James Gibb Reviews 738

Horrific service. They bought over our initial factor back in 2014/2015 and we received a letter informing us of this. Our fees have jumped from £25 a month 3 years ago to around £90-100 a month (for a one bedroom house). They insist on charging us all communal electricity even though the meter is at 0. I have recently sold the property and they’ve charged me £100 in admin fees- just to change a name on the account?? How can they possibly charge me to sell my own house? Now I have my “final” bill through and I’m due back over £130 and they’ve only refunded me £37. I emailed them assuming a mistake but no apparently they are keeping my money back because of a dispute over electricity fees- that I will have already paid. How do they continue to operate? Nothing but thieves.

Date of experience: 06 May 2025

Got keys to a flat ran by james gibb in January 2023 and their costs were £77/month. Within six months the costs jumped to £150/month and now they have taken £303 from my account because the direct debit which they almost doubled in the last year and a half still somehow doesn't cover their costs.

Date of experience: 03 May 2025

Very poor ad hoc repairs service. Waited two months for a simple tile fix. Have had five property managers over the last five years. Very poor liaison with the company and communications very rigid and require constant emailing and phone messaging. Would not recommend better local factor servicing in the Dundee area.

Date of experience: 23 April 2025

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

They are the definition of useless. The charges for what they do carry out are the biggest rip off you’ve ever seen, and when there is a serious issue with their property, such as rotting timber along the perimeter of the roof, they will take absolutely no action

This despite the fact that they have known the issue is allowing RODENTS AND BIRDS into peoples attics.

Totally, totally useless

Date of experience: 21 April 2025

Martin, you ask in the last paragraph of your comments whether you should be paying £250 in charges which your site manager herself has acknowledged is incorrect. (If your flat's electricity bill jumped from £7.50 per month to £250 per quarter, that's an astonishing 1011% increase.) If you pay the bogus £250 invoice, you will only be emboldening and encouraging this criminal corporation to continue to defraud clients (not that they need much encouragement). You should approach the First-tier Tribunal, and you should also contact James Riding, a housing reporter (see contact details below), and show him the legal threats you have received from JGibb (or from their solicitors, BTO Solicitors.)

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Martin Reilly says:

Disputed items on an invoice
My last invoice from their Edinburgh branch was from 28/11/24 to 27/02/25. In it they included 4 months of communal electricity for September to December at a cost of £249.66 PER FLAT! Previous bills were around £7.50 per month per flat. They also included a charge for lift maintenance even though our block doesn't have a lift.

Date of experience: 08 April 2025

----------------------------------------------------

James Riding

James Riding
12:22 PM (8 minutes ago)
to me

Hi Richard,

Thanks for getting in touch. I have received a tipoff that James Gibb has issued legal threats to residents for old energy bills, but I'm yet to see any proof.

Do you have any copies of the letters you might be able to share?

Very best wishes,

James

James Riding

Chief Reporter, Inside Housing
T: 07478 686756
LinkedIn | X | Bluesky

Date of experience: 02 March 2025

Date of experience: 16 April 2025

My last invoice from their Edinburgh branch was from 28/11/24 to 27/02/25. In it they included 4 months of communal electricity for September to December at a cost of £249.66 PER FLAT! Previous bills were around £7.50 per month per flat. They also included a charge for lift maintenance even though our block doesn't have a lift.

I've disputed these charges on 3 occasions now and have an e-mail from the development manager stating that the charges are incorrect and that she would ask the accounts team to issue a corrected invoice. However all I've had from the accounts team is two demand notices stating that the disputed amount has to be paid in full with the second notice threatening legal action. Neither demand notice acknowledges that I have disputed items on their invoice.

I have paid in full all other items on the invoice but I dont think I should be paying over £250 in charges which one of their own employees has admitted are incorrect.

Date of experience: 08 April 2025

How do you get rid of this company as factors? They are chasing me for money they don’t deserve, and trying to get me to pay £600 this month. £600 in one month for factor fees?! My mortgage isn’t even that high. Nor is council tax. I want them gone. The grass cutters were here on Thursday and have missed a whole section of grass that has not been cut in a year, no joke. It’s terrible looking. I would attach a photo but there’s no option.

Date of experience: 08 April 2025

A truly greedy company,only interested in collecting money,staff who have no interest in helping only sneering down the phone when you question something.Paying contractors for services and they only do half the work every month.Our development will soon be booting them out for new factor

Date of experience: 02 April 2025

In response to Thomas Carlton's review, James Gibb are owned by Strathspey Capital. This might explain their emphasis on collecting money over customer service.

Great care is obviously taken to window-dress Gibb as a respectable and professional organisation (which I gather it was before Strathspey bought it).

The Scottish Government in the meantime fails to enact the legislation that they drew up with the 'input' of factors and somewhat misleadingly presented to homeowners as the means by which factors would be made to operate to an acceptable standard.

