Allen and Harris Arvostelua 

Just to be clear - this is a review from someone who is not a customer of Allen & Harris at Didcot, but someone who has been put in an awkward position by a landlord who is extremely keen to get the property rented again and arrange viewings as soon as possible. Neither her or Allen and Harris have had any consideration for us as tenants still paying the rent.

Firstly, they sent S., who was meant to take some pictures. He went on to make rude remarks about the state of the property, interfere with our belongings and kept asking questions about our furniture and the fridge which also belongs to us. He also asked some intrusive unwelcome questions. He seemed to expect us to make the property spotless which is not possible for people working 60+ hours a week and dealing with renovating the new property.

We had security concerns regarding having strangers at the property. Allen and Harris refused to provide any reassurance, even their manager was not understanding at all and plainly rude. He also called me at 9am even though it was made clear to them that I work night shifts - luckily I predicted that and put my phone on “do not disturb” and didn’t get woken up.

Finally, on the viewing day - E. arrived late which led to an awkward moment when I had to turn away the viewers as the agent was late. Then, they let in more than one person at the time even though we didn’t agree to having several people at the same time - the agreement was to have one person at the time. Finally, due to the lateness, the viewings overran past the agreed time window.

I would not recommend Allen & Harris as estate agents as they did not respect us as tenants and kept giving incorrect information to people viewing the property. I also feel for the people working there, as their manager seems to be a really unpleasant person to deal with.

Riley from the Clifton team has been a pleasure to deal with and is very helpful. He has been very efficient and responds quickly to any queries I've had. Very happy with the service.

I just want to thank Dylan for getting my house he has been amazing to me and all my family. Wouldn’t have this house if was not for Dylan. Thank you so much Dylan. You are such a lovely gentleman thanks for everything . Many thanks Jessica and family

We used Allen and Harris in Wells.
Brilliant team always responded and very clear in email and phone calls. We highly recommend using Allen and harris. We had Ollie Jones he was amazing !!

I have rented through Allen and Harris for a while now and I must say I am very impressed with the service I'm provided when reporting issues. Ash had been very efficient, very personable yet professional. Ash offers solutions and support throughout our email conversations along with regular updates when needed. Keep up this fab work. x

Dealt with Allen & Harris, Massive thanks to Sophie & Poppy who were amazing & went above and beyond.
I’m so happy in my New Home.

Excellent experience ,staff liz ,Leanne and Peter plus many more ! Kept regular contact to keep me updated with information of viewings ,feedback on house ,answered questions professionally, giving me options as I was feeling unsure at this difficult time ! Then smashed it with a fab offer ! Which has helped me amazingly financially! Highly recommend team 🙏 x

My husband and I have had the pleasure of dealing with Ash Rooke, and I can’t recommend him enough. Since joining A&H, as Senior Lettings Coordinator in 2023, Ash has proven himself to be professional, approachable, and exceptionally skilled at managing our landlord and tenant relationships.

Ash brings a customer-first approach to his work, ensuring every interaction is positive and solutions-focused. He’s dedicated, detail-oriented, and always goes the extra mile to ensure our properties are managed efficiently and to a high standard.

Ash combines excellent customer service skills with a deep commitment to building strong relationships.

Ash really is a top guy!

Absolutely shocking service from Senior Letting Negotiator and team, incompetent and useless.

Avoid the hassle and headache and choose another agent.

Could do better myself with no experience in this sector.

If I could give zero stars, I would. My experience with Allen & Harris has been nothing short of a nightmare. They have proven themselves to be disorganised, unresponsive, and utterly devoid of empathy or professionalism. Here's why:

1. Horrendous Communication

From the outset, communication has been abysmal. They failed to inform us of critical changes in tenancy terms (such as extending a 6-month contract to 12 months) and took months to respond to emails about important tenancy changes. When they finally responded, they often appeared confused or uninformed, adding unnecessary stress to an already challenging situation.

