butters john bee Avis 

I'd like to thank Max (staffordshire branch) for all of his help throughout our application.
Although we weren't successful this time, he kept us informed, was friendly, professional, and took the time to call us personally with the outcome. We really appreciated his communication and honesty throughout the process. We'd happily recommend him and hope to work with him again in the future.

0 STARS. Absolutely shocking firm. Property management that couldn't manage a pi55 up in a brewery. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Was a tenant for an extremely long time. Service has been poor all the way through. Their values are more for the landlord than looking after the tenant. Landlord a completely unreasonable. No maintainance done on the property. Same carpets and bathroom and kitchen after 17 years and is now refusing my deposit. Absolute joke. Just a money grabber he doesn't care about his tenants. He wouldn't allow us to make adaptions for my husband with MND we have suffered for the last 2 years since his diagnosis where my husband has not been able to go and use the upstairs bathroom because he is wheelchair bound. And had no way of getting him up there its an abuse of himan rights. Absolutely disgusting. I won't name them because I am not going to be held for slander. No compassion or empathy what's so ever. To say im angry is an understatement.

Incompetent - can't even carry out basic admin tasks or keep their own records up to date.

We are not a customer of Butters John Bee, we chose to sell our property with another recommended Congleton Estate Agent. Despite having no recent contact requesting any assistance from this company we have had FOURTEEN calls in the last two months soliciting us to cancel with our existing agents and give them the opportunity to sell the property. Despite having a call yesterday again from them where we told them the property is sold we received another call today, unbelievable. We are taking advice and have been told to report them to the Property Ombudsman for harassment and unprofessional conduct. Be warned! We have put one star on this review because we can’t give a negative score.

Claire Herety always goes that extra mile to assist with moving my transactions forward to completion. I would be lost without her. Thank you Claire for always going above and beyond your duty.

I don't usually leave negative reviews, but after our experience, I feel it's important to share it honestly.

We instructed Butters John Bee to sell our home during one of the most difficult periods of our lives. I had just lost my mum and was in the process of organising her funeral. At the time, I did not personally sign the agency agreement or fully appreciate the fee structure. The agreement was signed by my husband, who struggles significantly with reading and understanding written documents, and I later discovered that the fixed fee was £4,200 including VAT.

I have never disputed that Butters John Bee introduced the buyers who went on to purchase our home, and I have now paid the fee in full. My disappointment lies in the way my concerns were handled when I raised them. I asked for clarification regarding the requirement for only one signature, requested evidence of the relevant terms and conditions, and sought a goodwill gesture given the exceptional circumstances surrounding the instruction. I also raised a formal complaint and followed up when my emails went unanswered.

The response I received was simply that the fee stood and payment was required. Whilst I appreciate the condolences offered regarding the loss of my mother, I felt there was very little empathy or flexibility shown throughout the complaints process.

This review is not about avoiding payment for a service that was provided. It is about feeling listened to, treated fairly and shown understanding as a person going through an incredibly difficult time.

I have referred the matter to The Property Ombudsman for an independent review, not to dispute that a fee was due, but because I believe consumers deserve transparency, compassion and proper consideration when genuine concerns are raised.

This is simply my personal experience, shared honestly and factually, so that others can make informed decisions when choosing an estate agent.

Excellent service from start to finish, particularly from Kelly Johnson who was so helpful all the way and went out of her way to help and always got back to me straight away by phone or email . I can’t thank her enough

Caused damage to my property because, when putting up their sign, were too lazy to put it in the ground. It was easier just to attach it to, and destroy, an exterior light.

Asked a simple question of "I can have the original installer fix it, or would you like to" and no response. I guess they wanted option C-do nothing.

Sort yourselves out. It doesn't take a week to say "yes please arrange for the repair for the damage we caused" or "we will contact the installer directly to arrange for a repair for the damage we caused". I called and emailed and received no response to this question ^^

EDIT: To the dismissive attitude from the Branch Partner, it isn't acceptable to say "we are waiting on the party who put the board up". Of course they will keep you waiting a long time because you are asking them for money and they are also not capable of putting a simple wooden post in the ground, so why you want them messing with electricity is beyond me. Why don't you fix the damage (as an estate agent who offers a managed service for landlords, you will have a list of tradesmen already) instead of passing it off to people who clearly couldn't care less before, and will care even less now you are asking them for money.

You only pick up the phone when you can make money, which is fine, but, when its your mistake, you aren't at all interested.

I would ask how damage looks on a property you are supposed to be trying to sell, but somebody else will be trying to sell it, not yourselves, after this experience.

EDIT 2: quote from Branch manager's email: "He will be getting the repair done either Thursday/Friday this week". As of Friday 18:58 no contact. At this point I decided to prematurely end my agreement with Butters John Bee. Other estate agents charge lower commission and don't mess people around like this.

EDIT 3: Within one day I arranged for a repair myself and I am awaiting reimbursement: no interest in doing it. Please take note anyone who wishes to consider using them-we are coming up to three full weeks of this issue and they are not interested. They are petty enough to take three weeks to deal with something that could be dealt with within one day. This is how they treat customers when have power-petty.

