K. D.

There are so many choice of online brokers out there, Oanda stood out for me for their human touch, even for a small account holder. Brett Cummings, the account manager, had called a few times since the account was set up just to check how things are, he was professional, friendly and very efficient! I would have no idea how they manage this while most companies are cutting cost for client services.

I'd highly recommend Oanda for this reason and one day when I feel ready to open a larger account, I'd be happy to stay with Oanda.

Date of experience: 27 March 2025

So, as many other people did, saw the ad in B&Q and associated the credibility with my positive experience with B&Q, how that turns out to be an mistake.

Kristopher Charles Newby, who I booked for a tiling job appeared to be professional and credible at first, later explained that the deposit I paid "for the job" had nothing to do with him, its is Needhelp's service fee. Initially I found this suspicious and Needhelp's payment page clearly shows this is a deposit for the job, however, after looking their small print, which require going through a few menu items, the 20% deposit is indeed Needhelp's service fee(or commission as tradespeople call it). The info given on payment page was clearly misleading and false, this is dangerous and should be reported to Trading Standards.

Anyway, after that finding, Kris asked for £50 for the material, as he appeared credible and it's not an unreasonable amount, I paid him for this. Only after then, he stopped communicating with me with no explanation until much later offered to return the £50 and what a surprise, that have not happened after a few chases.

Although Needhelp's phone line was difficult to get through, Paul did call back and offered the option to refund the Deposit, sorry, service fee. Then immediately explained that they do not mediate or are associated with the £50 loss. Fair enough I appreciate the tradesmen were not employed by Needhelp and they are not liable for this reason. However, what about your advertised "Top Rated Tradespeople"? what about your misleading info given to create this opportunity for con men to use? what about your lack of protection or warning even advice to the clients to avoid fraudulent activity? For these reasons, I do find Needhelp partially liable for such incidents. For a 20% service fee, the value of the service you get is abysmal.

It was wrong of me to give any credibility to Needhelp, their services Need help as when the worse thing happened, being con-ed instead of unsatisfied job, they leave you on your own and delete all traces of the job like it never existed. Luckily I had saved all info beforehand, and this is going to Trading Standard and Citizen Advise.

I would never use Needhelp again and can not recommend to anyone.

P.S. a bit more on the Needhelp's misrepresentation
On their main page, it shows "Top Rated Tradespeople", however on 5.2 of their TOU:

"the Company does not verify the ability or
qualifications of any Jobber to perform a particular Job and it is the sole responsibility of the Client to do so if they wish"

Fair enough, they claim the tradespeople are Top Rated but they don't rate themselves, so who does? I would be very curious to see how Needhelp support their advertisement.

Date of experience: 06 April 2022

In Short, bought something, then realised something was not right then requested to cancel the order within the hour. Their words "we can never cancel a order".Hmmm, what about the consumer right to cancel? I understand items are no return, but they do think they can overide the law, perhaps there are some tiny words in the T&C that says such. But not one point anything directs me to the those, anyway. not worth wasting time with them. Some customer service talks like AI designed in 90s.

Date of experience: 14 April 2021

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about their network and coverage which I do think as very decent. But the service is absolutely awful, I was promised a credit for renewing my broadband but it was never given depiste calling a number of times, ends up just have to raise to ofcom, of course they are not bothered, if they were, the score here wouldn't be this low.

My advice? Go somewhere else, this company do not care for average cosumers like you or me, and although most people I spoke to was nice personally, but how they run the company I really don't understand.

Date of experience: 26 March 2021

Far too easy questions to have an accurate result. Was sceptical and the payment page confirms this is a scam for money.

Date of experience: 08 April 2018