2. Delays and Mismanagement

Essential repairs took months to address. A broken window, reported in March 2022, wasn’t repaired until July after multiple visits where contractors only measured the frame without progress. Scheduled property visits were frequently missed, wasting my time and causing disruption with no apology or explanation.

3. Uncompromising and Rigid Approach

When I went through a personal breakup and sought to amend the tenancy arrangement, their inflexible, punitive approach compounded my stress. Rather than offering support or solutions, they imposed excessive fees and unreasonable demands.

4. Unfair Treatment of Tenants

Allen & Harris treats tenants like afterthoughts, despite the fact we are paying clients. Their disregard for tenant wellbeing became glaringly obvious when my former partner, who met affordability requirements, was still subjected to unfair guarantor demands. This lack of decency and respect is inexcusable.

5. Profit Over People

It’s clear that Allen & Harris prioritises profit above all else. The landlord's interests seem to be their only concern, with no consideration for the tenants who make their business possible. The handling of our tenancy transition felt like a thinly veiled attempt to push us out and raise the rent to a more lucrative amount.

Allen & Harris epitomises everything wrong with estate agents today: exploitative, unempathetic, and incompetent. If you value your time, money, and mental health, avoid this agency at all costs. They have caused me and my former partner immense stress and anxiety, and I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone else.

When your estate agent says the buyer doesn't have a deposit ... on the day you're hoping to exchange!

We were advised by a former employee not to sign up with Allen & Harris on the grounds that they soon lose interest in their clients once they have the contract in place. We ignored the advice because the branch manager seemed energetic and made strong claims for their marketing strategy. We made a bad choice.

Once we had a buyer Allen & Harris failed to update us on a weekly basis as promised. We pressed them for information but they palmed us off and treated us like an inconvenience. We were even told that their only role was to ‘find us a buyer’ even though the Code of Practice obliges them to monitor and update clients on the financial arrangements.

Then, at the point of exchange, we discovered that the summary they had given us about how our buyer was paying for the purchase was wrong – even though our buyers were using the in-house mortgage advisor. There was no excuse for not having the correct information. Our chain nearly fell apart because of it. We incurred significant extra costs as the solicitors in the chain had to take on unexpected work at the last minute.

When we lodged an official complaint we were told the Allen & Harris team had been confused and had misunderstood the situation. Yet the company, part of a vast national network called 'Sequence' with loads of other agencies like Fox and Sons, Barnard Marcus and William H Brown, accepted no responsibility and offered no compensation.

We will be taking our complaint to the Ombudsman as we were let down by Allen & Harris’s incompetence and complacency, and the complaints process (handled by another part of the Sequence group) was defensive and contradictory. They agreed staff were uninformed about financial arrangements related to selling properties, but refused to accept responsibility or offer compensation.

This is not about personalities in any way. The staff at the Didcot branch are polite and pleasant - but appear not to know some of the fundamentals of estate agency.

Andy at Allen and Harris Cirencester helped me with the sale of my 1 bed maisonette. Ultimately I decided against the sale as my circumstances changed, but I found Andy straightforward, knowledgeable and helpful.

Shockingly bad company to rent from

One of the worst renting experiences we have ever had, doomed from the start to finish.
Left us in unsafe conditions with mould, broken shower and flea ridden carpets with an overwhelming stench of dog despite telling us the property had been professionally cleaned.
Eventually after numerous kick offs they brought in cleaners who agreed the state of the property was close to inhabitable. They noted the landlord had tried to use paint to cover the extent of the mould and that it was only likely to get worse.
We had agreed prior to move in to bring our pet, however this was completely missed off our application by the team and subsequently caused another kick off from our landlord, trying to void our rental agreement and request our pet was re-homed due to their grave error. They claimed the building was a listed building and we ideally were wishing for the single glazed windows in the living room to be replaced due to how cold it gets during winter despite heating on. This was refused even though the bedroom and kitchen windows had been replaced and there was no record of the property being listed.
Lastly as our tenancy agreement was coming to the end, we were surprised with the news that the flat didn’t have a Carbon Monoxide alarm despite passing the gas safety before move in, this means us living there was completely illegal due to having gas appliances but yet they continued to work with the same landlord and readvertise the property for rent.
Overall there is a complete lack of care or interest for tenants at all and they seem to completely priortise getting money from landlords. They do not care for people in the slightest.

