“Doncaster office where do I start, sold my house with Northwood highly recommend. buying with william h brown . AFTER SALES appalling Sarah speaks in patronising tone when you get frustrated they recommend a solicitor that never replies to our's, and usual answer will chase it up today in a tone of voice that says if I have to, really liason . Get the feeling they don't care if I cancel sale as long as they don't have to do anything”
“Around one year ago, we were interested in a house and the seller A accepted our offer.
Then after over half a year, almost all the procedures went through, the seller's solicitor stopped replying to our solicitor but reassured that they're sorting the last enquiry out.
After one month, the estate agent contacted us that the seller declined to sell the house and the staff from the estate agent apologised quite sincerely. Someone senior from the estate agent gave some information of a similar property around the same area to us.
We both found this house quite met our expectation so we expressed our interest and the house seller B accepted our offer within one week.
As this house B is a no chain house, we expected the procedures can go through more quickly than last time. However, the enquiries have taken more than four months and there is still two outstanding enquiries. We did try to ask what the last two enquiries were but not getting any response.
William H Brown is a liar as the house B suddenly becomes a chained property during the conveyancing process.”
“They’re awful at following up issues and terrible at communication. They never let you know about the progress if you have issue. I’ve been waiting for my dishwasher and washing machine issues to resolved for 1.5 months, literally no any feedback, not a single return to my calls. They don’t check their e-mails, never check the voicemails you left. I’ve never seen such a professional team that much unprofessional. Please don’t collaborate with them whilst letting or selling your property. This estate agency needs to be closed forever!”
“Valuation by Jack, brilliant, promised me the world on a plate! Predicted 6-8 week sale time! I’d not to worry about losing the house I wanted by not having sold mine yet, “negotiation is their job, they will get me the house!!”
Valued at £150 G, they can get me £160, no problem!!
Sign right here!
First Issue:
Sequence (WHB solicitors) contacted us wanting our I.Ds immediately & £150.
I politely replied that we have our own solicitor thank you.
Turns out WHB had instructed them to represent us & they started hounding us by phone & email for payment!
Many people would be pushed into a corner here & think they don’t have a choice but unfortunately for them, I’m Not many people!!
I told them that as already said, we have our own solicitor & since WHB had instructed them without our permission, they could take it up with them!”
First introduction from the office staff, is Sam! Sam has worked for this company for 20 odd years, (she will constantly, inform you of that!) Sam thinks it’s her right, as a long standing employee of this company, to talk to you like sh**, speak down to you as though you’re thick, make a lot of sighing noices down the phone as though your a difficult child & make all your decisions for you!
Firstly Sam informed me, in our very first conversation, that an offer had been made on our house but…
“We” are not accepting it!
“We” are wanting a first time buyer!!
It was asking price & I expressly told her “we” as in me & my husband & NOT “we” as in me, my husband & her” would be accepting it, she then started to patronise me by telling me “You don’t understand the business of selling & buying property, there’s more to it than making & accepting offers!!”
She said “Just because their nice people who view your house, you don’t have to sell to them!!”
After telling her not to patronise me, she further went on to, refuse to put an offer in on my behalf, on the property I wanted to buy & single handedly dismantled every promise Jack had made by telling me “I” had misunderstood him, Jack would “never” promise such things as securing my intended purchase, & a 6-8 week time frame just to get me signed up with the company!! (From that point, Jack no longer answers the phone to us & I later find out Sam is Jacks mummy!)
Next, is my buyers, we exchanged numbers at the viewing (which I don’t recommend!) ringing me up, upset, husband hollering in the background because my estate agent has made his wife cry! (Twice this happened!)
My buyers own complaints of WHB namely Sam and Danika, ranged from, being talked to like sh**, talked down to, hounded with phone calls on all numbers provided, threatened that they would put the house (my house) back on the market if paperwork wasn’t returned that day!
Threatening that if the office was to be inspected, & documentation they required from my buyer wasn’t present, my buyers would be in trouble with the authorities!!
My buyers begged me to take my business elsewhere so they didn’t have to deal with WHB any further.
I refused & my buyers pulled out!!!
My buyers mortgage advisor even referred to them as William H Clowns!
They said at the time, “after our experience with WHB, I now no longer want to buy a property! I’ve never know people so awful & an experience so stressful & upsetting!”
I’m obviously upset now as well & I ring WHB to ask what the hells going on.
I get Lily on the phone, she gives me a big speech about how professional WHB are, during this speech she called me Natalie 3 times! My name is Sarra!
