“R Haigh. I have just sold my property in cookridge with William H Brown. From going on board they have been fantastic, the whole team were top class so helpful in the viewing information.Jacqueline just cannot do enough to help. I give her 10 out 5 for the work she puts in. To all the team at Horsforth thank you so much. 27 feb 2024.”
“I had a viewing in Keswick today in Norwich and got off the bus where I was met with a single carriageway and no way of crossing the road safely to get to the property. Being 5 months pregnant and having previous trauma with a road accident, you can imagine my absolute panic. I called William H Brown, explained the situation and not long after Gordon, the agent I had being an absolute star! found me and took me to the property. Not only that but he also made sure I was able to return to the city without worry or stress! He is the absolute best. In addition to all of this an agent named Zack was at the property as well, he kindly showed me around, made small talk and we all had a bit of a laugh, which really put me at ease. They went above and beyond to make sure I was okay and comfortable which was amazing! I couldn’t have asked for better agents to have shown me that property! They’re both doing a fantastic job!”
“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”
“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.”
“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.”
“would just like to give a big thank you to Milli Jermy from the Gorleston office for all the help she gave in the selling of my property in Belton Gt Yarmouth. Milli went above & beyond in all the help she gave in the help she gave even to the point of chasing my solicitor in moving the sale forward. Thank You Milli you are a big asset to your company. And I will use W H Brown Again.”
“William H Brown in Bury St Edmunds.
The whole team in Bury St Edmunds branch work so well together as a team, which ever member of staff I speak to they are always very professional and helpful.
Tom has just joined the team and seems to have fitted in so well, his enthusiastic and always very helpful.
Richie has been really great in supporting me to find tenants for my rental properties, he is always so bubbly, helpful, enthusiastic and professional.
Josh has been amazing going above and beyond to help support me and secure the mortgages for my properties, always enthusiastic to help and very professional.
I have used a few Estate Agents in my time but have never come across one like William H Brown in Bury St Edmunds, I can't put into words how professional, enthusiastic to help and supportive all the staff are. Each member of staff at some point have gone above and beyond their call of duty to help me find the right properties to buy, finding tenants for my rentals and securing mortgages for my properties.
I would and do defiantly recommend to anyone to use William H Brown in Bury St Edmunds if they want a good strong professional team to help them with what can be a very daunting and difficult time when buying and selling a property.”
“We used the Dinnington Office and From start to finish they provided a fast efficient professional service. We dealt with Jane and Elle and both were excellent. Our buyer was constantly contacting them with questions (daily at some points) and they handled this excellently, kept us informed and our buyer happy making the process as smooth as possible. If the other estate agents in the chain had been as good we would have had a stress free sale and purchase. Cannot recommend them highly enough. Would happily use again”
“Beth was very helpful and professional, considering the troubles we had with the forms for filling in online, as we found the forms were not user friendly.”
“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!!”
