“I would like to give an extensive review for William H Brown.
Let me explain why:
I moved into a property in Yeadon 5/2/2024 under the impression that this was a new property, no one in it before me, and that everything (appliances etc) worked. This was sadly not the case. For context, I live by myself and I’m a 28 year old female.
I informed William H Brown on the day I moved in that the following didn’t work:
- fridge freezer
- washing machine
- bathroom heater
- dishwasher
- bedroom heater hanging off the wall
- Parking fines
WHB advised me since I was a tenant I could park on site (smart parking camera controlled) and I would not be charged. I gave my registration. After moving in I received the parking fine after fine after fine racking up to over £2000. I tell this to the developer and WHB who tell me they will sort this. 16/04/2024, this has still not been rectified and I am being chased by Debt Recovery Plus for over £2000 in fines.
I have email and written proof of all of this.
They told me that they’d fix these issues. 1 week later I email again to reiterate that I don’t have a working fridge/freezer and that my food was going bad. 2 weeks later this is still not fixed. I email again… they signpost me to a ‘developer’ of the building. I call these people and they have no idea of my address. I call back William H Brown and they say they will sort this for me.
1 week goes by I still have no working appliances and no one has contacted me. I call William H Brown again to fix the issues they said I have to call the developer as that’s my problem. I say ok, I call the developer they tell me someone will come out the day after.
I stay home from work waiting for a contractor to come and fix the flat. No one comes. *shock* I call the developer again they say we’ll get back to you. I call/email WHB to let them know what the outcome is. No reply from them.
Another 5 days goes by. Baring in mind this is almost 1 month of living in a flat where NOTHING works. A contractor comes to review the flat. He has a look, pokes around in the cupboards and tells me, “yes, you’re right. Nothing works. I’ll phone the developer and I’ll get back to you.”
I let you guess what happens next. No one calls, emails or comes back to fix the flat. I call the developer back and ask if someone is coming to fix the flat, all the while keeping in contact with several branch’s and different people from William H Brown. The developer tells me they will send someone out to fix the problem tomorrow.
No one comes.
I call them back and they say someone will come tomorrow. I wait in and no one comes. So I call again and they say someone will be with you today.
The second contractor turns up and says “yes, your right nothing works. There are no plug sockets for any of the appliances behind the cupboards so there is nowhere to get power from. I will have to attach your fridge to an extension across the kitchen (health and safety) for you to have power. I ask, “when will this be properly fixed?” He says he hasn’t a clue but will get back to me asap.
Long story short, this never was fixed. It went on like this for 3 months. Back and forth, back and forth with no avail. I ended up being prescribed Sertraline by the doctors and had a breakdown where I went missing for 4 days as I couldn’t handle the stress.
After challenging this I asked if I could be released from my contract to move out. They told me no. Then they told me yes, but I have to pay rent until someone else moves in, then they told me I didn’t have to pay rent and that I could be released then they changed there mind… tiring isn’t it?
this was a Pudsey branch, a headingley branch and a Wibsey branch.”
“The service that I received was shocking. Mandy Spence & Jo Fowler gave me the wrost experience ever, bullying, coercive, Intimidating behaviour that I've come up on. Mandy would be squealing down the phone, talking over me and extermal abrupt, who I complained about, then was given Jo - manager who then showed her ture self when I called them out for false advertising. Thier lazy, won't l provide documents such as gas service which your entitled to see.
This branch (bulwell Nottingham) will do anything to get higher commission. Falsely advertising properties stating that loft rooms are bedrooms when they cant provide building regulations paperwork. They will us all tactics to get a sale!!!. These people will lose you a sale demanding that you instruct your solicitor!!
BEWARE!!”
“They put an house up for sale on the 29th March(Easter Friday) they were closed until,the Tuesday and the property was not sold,I had visited the property to view externally on Easter Sunday so made an offer without internally viewing which I was happy about,I offered over the asking price,they said I needed to view so tried to arrange a viewing for the next day they then called up and said they have had another offer and the vendor has gone with that one,I was willing to go a lot higher but it looks like WH Brown staff have forced this other sale through for some reason,I will b3 reporting it to the trading standards for estate agents and the Ombudsman has I feel there are some dirty dealings going on with the Pontefract branch,this will be investigated and the truth exposed,if a potential buyer has offered more and was willing to go higher then how can the estate agent push through a sale especially after the house has been on the market a few days over the Easter period,WH Brown head office should be asking questions of their Pontefract branch staff,watch this space”
“Keen to sell you on a property but fail every step of customer service, avoid at all costs.
They are terrible, lying, horrible, selfish people that have no compassion for the situation they put you in.
