
No feedback.
Unprofessional.
Rude branch manager.
26 week contract, 28 days notice.
Select another agent

Very pushy branch manager! Dealt with Autumn in the Peterborough Cowgate branch. Autumn promised the earth when fishing for us to market our property for sale with Connells. Poor service thereon. AVOID

Extremely Disappointed – Poor Communication and Ongoing Issues

We had a very frustrating experience with the Connells Kettering branch. Over the past six months, communication has been consistently poor, with numerous emails and enquiries left unanswered. We were repeatedly given empty promises that someone would get back to me – but follow-up rarely, if ever, happened.

What’s even more disappointing is that, despite the tenancy ending, we are still having to chase them just to get my deposit back. The lack of responsiveness and accountability has made the whole process unnecessarily stressful.

I would not recommend this branch based on our experience. If you’re looking for clear communication and professional service, I suggest looking elsewhere.

I would leave ZERO stars if I could! Got told we got the property, asked if we wanted it furnished as the landlord didn’t really want to put furniture in storage we agreed and signed, next day the landlord raised the rent and a few hours later he raised it again! Get told another offer had been put in and told we haven’t got the house! Communication was disgraceful, never answered the calls! Was messed around several times! We were treated unfairly!! Will never use these again!!! Do not recommend!

AWFUL COMPANY THAT JUST PESTER AND PESTER YOU. I TOLD THEM DIVE TIMES TO BE TAKEN OFF THEIR SYSTEM AND THEY IGNORE WHAT YOURE SAYING.
AVOID

Deserves no stars. This complaint is about Connells lettings Exeter. My daughter loaded up and moved into a flat in Exeter. Absolutely filthy and badly maintained. It was not fit for human habitation but she was committed and had to clean it then move in. The most basic of their responsibilities ignored. Must be in breach of contract. THEY HAVE NOT ANSWERED MY letter of complaint. In the hands of my solicitor now. I am suing. Avoid!

Avoid like the plague. We had no sales negotiator as they left the company and we were left in the hands of the most inexperienced of the team. We had to hand feed every enquiry and chase every email with a phone call. Don’t dare offer any of the team constructive criticism or you will be shut down and left without any updates/reassurance or peace of mind during your 6+ month sale process.

This complaint is from 2013 and about Connells estate agents at the Westbury-on-Trym branch.

I was 21 at the time and had an offer of £135,000 accepted. Shortly afterward, an agent called and asked me to increase my offer “just to be more secure,” despite no changes to the sale. She cited my mortgage in principle, saying I could go up to £160,000, and asked what more I could afford, she used wording to misled me into thinking the sale was at risk and I would lose the house. Feeling pressured and not wanting to lose the house, I increased my offer to £140,000, which was accepted with no further justification.

A week later, I received another call using the same tactics to try and push the price even higher. When I said I would ask my solicitor to speak to the seller directly, the agent quickly ended the call. It became clear I was misled and taken advantage of due to my inexperience. That unnecessary increase of £5,000 will now cost me £8,000 across the mortgage term.

I believe this behaviour was unethical.

If you want to destroy your peace of mind and damage your relationships, try selling your property through Connells — especially the Bushey branch.

Their service was unreliable, full of broken promises, and frankly, dishonest. After 14 months of stress, poor communication, and rude treatment, I can confidently say I would never do business with Connells again — not for a million years.

Was worried after reading reviews. house valued exactly what I thought and approved for my additional mortgage borrowing which helped me get out of a tough financial situation and life back on track. South west Scotland.

TLDR : Unprofessional, stay away to avoid waste your time and getting annoyed

We had issues with Connells Hinckley regarding the property we were going to buy.

We visited the property a few times as we had been encouraged by the solicitors to do so. On one occasion we were met there by a Connells Hinckley female member of staff who gave us the impression that we were a nuisance and straight away announced that she doesn't have much time and needs to leave asap.

On a different occasion solicitors advised us to arrange our own gas and electric checks for the property.

I checked online and saw that electric can take up to 4 hours so I rang Connells Hinckley and asked them to arrange for us to visit the house and told them what we're planning to do and how long we believe this would take (4 hours)

They said they will check and call us back. They did ring back with a date and time.

We eventually decided to only arrange a gas engineer to visit as we didn't want to wait so long for the electric.

On the day of the visit, the engineer rang to say he will be 30-45 mins late due to his previous job. We thought ah no worries as we had asked for 4 hours anyway and knew gas engineer only takes about 45 mins for his checks.

There we were met by the same rude female staff member of Connells Hinckley and when I said that the engineer was running about 45 mins late she rolled her eyes and looked at her watch and declared she can't stay more than 15 minutes.

We told her about our 4 hour meeting and she said it's impossible as their bookings are no longer than 30 minutes.

We explained the above a few times and she was only repeating that slots are maximum 30 minutes and then accused me of being rude after I told her to stop repeating that over and over. She also mentioned a few times that calls are recorded implying that I'm lying and they can prove it.