The Government also continues to publicly endorse (at the tax payer's expense) the worst factors by keeping them on the Factor Register, even when they know that these factors are constantly breaking just about every rule in the book.

Factors know they can get away with anything.

Homeowners' concerns are brushed aside and unscrupulous factors are quietly allowed to carry on trading.

We need to know why.

Date of experience: 30 March 2025

Avoid this company for factoring, totally unprofessional would not let them factor a garden hut, do not reply to phone calls or emails , senior staff can’t be contacted, reviews on their website are very economical with the truth compared to other sites regarding this company.Sorry had to deal James Gibb.

Date of experience: 01 January 2025

We pay for the grass to be cut once a month in the winter and twice a month in the summer plus admin fees. It's now late March and the grass has still not been cut this year

Date of experience: 23 March 2025

James Gibb are a disgrace of a company. False bills, don’t carry out work required. We had water leaking in 2018 from a flat and they refused to gain entry, even when we started to have mushrooms growing on ceiling at main entry. Took until 2021 to address this. Now pulled out of our estate and refusing to give new factors the information
Hazel Gibson

Date of experience: 20 March 2025

Awful greedy company.
We have had this company in charge for residential factors since moving in and all they have done is request additional charges, never having the same bill and even making us pay other residents unpaid fees! We never received a letter from them last year and then went on holiday which led to a late payment. Which incurred a £40 charge (ridiculous in itself), I contacted them and explained the situation which the email stated they would request the fee to be removed. Never heard anything back so presumed it was removed. Then receive a new bill with the £40 still on, explained again and they are refusing to remove. For what? The account is up to date and has been since receiving the bills by email? Absolute greed to continue perusing the late fee for no additional work AND now threatening to add another £40 late fee... awful customer service awful company.

Date of experience: 19 March 2025

Poor communication, constantly restructuring offices , automated payment line doesn’t recognise account number, office doesn’t open until 5pm as stated, need I go on. Don’t know what this company does for the bills it charges.

Date of experience: 28 February 2025

I am a spokesperson for a small steading development near Dundee and we have the misfortune to have James Gibb as our site factor. This is a company with over 60% of reviews giving one star . I am sure if there was an option to give 0 then this would be more accurate . As a company they take no notice of reviews and couldn’t care less what their customers think. The latest dodge which they tried to hide from the residents is billing out utility charges and in particular electricity . We have a fixed price deal with EDF - price fixed for 12 months . As a condition of this contract they are supposed to settle the group supply account by direct debit. Since the start of this contract Sept 2024 they have failed to do that and as a result EDF have invoked the Contract agreed 2% late payment charge . Gibb have now passed that on to the residents with no prior notification and positive attempts to hide it from us. Any Gibb accounts please be aware .

Date of experience: 25 February 2025

Awful company, please believe the reviews and avoid at all costs. They couldn’t care less and will ignore your complaints regardless of how bad the circumstances are. Communication is horrible and the staff are SO rude and patronising. They do not care and take 0 responsibility for anything, don’t even bother.

Date of experience: 24 February 2025

Would give them a zero if I could.
I reported a leak coming from the internal waste down pipe running through the building it took them over two months of messing about with getting quotes for what I would describe as an urgent repair as any escape of water can be very costly if given time not to mention the fact it’s a waste pipe! By the time the leak was repaired my entire bathroom and bedroom was ravaged by mould triggering an insurance claim with an excess cost to me of £1025!!! I was also charged £138 my share of 1/8 for the repair to the pipe (not covered by my insurance as it was classed as a communal repair) I was constantly at the building manager trying to get him to understand how serious this was and how urgent the repair was but he insisted it wasn’t a problem and any black mould would easily be wiped off my plasterboard ceiling and walls 🤣🤣🤣 what a clown!! He sounded about 13 and he was very cheeky to me on the phone but refused to meet in person.
Avoid this company at all cost

Date of experience: 25 December 2024

WOULD HAPPILY GIVE THEM A 0.

Absolutely useless at every stage that we have been trying to contact them, they have also fabricated lies about stages and processes. If I could get rid of them, I would.

Date of experience: 20 June 2024

Absolutely appalling service from James Gibb. The light bollards in our neighborhood have been out for months, despite multiple emails and complaints. Nothing has been done to fix them, leaving residents in an unsafe and unacceptable situation.

Trying to get in touch with them is a nightmare—their phone line is constantly engaged, and communication is horrendous. Emails go unanswered, and there is no accountability or urgency in addressing serious issues.

For a company responsible for property management, their lack of action and disregard for residents’ concerns is disgraceful. If you’re looking for a factor that actually responds to maintenance issues and values its customers, I would strongly advise looking elsewhere. James Gibb has proven to be unreliable and completely ineffective.

Date of experience: 01 January 2025

Would give less than zero if I could. Communication terrible they don't answer simple queries. My building was not fire safe. A workman doing other work for me pointed this out. I had to push to get this looked at. I agree with other reviewers, if James Gibb is the factor don't buy the property.

Date of experience: 02 December 2024