Their assurances of a move in date left me and the person sharing the flat homeless for days on end with little to no communication or facilitation. They take zero responsibility for their mistakes or failures and will blame it on anything or everything and not help to facilitate (otherwise known as doing their job)
Avoid at all costs, save yourself the stress and hassel and go with someone else
Will never use again”
“William h brown have let me down in a very big way i live in Norwich and i put my house on the market and i done it through WHB i was told by many people not to use them but i did they are so awful and the lies that they come out with. They got a buyer for my house for the price that i wanted but this buyer had never seen my house i kept saying to them that this is not right but they kept saying its all going through so we found some were to buy and that to was with WHB so we thought that the sale would go ok we did all what was needed to do we got the new mortgage in place and sorted all what we needed to do we even went to the see the people who's bungalow that we were buying and we agreed a possible date to exchange and what they were going to leave in the property so we started pack up things in boxes as you do i kept asking WHB that this person still hasn't been round to look at the house or even answer any emails that my solicitor has sent them but to our surprise this person never existed as a true buyer WHB never did there due diligence on him they let us get rid of a lot of our goods and let us think that we were moving and sold our house all the way through they never checked that this person was a true buyer WHB never apologize or even called me to say sorry or even explained what had happened not a word they are disgraceful and disrespectful i would not recommend them at all they are not even worth one star i will give them -10 they should be ashamed of themselves BUT THIS IS WHB THEY DONT CARE .”
“Sudbury Suffolk branch. Absolutely awful customer service. Put an offer in for a house and they told me I wasn’t able to put that offer because the vendor wouldn’t accept it. This was my first time putting an offer in for a house and was very nervous. The guy down the phone was absolutely awful to deal with. Told me I wasn’t able to offer that and so I had to hang up. I talked to my mortgage advisor and he said that they have to pass on offers to the seller. I called back and said how awful I had been spoken to. Managed to put an offer in and they said that it was rejected then said someone else was interested and I was willing to go another 10k more. They said when they had told me that it wasn’t accepted that someone had put in an offer and were in a better position.. so didn’t even ask if I wanted to counter offer.
Their service is absolutely appalling and their mortgage advisors (they kept begging me to speak to them) are equally diabolical. I spent an hour talking to one being told they would send me houses that aren’t on the market etc etc. Haven’t heard from them once. Such a shame because we were so set on that house and would have likely got it as we were going to offer more than it actually sold for. Avoid them at all costs if possible. Absolutely terrible experience”
“Sellers beware. Multiagency no sale/win no fee, means sending your file to ELMS legal if William H Brown loses (Reference 11 Curlew Croft, CO4 3FT).
To The Property Ombudsman
Dear Madam/Sir,
I am reporting William H Brown to The Property Ombudsman for harassment regarding the sale of 11 Curlew Croft, Colchester CO4 3FT, that William H Brown did not arrange viewing for. Ms Rachel Rowe is the administrative contact representing William H Brown at Colchester's Office and should be well aware of this case dating back to 2019/2020.
I received a second claim for payment of GBP1620 from ELMS which has been engaged by William H Brown (I understand William H Brown is part of Connells - in their quest/greed to capture a larger share of the market). To date, ELMS has not clarified who actually is its client (see vague email from Ms Emily below stating that "Our client would be happy to accept a settlement figure of £1620.00 to draw this matter to a close" ). I spent a whole day in 2023 calling Connells and William H Brown who did not know who was responsible for initiating this action.
As confirmed by Leaders in June 2020 to Ms Rachel Rowe (who did not provide further evidence to counter Ms Goldby from Leaders' claim that the buyer, Mr Magoo, cancelled his viewing with William H Brown and that Ms Goldby is 10000% sure that I am not liable to pay any fee to William H Brown as a result and to wait for Ms Rachel to respond which she did not - Ms Goldby from Leaders did the viewing and got paid - understandably, William H Brown is not happy because they lost the sale). William H Brown did not and could not produce any evidence that they arranged Mr Magoo's viewing and have no basis for its claim - I understand that ELMS earns a commission on my payment and if I do not pay, it would not be paid as well.
Leaders introduced the buyer Mr Magoo (who cancelled his appointment with other agents). William H Brown did not arrange a viewing and did not introduce a buyer - why then should I pay a fee, when the agreement was explicitly on the basis of no sale no fee? I therefore do not accept liability for this ridiculous claim as I have paid my estate agency fee due in full to Leaders. I also did my part and ask Leaders to agree with William H Brown that indeed Leaders introduced the buyer. If there was any disagreement, I mentioned that I was ready not to proceed with the sale. There was no disagreement as the viewing was conducted by Leaders.
I would also like to highlight, that I initially engaged Leaders on a no sale no fee basis (see correspondence below) and subsequently engaged William H Brown on a no sale no fee basis (as per the signed contract which Michael from William H Brown confirmed that it is on a no sale no fee multiagency basis). An estate agent from William H Brown's came to my home to plead with me to sell my property - I initially said no, but was convinced otherwise as I was interested to sell my property. I asked for clarification 'Really, no sale no fee" and was told no sale means no fee, but with hindsight this is apparently not the case.