I asked to speak to a manager and after waiting for a bit I had a call from a Connells Hinckley manager. He asked me if I'm ok to which I replied I'm not because of the issue we were dealing with.

He then said "why is the engineer late?" to which I replied it doesn't matter as their female staff member said she only had 15 minutes anyway so even if the engineer was on time it wouldn't have mattered. 

This led to a confrontation between me and the manager in which he was shouting at me and wouldn't let me speak. I also had a raised voice I'll admit however as a conversation between me, a customer, and the manager of a company I would never expect for the manager to be shouting at me or talking over me.

In essence the manager asked me to leave the property as there was no point staying. He also mentioned a few times that calls are recorded implying the same thing as the female staff member that they can easily prove I'm lying.

We left and my wife raised a complaint with Connells only to have a reply that basically said that calls are not recorded and that they checked with Connells Hinckley staff and their slots are indeed only 30 mins. Again implying we made up the whole 4 hour thing. What reason would we have to do this? Why would I spend 2 days finding an engineer knowing that my slot is for only 30 mins? Do Connells think I was hoping to lie and bully their employees to stay longer and at the same time risk the £120 engineer fee? It makes no sense...

In conclusion stay away from Connells in any way shape or form.

Louis Williams has been supporting my partner and me during our new build journey, and he’s been incredibly helpful.

Connells Southville demanded unlawful fees and tried to pressure me out – avoid at all costs

I strongly advise any tenant to steer clear of Connells Southville. My experience with them has been nothing short of appalling. Their customer service was consistently poor – unresponsive, dismissive, and lacking in even basic courtesy. But more seriously, they ignored clear terms in the tenancy agreement and failed to meet their obligations under UK housing law.

Despite my contract clearly allowing for a tenant swap with a £50 admin fee, Connells insisted I pay a £414 “early surrender” charge — even though I wasn’t surrendering the tenancy, but replacing myself with a suitable tenant as per the agreement. Imagine being gaslit by someone who hasn’t read the contract THEY wrote, and being charged more than eight times the correct amount for it!

They repeatedly refused to explain the legal basis for this charge, ignored multiple written requests for clarification, and were, at times, openly rude and accusatory. The process dragged on for months due to their refusal to acknowledge the contract or the law.

Even more worrying, Connells appeared to actively advise the landlord to withhold consent unless I paid this fee — despite there being no legal or contractual justification for doing so. This included suggesting that the landlord could remove both tenants from the property as an “alternative” – an action which, had it been pursued, could have constituted a retaliatory or unlawful eviction under UK law. BOLD STRATEGY!

At no point did Connells admit they were wrong or apologise. Not even after I provided detailed evidence showing the fee they were demanding was likely in breach of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988. They only backed down after I made it clear I would take legal action and involve a tenants’ union. In my view, they were fully aware they were in the wrong — and simply banking on the fact that most tenants won’t know their rights or have the confidence to push back.

And to be clear — this wasn’t an isolated mistake by a junior staffer. I was dealing directly with the Lettings Manager of the Southville branch, which makes their behaviour even more concerning.

If you’re renting through Connells, double check everything. Know your rights. In my experience, they will delay, mislead, and pressure you if it means protecting their own financial interests. If you’re currently facing something similar, please seek support from a tenants’ rights organisation like Acorn, or get legal advice.

If you’re a landlord: please question the advice you’re being given. It may serve Connells’ interests, not yours — and it could put you at risk of breaching tenancy law.

Bottom line? Connells Southville come across as either deeply incompetent or knowingly manipulative. My experience is that they’re both.

Connells and their solicitors incorrectly calculated the VAT on the final statement of our house sale and had not deducted enough from the total. Despite the fault being solely at their door and with us having signed the final statement, Connells demanded the monies be paid instantly and threatened legal action if we did not pay promptly. We were confused as we had the signed final statement showing the amounts that had been deducted from the sale. Upon discussion with them and after more threats of legal action, I had offered to pay the monies back by instalment over a 6 monthly period so as to soften the financial burden caused by their own failings to which they commenced legal proceedings and tried to lodge a CCJ against us. After being strong armed into a situation, which we did not bring upon ourselves and not wanting a judgement filed on our records, I had no alternative but to pay the substantial amount. Complete refusal to acknowledge their own failings and combative when trying to reach a resolution - I would definitely stay clear of when buying or selling from them.

The selling experience wasn't much better as they frequently cancelled viewings without notice, failed to offer feedback, etc. I had emailed the branch's director asking to take our house off the market due to a general feeling that we were not receiving a great service during the 6 month period and then a buyer was found on the same day as I sent the email. From reading the reviews on here, there seems to be a culture within the group. We had reservations prior to the experience and wished we'd considered it more thoroughly. Writing this on here in the hopes that others might give it some thought too.

⚠️Avoid Connells Hinckley – unprofessional and disrespectful agents and management. If you value your time, money, and sanity, do not use their services.

I genuinely regret that I can't give them a lower rating – they truly deserve a zero.

We have had a consistently disappointing and frustrating experience with Connells Hinckley, from the very first viewing to our most recent complaint. Their customer service is far below standard – both at the agent and managerial levels.