James was second to none he went above and beyond great guy would highly recommend asking for him .

To whom it may concern, I wish to recognise the professionalism of Megan Pugh in managing the letting requirements a new tenancy for an apartment owned by me in Leek, Staffordshire. Megan's commitment and methodical approach was evident from the outset and her efforts provided me a level of confidence that matters were being handled in a meaningful and effective manner. I would have no hesitation in recommending Megan and her colleagues to other property owners.

We've been dealing with their Hanley (Stoke) branch. They're supposed to be managing a property but have done pretty much zero (apart from take their cut every month), and we're basically dealing with everything ourselves.

Really impressed with Butters John Bee, in particular James Purvis- Turton whom came out to do a house valuation for us and was thorough and efficient. We were extremely happy with the service and would not hesitate to recommend to other people.

Absolutely unacceptable experience.
We were pressured into paying a holding deposit on the day of the viewing after being strongly led to believe the property would be secured if we paid immediately. No proper checks were carried out beforehand, and no questions were asked about credit history prior to taking our money.

During the application, we were fully transparent about adverse credit. Despite this, we were later told the application had been declined due to referencing however, this decision was communicated before the referencing process had even been completed, which raises serious concerns about how decisions are actually being made.

When challenged, no clear or specific reason has been provided. GDPR has been used as a blanket excuse to avoid giving even a basic explanation, which is not acceptable.
To make matters worse, they are now attempting to retain the holding deposit despite no false or misleading information being provided. This feels completely unjustified.

Overall, the process was rushed, misleading, and lacked transparency from start to finish. Based on our experience, we would strongly caution others before paying any holding deposit without getting everything clearly confirmed in writing first.

I rang this afternoon asking for a rough price % to market my house. I was told by the boy that it didn’t work like that and he needed to book a visit and valuation before I could have a price. I didn’t realise that butters had dragged themselves down to the level of a double glazing salesman who once in your house just won’t leave until you have signed on the dotted line.
Two other local agents gave me a % price immediately over the phone, so I went with them.
First question when buying a service. Roughly how much is it going to cost please?

⛔ Absolutely shocking⛔ never answer calls or emails, Incompetant agents giving false /wrong information, they Never obey instruction they prefer to protect there income. Making
constant excuse after excuse. Each and everytime you manage get in touch by visiting the branch the agent that you are dealing with as either left, off sick or training. Stay clear guys

A dreadful experience. I am a landlord, and was gobsmacked at the fees these clowns charged for their services. I have been charged £60 and £90 by two other agents to serve a section 13 advising of a rent increase.( a one page downloadable form which requires the insertion of a couple of names and addresses on along with the proposed rent increase. BKB's fee for this service?? £250!!!!!!! based on this and their overall very poor communication skills and speed with which they act on instructions, (snails pace) I have decided to remove my property from their management, once I have paid their extortionate six weeks rent plus VAT severance fee. They really should be out out of business.

Originally disappointed by BJB in the lack of communications, poor response times to questions and also seemingly a reluctance to drive the sale through.

When the house was first put up for sale, we were given an excellent sales pitch with clear expectations, the promise of buyers looking for exactly what we had and were shown strong data and examples. The agents fees were much higher than other tenders however it felt more polished and were a recognised name in the area. Once signed up, the service delivery quickly became extremely poor.

I had to constantly chase data reports (clicks, what was the online footprint like) and had to keep calling the business for updates despite promises that they would call me. Throughout the process from Mar 2025 until Dec 2025 we were constantly frustrated by lack of any communication, a refusal to deliver what was promised (a weekly 2 minute update and report) and despite calls into the office and leaving messages we were left with no return calls on many occasions.

At this time we were serious considering changing agents especially after our sale fell through on what was supposed to be completion day.

However, this changed in January 2026 when Kelly Johnson took over our sale and she has been a breath of fresh air. Professional, friendly and always in communication with both our solicitors, buyers and ourselves she has been an absolute delight to deal with, so much so that my solicitor spoke really highly about her as a pleasure to work with.

BJB have got an absolute gem there and I would highly commend her as an example of excellent customer service where nothing was too much. Thank you Kelly, you have been such a great help in our sale and we would recommend you to anyone looking to sell their property.

Do Not Rent from Butters John Bee or Spicerhaart. You will be ignored when you need repairs. 3 years of begging for repairs and I gave notice and moved out. You get letters saying you owe rent when you have paid in full. Don't overdo pay as your credits are ignored and written off. Statements are begged for and incorrect. And when you try to move out, they harass you, try change the date and demand more money. They ignore proof that the keys are returned and disregard their own tenancy agreements. Still being harassed for rent I don't own and keys they have acknowledged receipt of and now they want to go to court. Don't try calling them either. They never answer the phone. They only know you when they want money, even if your account is in credit.

Cerys and Taylor are so lovely and professional, both tremendously good at their jobs,