I have called William H Brown (as represented by Ms Rachel Rowe for my property) on numerous occasions including their branches in Colchester and St John, and have requested their senior management team to contact ELMS to resolve this matter, but alas to no avail. They were themselves confused as to which branch arranged the sale (see correspondence below although I told them it was Colchester, they referred me to St John, and then back to Colchester).
Below are some correspondence dating back to May 2019 to support my claim (To date, I have not seen any notes from William H Brown, other than an invoice from Connells and the multi agency no sale no fee agreement with William H Brown).
Best regards,
On Friday, 1 March 2024 at 19:58:33 GMT+3, debtassist AT elmslegal.co.uk wrote:
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your email.
Our client would be happy to accept a settlement figure of £1620.00 to draw this matter to a close.
Kind Regards
Emily
ELMS Legal Limited”
“Avoid! Nasty, Unethical Estate Agent!
I haved listed 3 bed terrased with them but also used another estate who sold property within 3 days. Asked William H in Stevenage to take it off the market, they confirmed they did!
We moved and exchanged as per usual with another estate, not having any comms with William H Stevenage.
10 months down the line we receive nasty letter from collectors saying we owe £4,4k fees to William H Stevenage and must pay immediately! We did not sell via William H Stevenage.
Surpisigly No correspondence from William H Stevenage agents to say otherwise. Now I have to spend my time and resources to proof something that is fact anyway! Absolutely unacceptable and terrible way to treat customer!
Do not ever! I repeat ever instruct William H Stevenage to sell house or buy from them!!”
“House is on the market by another estate agent and William H Brown keep phoning me to try and sell my house on there estate agency. This is not professional and classed as harassment. They don’t take a NO for an answer. They are not honest about anything.”
“What a complete bunch of thieves and totally dishonest not to be trusted if you are renting from them.
I rented a bungalow from them, and they asked me if I could leave early as they had another tennant. I agreed I would do what I could and moved out 4 days early. Now refusing the refund.
Also claiming £750 in damages claiming damages that were in place when i moved in and after i spent a considerable amount of time and money improving the property. Gutted !!”
“My son and his partner, like many people have gone through 6 months of stress and uncertainty, caused in the main by this Agent.
Weeks of little or no communication, lost documents, failed phone call, etc etc, the old saying You get what you pay for is so true, if you are looking to sell, please pay a bit extra and avoid this company.
I hope the senior management get a chance to read reviews and if so, just maybe they will act on them.”
“William h brown, cross gates, Leeds. A complete waste of time and effort. We sold our property earlier in the year. Was told it was a cash buyer. But, found out 5 months down the that the buyer still hasn't sold their house. The solicitor was also told it was a cash, and was completely stunned when they found out differently. When we filled out paperwork about house what's being left etc, and our bank details. Etc. When it supposed to go to the solicitors in the same road, it was mislaid. So had to be redone, then it took them 3 weeks to pass it on. When we phoned up for an update, was never in office, but when you phone whilst sat in the car park opposite, and can see him them talking to other members of staff drinking tea, you know they are Blatantly lying. Never return calls, or emails. Gets someone one else to do it. A second viewing was arranged with the buyer and his wife, to measure the kitchen, a 15 minute appointment. The buyer turned up with builders, high lasted 2 hours. And spoke in their own language, in a whisper. The agent who promised to come, sent someone else, who was only there for 10 minutes. Left with buyer for the remainder of the time. I had to miss an mri scan, due to lack of, and wrong information given. Nothing but lies, deceit, and theft from start to finish. Still not completed as buyer keeps changing his story. The estate agents don't care, all they want is you to sign up with them, and the sales figures. As long as they get them. They don't care what you don't know. I would avoid the Crossgates office, like the plague.”
“My question is, does this company take any notice of the terrible reviews they have on a regular basis throughout the UK.
As a retired Sales Directir within customer service the most important thing in any business is customer service/satisfaction.
Its does seem this agent is not interested in improving its service.
My issues are far to long to list, all I will say is when you are waiting on exchange and completion on a house move it is one the most stressful things we do in life, when your agent fails to communicate with you and with they clients to resolve issues and it take 5 working days with no feedback this is unacceptable come on W H Briwne management wake up and act.
Date of experience: 24 July 2023”
“Sowerby Bridge branch ate totally unprofessional. I have sold 6 houses throughout my life and have never experienced such lazy, sloppiness from Estate Agents.
They do not reply to emails. Do not return phone calls. Do not follow up queries that are put to them.
They even changed our firm of solicitors dealing with the sale without telling us!!
Downright bloody appalling service. Unfortunately we signed up for 20 weeks so are stuck with them for another 2 months.
AVOID at all costs”
“They seem to think that lying is part of their job description. I am considering suing these ppl as I believe I have been the victim of racial discrimination. Whilst it’s incredibly difficult to prove, at the very least everyone I come into contact with will know the truth.”
“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!”
