Citizensadvice Anmeldelser 

Dealing with Citizens Advice Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) has been entirely unproductive. Despite over a month of repeated contact with the CEO, Senior Management, and the Chair, I have not received a single piece of advice.
It is deeply concerning that the leadership appears to use their 'volunteer' status as a shield to bypass professional responsibilities, leaving those in need effectively invisible. This lack of professional oversight suggests a serious failure of accountability within the BANES branch. A service that exists to provide a lifeline to the community should not be run with such a disregard for basic duty and responsiveness.

Whoever designed the chat needs to be fired and the people who thought it was a good design!! At the most stressful time when contacting people to help you put the end chat button just above where the auto corect keyboard on every damm phone apple and android, Such poor design proves you just dont care move the damm button you will save lives. Its just corprate incompetence on another level not even thinking or real life testing their programs or apps

Sutton branch vs Bromley branch

The CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) system is, for the most part, absolutely useless and feels like a mockery to people in desperate need of help. Their catchphrase at the end of every multi-hour conversation is: 'We are a charity and cannot help you.' Why torture people with hours of detailed questioning, forcing them to relive their trauma and dive back into their misery, only to provide no resolution? Is this a form of sadism? The organisation has become more like a mediocre psychological service rather than one equipped to provide actual assistance. The very purpose of such institutions is questionable.
Furthermore, they seem to enjoy using their power against the vulnerable people seeking help, rather than against those causing the harm. They fight off clients and engage in fierce conflict as if the clients were enemies, instead of directing that energy toward the offenders. Their incompetence, passivity, and inability to organise a proper workflow cause nothing but distress and frustration.
At the Sutton CAB (SM1 1EA), a supervisor named Beatrice actively clashes with clients who are already humiliated and in need. Her inability to solve problems and lack of legal knowledge is masked by arrogance and the abuse of her authority against clients who see right through her. She brazenly and condescendingly told a homeless client that to apply for help from Sutton Council, they must have lived in the borough for over two years. This completely ignores the Homelessness Code of Guidance and the standard local connection criteria of six months (Localism Act 2011). When asked a logical question about which law she was following, she snapped like a teenager, clearly feeling her own lack of expertise compared to the client. This is a textbook example of the ignorance and power-tripping I mentioned.
For a comparison of how a CAB should actually function, look at CAB Bromley. There, every client feels protected. After listening to a problem, the advisor immediately calls the party violating the client's rights to resolve the issue at the early stages. Usually, this is enough. If not, they bring in the necessary specialist. All of Bromley CAB's strength is directed at the offender; the client feels safe and supported, without any conflict. The Bromley model is an exemplary standard, while other branches remain toothless and useless structures.

There was no interaction from their site support at all beyond receiving obviously pasted stock answers. I swear they just wait for you to give them the reason for your contact, then paste a stock answer and close the chat whether you're finished or not. Not even a polite goodbye. What a waste of time for both of us it was.

Everytime I call there is never anyone available and when I say never I mean absolutely never. It's virtually impossible to speak with anyone and there's not even an option for them to call you back. The online chat is just as useless and if anyone dies work there I honestly believe they go to work have coffee tea and biscuits and just chat all day because I have not been able to speak to anyone from there since 2018

Spoke to some lad who had no patience told me I was talking too long despite the fact I said I'm dyslexic. When he read what I said back he did a sign sign voice like this La La la lan. Wasn't bother utterly useless.

I have used this service once face to face and the experience was very good. The staff were helpful, professional, and easy to deal with.

However, my experience today (16/01/26) was much less positive. I attempted to call five times to speak with a housing advisor. On two occasions the call was cut off after I selected the appropriate options. On the remaining three calls, the automated system repeatedly routed me back to the main menu when I selected the option to speak to an advisor.

The last three calls were made at around 4:30pm. While the automated message did state that calls may not be answered as they close at 5pm, it was still frustrating not to be able to reach anyone or be placed in a queue.

Overall, good face-to-face service, but the phone system and accessibility need improvement.

I purchased a misdescribed item from a rogue trader on eBay. This item failed quickly because it wasn't as advertised. The trader simply refused to refund or replace and it was outside of the returns date. eBay wouldn't act.
I tried to report it directly to Trading Standards in the trader's area but was told that I had to go through the CAB Trading Standards line which I did. I spent half an hour of going through all the details.
4 months later with nothing heard I chased through the same CAB Trading Standards line, I was informed that Trading Standards usually don't do anything and they rarely bother to get in touch. If CAB had told me this in the first instance, I wouldn't have wasted my time and could have moved straight to a small claims action.
What an utter waste of time, space and the money that is being paid out to operate this non-service!

Cannot get through to them either by phone or on the website as useless as Ombudsman don't bother !!!!

