Citizensadvice Reviews 645

Can't even get through to them by phone or by chat. Spent over 9 minutes this morning on the phone and listened to the loop machine and only got, several times sorry no-one is available. This afternoon went on chat, and again no-one available. Phoned and was on phone 10 minutes and still heard same old recording 4 times and then 'sorry no-one is available', so tried chat again and got the 'sorry no-one is available'

Get rid of this I say. When i learnt it is also locally funded what a waste of money. The only time I ever tried to use the service in my life they do not even bother to respond. What a waste of local money. 100 percent failure rate. Close it down and save money.

Absolutely useless service, they have their own set of rules. I needed a third party to contact my wife which legally they can. They advised me that policies they have in place wouldn’t allow them too as they class it as cold calling!

absolute waste of time. stuck in a robot talking loop for over 20 minutes, couldn't actually talk to anyone, absolute joke

Waited in a que for an hour to get a recorded msg saying "we are too busy to take your call goodbye" what a 💩service

Gone to the Dogs. This used to be a really valuable service for people at really stressful times. Now it simply adds to the stress. No-one answers the phone! If it can't be funded and staffed properly then it should surely be withdrawn altogether and stop wasting peoples' time.

Great for advice when it comes to benefits. Sadly, when it comes to anything else, they dismiss your concerns and fob people off with other services who obviously won't help.

I sought help regarding a complaint involving Oxford City Council and was deeply disappointed by the experience.

The adviser assisting me was a former Oxford City Council employee, which already raised concerns about impartiality given the nature of my complaint. What made matters worse was that while completing the paperwork, she repeatedly entered information that I explicitly told her was incorrect and did not reflect my actual circumstances.

When I corrected her, explaining that the details she was entering applied to people on benefits and not to my situation, she continued regardless rather than accurately recording the facts. I was then told to simply amend the printed paperwork by hand in blue pen, which felt highly unprofessional.

I was also asked who had been helping me with information, which in the context of the interaction felt inappropriate and uncomfortable.

People seek advice services expecting accurate, impartial support, especially when dealing with stressful disputes with public bodies. Unfortunately, this experience left me feeling unheard, undermined, and with little confidence in the quality or neutrality of the advice provided.

My boiler has been condemned and when I rang citizens advice they were fantastic, they arranged for a oil filled radiator for me, a heated electric throw, £150 payment, and I carbon monoxide detector, this is all to ensure I am warm and safe whilst I arrange for a new heating system

Not worth 1 star
40 + minute wait to get through then told they couldn't accept my call and cut me off - problem unsolved
Also not available every day, just Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Absolutely uwful the advisor for gas & electric was awful she did not have a clue what she was doing had no information from the last three years from 2 other advisors information had been lost then i was surrounded by security cos she pressed a button on her laptop then her citzens advice manager came down and basically ****** me off i apologise to the advisor but walked off with no answers to by questions all i kept getting from the advisor yes yes yes im my view they need new advisors who as vast expertise in gas & electricity this advisor at Doncaster was not interested one little bit and did not have a clue i am thankful that the ombudsman as now stepping in as this now been going on for three years with citizens advise with three different advisors these 3 managers was not at all interested in my case they had no thought whatsoever for me mental heath in my view these three advisors & manger’s should be suspended best wishes gary mclelland

I am waiting on the line more than an hour to book an appointment also when they answered they didn’t understand what I am saying so I asked them to transferred me to another college they refused and they made my life harder because the specific person answers to me whatever she wants and when I asked her name she told me Teresa. Teresa what ??? Unprofessional , don’t want to book an appointment to guide me on the specific matter that I asked already on the citizen advice and they told me that they can do it. That Teresa that I don’t think that is her real name didn’t want to corporate or at least to try. I was waiting more in the phone for her to ask that to sort it out the appointment that it will take 5 minutes to book it. I understand that maybe she was in training but even If it was like this her manager doesn’t want to help a single mother that spend on the house home one hour to wait on the line and after with someone that didnt want to do his job.

*** Utterly useless ***

The person/bot on the phone will give you their opinion, but will not provide any actual legal or regulatory advice/reason as to why a business/service is either conducting itself lawfully or not.

You are better off using google.com or an AI to give you better advice.

Absolutely appalling service from the sites provider Citizen Advice.
Your online site is awful to the extent of navigating for people who are neurodivergent/ memory impaired etc
Buttons not working, site info all over the place, chat bots useless.

I would appreciate a response from who ever invented or run this site, the most stressful hours spent trying to navigate, with no response from site or phone calls made earlier in the day, plus email.
Absolutely disheartening!

Hoped to get some useful advice from someone but the man basically told me to do all the work myself. If I knew who to speak to over my issues I would have sorted them out. He didn't even give me any useful contacts at the council so I could contact them direct.
As soon as I said that I was disabled with physical and neurodivergent conditions he switched to speaking in a singy-song la-la land voice and kept making comments like "You are doing VERYYYYY WELLLLL on the telephone today,"
I might be have life long health conditions but I also have two Social Science degrees; all I wanted here was some advice on how resolve a problem with the local council as they are not being very helpful at all.
I really don't understand why this organisation continues to be funded.
I asked the man how someone with learning disabilities or who has basic skills deficits was supposed to follow his advice. He took that to mean I had the literacy problems and said in a simpering voice not to "do yourself down."
Nearly 20 minutes of my life I won't get back and still in the dark about what to do next.
More work in a Beecham's Pill...

Thank you to Citizens Advice for your help. Your advice about my consumer rights meant that my issue was resolved quickly. The advisor I spoke to was very efficient and explained everything thoroughly.

I sent them a message over a week ago . No reply and tried to call twice this week, they said I need to speak to the Norfolk one which was option 4 and wait . Waited 50 minutes one day then 40 the next no answer . Joke really .

Though the calling process, wait time and ways of booking an appointment are incredibly tedious and give you a headache, the actual appointment I manage to book with Kieron in Liverpool was so helpful. He was very understanding, informative and patient, and helped me understand what next steps were needed to be taken along with assisting with online stuff that I struggled to do on my own. He is clearly very good at his job. Thankyou!

I don't know why cab are there cos they actually don't help.Their phonelines send us round in circles.If finally after days,we get thru,they fob us off,shut doors on us,let us down,contradict what is stated their website re what they help with,SOwaste hrs ofOURtime&the problem we need help with COMPOUNDS!So, citizens advice upset and frustrate us when we have a problem we need help with.So they compound the initial problem we are trying get help with and make it worse.So citizens advice are actually harmful, not helpful!
They today have really harmed an already vulnerable & harmed, impacted person....but there are certain people, they bend over backwards to help.... But believe you me, it's not us British born & bred citizens who are lawabiders!!!!!