“This regards the Lincoln branch, who are the only branch we have had the misfortune of using. I do not know if this is a national issue or not.
We rented our property through them for almost 3 years.
Repairs reports went unchecked for weeks, in the end we had no hot water or heating and they were simply not bothered. They had "called a plumber" who directly told them it was an electrical fault that needed sorting first (after I had to speak to him directly and report EXACTLY what I had reported to WHB because they hadn't bothered to tell him anything).
The staff are incompetent, and if you have to deal with them then my biggest piece of advice would be to record the conversations you have over the phone ... my one regret is not doing this.
Our "property manager", Jess, ignored our emails and phone calls. Her boss, Denise, then took on our case and whilst being attentive once (the first time of talking to her), she then proceeded to do the same thing and ignored many many attempts to contact her.
The landlord decided to sell our property BEFORE WHB had asked us if we want to enter into another year rental with them. We agreed to the year, only to be then told that the landlord was selling. We then found another property to rent, and enquired as to whether we would be able to leave earlier than Feb when our agreement ended. Was told by Jess that this was ok by the landlord and that she would calculate the rent to the day we left so that we wouldn't be out of pocket. So we arranged to move.
Once moved I informed WHB we were out of the property and could we arrange the check out. Jess ignored my emails and phone calls. Eventually Denise very rudely told me via email that we would be liable for the rent until the end of the agreement. She denied Jess ever saying what she did. We, quite simply, would not have moved in a cost of living crisis if they hadn't given us the ok to do so.
So we are currently paying for a property that they are saying we have abandoned effectively. They have done the check out report, without consent or information being passed to us. We still haven't handed the keys back because they haven't asked us to!
I wish I had read the reviews about them before we rented through them. We will NEVER use them again.”
“AVOID these agents. The branch in Leeds is incompetent, lazy, rude and dishonest. They don't know what they are doing. They can't answer questions and they NEVER call you back. Zero customer service and a one star rating is too much. Don't waste your time with the Leeds branch.”
“The worse estate agent I have ever used.
Dealt with Jerome from the Barking branch and he lied and conned his way through the whole process, causing issues and more financial costs.
They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it but don’t care and are so rude and incompetent”
“How do I get a viewing on a property at Bradford branch. I spoke with a member of staff 5 days ago and was promised details of flat sent through email also to book a viewing I am limited to certain days. I called William h brown on Monday and spoke to the same member of staff ( he didn't say that he had spoken to me on the saturday) and again asked to book a viewing am still waiting for a reply. Absolutely diabolical service.”
“Absolutely shocking & non existent customer service from Norwich City office. No communication whatsoever and we had to keep emailing them and phoning them, even the area manage was full of excuses and really rude! They take zero resposibility for their faults! Our tenants also complained about the terrible service they experienced with them. I would strongly advise NOT to use William H Brown! They still holding money they owe us as well!”
“Unfortunately we have been put off purchasing at the moment due to not getting responses, being promised help and not receiving it, being sent to view places which we loved, only to receive no responses back and then losing out, it has just been heart breaking and awful. The worst part was having the auction team call us about a property they knew we loved, wasting their time and ours, only for the FA through WHB to just not reply to us. We are now going to a local IFA instead, and doubt we will ever return here. Completely put off the whole buying side because of the stress and upset caused, and it isn't just me, I know a couple other people also having the same issue. The Norwich branch is very very highly not recommended, unless you like a daily cry and to waste time.”
“What a joke.
W H Brown Spalding.
If you don't mind never getting calls returned, dealing with very unprofessional staff, paying money for a service they can't provide, this is the firm for you. But if you are a serious seller, do yourself a favour and go elsewhere. You will save a lot of time and frustration.”
“An absolute disgrace. We've been letting a property for the last 4 years and there lack of communication between branches is comical. Whenever a problem accrued we would always have to endure a slow process multiple calls from different branches to sort things out plus messages from the landlord to give her 2 pence worth. I'm a general builder I certainly know they made a mountain out of a mole hill everytime. 19/05/2022 I received a phone call asking to arrange a viewing I responded I don't know what your talking about I've not been made aware of any potential sale of the property by anyone and the male agent hung up on me this was the Halstead Essex branch. I rang back and asked what was going on and he said he must of been given the wrong number . What a bunch of lies turns out the whole process of selling the house was already in motion by the Halstead Essex branch not informing either myself or William h brown Sudbury branch who we let the property from what's going on. My partner and I feel so let down as its not easy to find the right accommodation to suit our lifestyles. We should of been made aware the moment the decision was made so we could make arrangements for ourselves now we've been left to sort everything out last minute. We will never be using william h brown for lettings purchases or sales in the future”
“I've been a "customer" of William H Brown now for almost 10 years. During which time I've purchased a house with them, attempted to sell one (unsuccessfully I would add) and remortgaged a couple of times.