Had an issue with the supplying dealer being unable (they had two attempts and were proposing a third) to effectively repair damp in the back of our motorhome. I got a quote from an independent specialist (who had successfully cured damp in motorhomes like mine) for £2.5k to repair the damp. My supplying dealer initially refused to pay for this independent repairer to do the work. I rang Citizens advice and spoke to Andrea who understood my issue explained my rights and sent me a draft letter of complaint to send to my dealer. I did this and the dealer has agreed to pay for the independent repair. So really pleased with the service I received. I know there are many negative reviews but my experience was totally positive.
Incidentally I spoke to two "free initial chat" solicitors neither of which seemed to understand the Consumer Rights Act and both said their fees would be more than my claim.

Some Karen’s just lied to me

I remember in the old days they were easy to get a hold of. You can easily see somebody from citizens advice bureau for advice. Nowadays it is non-existent. I have noticed the one in Twickenham is only opened on Wednesdays and the rest of them don’t answer the phone and a lot of them don’t answer the phone. I have been trying to ring to get hold of someone for about a week and a half and still no answer and I have given up. What are surprised about is on top of the page it says donate… Donate for what exactly?

Due to having few actually paid staff, it's becoming more and more difficult to get in touch, and drop-in offices are often closed. To be honest, although I've had help in the past, these days it's pointless - if you are lucky enough to get through, or get any help, the chances are that the 'help' won't help. Don't bother with problems about landlords or estate agents due to rent issues or conditions - a tribunal will always favour the landlord now. As for help with things like UC or PIP (application/review forms etc) that have deadlines - by the time you'll get an appointment (especially in this region) the deadline will be up.
Shame, the CA used to be so good, but let's face it, most organizations are falling apart now.

The most useless organisation I have ever dealt with. After several email exchanges, I got this reply: "Thank you for your email on 09/12/2025 to the Citizens Advice consumer service.
Your reference number remains [].

Thank you for answering these questions for us,

It's not going to be able something we can directly advise on as there is no Consumer Rights we can offer for you to exercise as no contract has been formed between yourself and [].

If you have a raised a formal complaint and no resolution has been reached, as it is been a criminal matter we would advise seeking specialist advice from a solicitor to see where you stand or what you could look to argue.
Find a solicitor online: solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk

If you have any more problems please call us on [] or reply to this email, with your reference number.

Kind regards,
Liam"

i am chatting online with an agent i detail in summary my problem they asked me to choose from 6 options to classify it none of which were in s few hundred light years of what i described, i politely told them none of them are at all suitable, could i get some more useful terms to choose from, staff member sends same 6 options in same order, i reiterate politely, but same again 6 times at someone trying to get held with human rights violation ny a state entity and i was asking on how to find suitable local legal counsel that does it on legal aid... after 6 iterations i blew my top and layed into this wind up Merchant/borderline sadistic staff member! never going near them ever ever ever again!!!

Wat a terrible service waste ov time no help wat so ever she said she would give me a link to my email which we never recived told us she would be in library every other Thursday but they are not only once a month they are there told me to contact motor ombudsman which were no help at all we pay council tax to pay these people who work for these services and they just don't do their job and are payed for nothing😡

Whats the point of them?. Spoke to a chat adviser who might as well have been a robot for all the help and empathy they showed, and at the end said they were not legally trained and to contact a solicitor. It was a solicitor who told me to contact them for advice!. But their website says they offer legal advice!, or will put you in touch with low cost options. Not fit for purpose

On hold for 20 minutes. Line so poor I couldn't progress the call. Told to try their webchat. Tried that but 'sorry, not advisers'. Tried their form - sorry only available 5pm Friday to 8am Monday. Hopeless. Bring back Trading Standards.

Found out over weekend that ladies of a certain age group will NO LONGER GET HELP. This is due to the dirty old man in andover/NORTH Hampshire/test valley. Girls under 50 are no longer entitled to help. They are now expected to shack up with an over 60. This is abusive and im so glad I have back up. As for the local AA (that's andover advertiser) not Anonymous Alcoholic! Mind you where the name fits. Can you lads stop writing things on there, you made your beds. Time to lie in them!

They suspended all services in citizens advice in cornwall due to huge back logs, not publicly known , this was discovered after internal queries were raised as there was no ability to get a reply from the organization.
So anyone attempting to use these services this is why you can not get through! Its not been publicly known its being done internally yet they carry on receiving the funding yet are not providing the service , so remember this if you are holding on a phone call that never gets answered.
Report it to your MP if you can even get through to your MP office or even the house of commons offices but None of these services are working , you will more likely get blood from a stone than any kind of reply, its clearly designed to prevent people accessing services and clearly designed to suspress the populations disatisfaction with the country and govenment who "runs" it.