It took 6 days to get another buyer! A minuscule amount of time but a nightmare. I finally cottoned on that the viewings WHB booked for us & provided the names & back story of the viewers, they turned up!
The viewings WHB booked & only provided a name, & told me (I don’t know their situation, someone else took the call!!) These we’re the No Shows! Or as I believe, the fake viewings made up by WHB to fake interest in the property after loosing me my buyer!
Day 6 after pull out, I rang WHB & got Danika, I told her I was considering changing estate agents or packing in the whole thing!
Half hour later, Danika rings me, we’ve got an offer!! 15 G below asking but the buyer has sold, signed, completed his property, staying with family so, no chain!!
Remember that!!
We accepted, as we didn’t want to lose our house purchase & no chain means quick sale!!!
SO WRONG!!
Week 12 I’m on the phone again to WHB, what’s going on etc Why’s this taking so long.
Sam tells me she doesn’t know, she’s just had my buyers ex wife on the phone asking the same thing, she’s eager to finalise as well. It’s my buyers, buyers that are holding things up!!!
SO LETS STOP A MINUTE!!
Remember when I accepted the offer???
“buyer has sold, signed, completed on his property, and is staying with family” ???
At this point Sam has just dropped them all init!
Sam tells me Danika never said that!!! I asked her if she was saying I’d made it up??? She said I just think your mistaken.
I asked to speak to Danika, she’s unavailable!!!!
I ring again the next day, I get Lily again. I say hi it’s Sarra from (address), I’m wanting an update please.
Lily says “oh wow has this not gone through yet, I’m sick of speaking to you” (really professional and believe me the feeling was mutual!)
She gives me Denise’s mobile number, apparently Denise is the sales Progressor/Finaliser, she hurry’s things along!
It’s easier to tell you what Denise doesn’t do,
Denise doesn’t return phone calls! Denise never get your name right!
Denise is her own exact words “is a messenger and doesn’t know what I want from her”
Denise tells you your solicitor is lying to you (he loved that when I told him by the way!)
Denise dodges you for 48 hours then rings you up and says “is that sarra at (address),the buyer wants to come round asap and change the locks on the garage door”
I’m like, no I don’t think so, he can change whatever locks he wants after completion not before.
Apparently “it’s because the door is broken and the current lock is no longer manufactured!”
I tell her that’s not true at all, and I don’t know what she’s on about?”
“Oh god sorry, I’ve got wrong seller, I ment to ring someone else!” [she laughs] She confirmed my name and address at the beginning of the call!!
(At this point I’m not seeing the humour & again, so professional!!)
For the last week, week 13 I was on the phone everyday pushing them. Constantly been told “we are waiting for 1 signature to complete, concerning your buyers, buyer!”
(You know the one that had already completed 13 weeks ago!)
Eventually moving day came and it was a total nightmare, everyone sat around waiting literally all day for my buyers, buyers solicitor! (Again the one who had already completed according to WHB 13 weeks ago!)
4:30pm Sam rings me up and says that the office will be closed by the time we’ve emptied our house (as though I’m the one holding everything up!!) she asks if I’m ok with handing my keys over directly to my buyer, she can give me his phone number and I can call him when I’m ready to leave. I didn’t see an issue so I said yes! She gave me the wrong number for him!!
So it’s 7:30pm at night, I’m trawling through Facebook trying to find my buyer, trying to remember what my buyer looks like, panicking that we are going to be served with a breach of contract summons for not getting the keys to him on completion date!
Eventually he rings me, which was a blessing.
I also left a message for WHB that night, saying I had the wrong number for him, can you help?
They never called back to see if we’d sorted it!”
“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.”
“I just want to take this opportunity to thank Fabio who helped me and my family to find our perfect home,he was welcoming from day one till to the end.we are truly grateful”
“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.”
“Courtney at Fakenham has been exceptional in her professionalism and help. Nothing has been too much trouble and when she says she will do something, she does. Very refreshing to come across someone with such enthusiasm about the job they do. Coutney should go far.”
“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!”
“The staff at Yeadon branch were very helpful. We found them friendly and approachable and they kept us informed all the way through the process. Thank you Charlotte and team.”
“Bury St Edmunds
To: Jamie Phillips
I would like to thank you very much for all the help you provided in the completion of sale.
Your diligence and willingness to go beyond your call of duty in liaising between the owner and myself the buyer at all hours, has meant that the sale was concluded much earlier than it could have been.
I wish you all the best to you and your family.”
“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”