However, my latest endeavour with them will be my last. Apparently when a company waives a "lifetime" fee in 2013 and makes no mention of this during transactions in 2015 and 2021, they reserve the right to charge it in 2022. In short, I guess times are tough and making a commission from the mortgage provider and an admin fee isn't enough?
So instead, despite our 10 year relationship clearly holding little worth (I'd have gone back to them in the future for remortgages and hopefully next year a house move), we will part ways and I'll have to consider it a lesson learnt.”
“2days, lots of calls, no response!
Had offer accepted on property then tried for 2 days to get hold of someone!
Eventually got a call after leaving an abrupt to the point message.
Then a call from the area manager, sorry to late!
Newmarket branch”
“Put a offer in on a property and was told the vendor was wanting more so put my biggest offer in I had to keep chasing them to find out if my offer had been accepted.Three days later after another call to them they said the vender had gone with a lower offer than mine as they showed that person around and liked them. But i was shown around by whbrown totally rubbish nobody takes a lower offer just lies dewsbury office”
“Worst estate agents I’ve ever dealt with. We unfortunately have tried to buy 2 houses through them.
The first ignored all emails with questions about the property. Whilst hounding to make an offer. When we did eventually make an offer, they lied repeatedly to try and upsell our offer, claiming fake offers, constantly moving the goal posts and changing the guide price.
The second, agreed a price to take off the market, then engineered the situation to put it on hold to allow time to be gazumped. This was all after supplying proof of funds, ID, and booking a surveyor.
We’ve also come across many sellers who tried William H Brown, and had to switch. All found happiness with alternative agents.
Completely unethical sharks. Would not recommend to either buyers or sellers”
“Even 1 star is too good for this disgraceful company! A couple of experiences with the Suffolk / Norfolk branches now & what an abysmal service. Twice I’ve tried to arrange a viewing on a property & no one bothers to phone back! The last time we dealt with them we put in an offer at asking price but they didn’t bother to inform the vendor as they inadvertently advised that it would go for more (& tried to get us in a bidding war with someone else!). Seems to be a bunch of unskilled egotistical idiots straight out of school trying to act like they’re in The Apprentice! Absolutely appalling company who should be struck off!!!”
“Lies, lies, lies.
Disgusting, sick excuses for human beings at the Barnsley office. They persistently refused to pass on our offer to a vendor for a half million pound house because we were selling ours through another agent.
Then lied to the vendor about us leaving an offer. Barnsley office, we are taking you to court.
Utter greedy bitter scumbags.”
“Let my flat out to them about 4 years ago. The first year or two they were very good with keeping me up to date with things such as annual boiler check and electrical check and informing me of any other repairs etc. Also did there regular spot checks every three months or so and reported back to myself on there findings. Earlier on they were great as I said earlier but things started to change even before covid 19. The regular checks literally stop to a point where I had to keep chasing them with what’s going on as I wasn’t directly involve with the tenants. It got to the point where the tenants got my number off my neighbour just to inform me that things there needed fixing and I wasn’t been made aware of from the agents even though they were telling them things needed doing which I don’t blame them for in that aspect. I felt that I had to get so involved in the running of the letting to the point where I said to them what was the point of paying you for full management of the place when I didn’t want the stress of it. This carried on for a number of months of me chasing the agents up on what’s going on with the place, leaving messages and NEVER get a call back from them regarding an issue. Even when it came up to eventually getting the tenants out by giving them three months notice and them not willing to leave William H brown were no help at all. It felt like they washed there hands of the situation and left it with my solicitors to deal with. I find there business as a whole was acted very unorganised with no help to me whatsoever and that I would NEVER use or recommend them for letting to anyone. It took exactly a whole year from August from the first initial letter of eviction to finally get the tenants out. Now with the tenants out this whole thing has costed me a lot of money and to even get the deposit back now is another issue. This is certainly a lesson learned and to be weary of estate agents such as William H brown by giving them full control of your property and given in to by there lies.”