Sold our house with Ayr/Kilmarnock branch in July this year. Gave them keys as they were organising the viewings as we were going on holiday.
My daughter went to my house to collect car keys and both our front and back doors had been left unlocked. She called me to advise and when I phoned them
they denied this and obviously we had no proof. It was basically our word against theirs. We were spoken to and treated as if we were stupid. Would never recommend them or trust them to do anything.

Recently had the pleasure of working alongside Jack Pike at the Bath office, jacks communication was seamless throughout the process and Jack really did go above and beyond to get it over the line.

Thank you and the Team for all your help

I am experiencing very poor service as a tenant. We moved into our new house two days ago, but the door keys are not working. With our three-and-a-half-year-old child, we are forced to stay at a friend's place since we can't access our home. We have reached out about this urgent issue, but there has been no response or assistance from the maintenance team.

Every time we call, they say they will get back to us soon, but that has never happened. We find ourselves having to call them every hour, and they keep informing us that they have reported the problem to the office, but they are understaffed. This lack of support is incredibly disrespectful given our vulnerable situation.

Before we signed the contract, they were very proactive in their communications, but now that we are facing an issue, no one is available to help us. It has been less than a week since we moved in, and we feel neglected.

I cannot trust this company, especially the Penarth branch. The individuals who negotiated our lease were Lauren, the property coordinator Kyrie Fleming, and another person who was unhelpful—Gemma.

I would not recommend this place for finding a rental property.

Do not use this company they are nothing but a bunch of cowboys. The team have not been helpful they are rude they lie

This should be 0 stars.
Don’t rent from them, shameless money grabbers. They don’t know what they are doing, liars and that’s all they care is about money. They do not care about tenants unless it’s money. They don’t know what they are doing within their team as one person says one thing and another says another. They lie about coming to agreements and shift the goal posts after they take your money. You pay early to full contract, hand in keys and leave property, then they tell you that your still liable to pay all the bills and council tax even though your not in there. After the fact, They tell you that you didn’t follow early release protocol and yet when I tried to ask for early release at the earliest opportunity they said there is no such thing. They are shameless - stay away!

Genuinely would have given no stars!!
This company (Highworth, Wiltshire) is an absolute joke. It is by far the worst experience of renting that could possibly be imagined. The only thing they are interested in is money. We were given a no reason eviction notice (without warning) and asked to leave within six weeks (originally they wanted four). The stress caused my wife to be ill and they couldn't have cared. We are a family with three younger children who also took a dislike to this company. Never could you make the place home, it was impossible. This was not helped by a horrible landlady who was only interested in money too. Horrible experience and I genuinely wish we'd never rented through them. The previous tenant actually warned us not to go ahead as she'd had very similar problems. Hindsight eh??
Thankfully we have now moved but still they pester us. The house was cleaned impeccably but they are now potentially refusing to return our deposit because it wasn't done professionally (not in the contract). They even brought people round to view the house whilst we were moving that they said they wouldn't.Overall a horrible experience. I may sound bitter (because I am) but these are genuinely an awful company. Avoid for your own health and pocket £.

If you’re renting my honest advice would be to avoid this company like the plague!!!

This company only have one focus within their little set up and that’s money money money. Happy to take their cut every month, but not happy to take responsibility or ownership when things go wrong.
We’ve had nothing but stress and trouble with them since renting off them, the local office is run by kids who don’t seem to have any clue of their roles, probably only driven by commission and not customer service.
AWFUL AWFUL COMPANY.