Here’s a summary of what we experienced:

Poorly trained viewing agents: At every property viewing, we were sent agents who could not answer even the most basic questions about the property. Worse, they gave us incorrect information. For example, at the house we are trying to buy, the seller owns chickens. The agent told us the seller would be taking the chicken shed because "it's part of their home" – which was completely false. The seller had no such plans.

We offered to pay for the gas and electric inspections ourselves to speed up the process. We agreed on a specific date and time, made clear that the inspections would take a few hours, and Connells confirmed.

On the day, they sent an agent who refused to stay more than 30 minutes, was rude, and acted like we were inconveniencing her. We couldn't do the inspections as planned. Fortunately, the gas technician was late, so we avoided being charged – but we still wasted time and effort. The agent then lied, saying there had been no agreement.

My husband called the manager to raise this issue, and was shouted at, not listened to, and told the same excuse again and again.

When I asked whether our calls were recorded (since we were told they were), I was later informed there was “no recording available.” Instead of reviewing any actual evidence, they claimed they simply asked the staff and chose to believe them over us.

The same rude agent came to another viewing and again told us we only had 15 minutes, repeating the same dismissive behavior.

From the very start of working with Connells Hinckley, the experience has been awful – with disrespectful treatment, misinformation, lack of professionalism, and zero accountability. They are clearly not trained in customer service, and that applies to both their agents and their manager.

If you're considering buying or selling with them – think again.
You deserve better.

I only wish I could rate them lower than 1 star – they’ve truly earned a zero.

This refers to Connells letting Ipswich. We had to pay 6 months rent upfront then we finished our contract 3 months early by agreement with the landlord. But after confirming the LL had returned our 3 months rent money after 2 months they won't give it back and ignore our emails about it. So don't trust them.
update-we did finally get the money after a lot of work

A frustrating experience with Connells Luton – particularly with the sales team and Daniel.

As a serious cash buyer, I’ve found it nearly impossible to arrange viewings for properties they have listed. I was booked for a specific date and time, only to be called a couple of hours before and told the tenants weren’t available — something that should have been confirmed before scheduling. If tenant availability was uncertain, it would’ve been far more professional to say so up front. This has happened multiple times.

When I raised this issue, Daniel denied ever confirming the appointments and even accused me of lying — despite the fact that he had given me a specific dates and times to view the properties. Why offer a confirmed slot if you haven’t yet checked with the tenants? It just doesn’t make sense. This is just not doing the job properly.

Unfortunately, this aren’t isolated incident. A few months ago I tried to view another property, and booking was again a struggle. When I finally managed to visit to buy, another agent came during my viewing to show the property to renters — and Connells ended up renting it out instead of selling. They ghosted my offer for the asking price.

If you’re thinking of selling a property, I would strongly advise staying away from Connells. My experience as a buyer has been consistently disorganised and unprofessional.

Connells are one of the most unresponsive and ineffective agents ever encountered and it’s clear from other reviews!

From day 2, issues were raised and met with delays, false promises, and constant hand-offs. Over four months, multiple people including the CEO and Area Manager, the communication deteriorated from slow, to nothing at all — with no sense of urgency or accountability at any stage.

The situation had a direct impact on health, wellbeing, and personal safety, yet rent continued to be paid while seeking legal action against both Connells and the landlord. In the end, leaving the property early was the only option just to protect basic living standards.

For an agent likely charging the landlord around the standard 20% of the rent to “manage” the property, almost nothing was managed. No communication, No urgency. No help, No ownership, No shame, No apology.

Avoid completely — the moment the contract is signed, you’re on your own!

Unfortunately, I purchased a house through Connells. Andrew Topping, the branch manager in Headington, Oxford, was very dishonest throughout the process.

We were not told that the property had not had the Grant of Probate issued nor even applied for. We put in an offer on 13th October 2023 and subsequently paid for a survey, instructed a solicitor and paid to have the boiler serviced (22nd Jan). If we had known about the lack of Grant of Probate, it would have had an effect on our decision to make an offer. This is against the law.

After some considerable persistence when enquiring about the delay and having to contact the sellers' solicitors directly, I was informed it was eventually applied for on 30.1.24. This was more than 3 months after the offer was accepted.

Mr Topping persisted and lied to us in subsequent emails and numerous phone calls that he had told us this at the offer stage. He emailed at 23:45 on the same day, again insisting that he had told us, but admitting “Unfortunately this wasn’t confirmed in writing otherwise there would have been a paper trail”.

Mr. Topping also lied about a number of other details, including (but not limited to): the circumstances in which the previous sale fell through at £10k under what we offered. We have since discovered that the previous sale fell through due to the lack of probate being issued.

The lies affected us in many ways, causing undue stress, especially since my wife had to go back to Brazil as her father lay on his deathbed and was left wondering when she would be able to go/return without impeding the purchase.

We were aware of stresses involved in this process, but the lies and misconduct of Mr Topping only served to make matters much worse.