Harrow Borough Council Review

If I didn't have to give them a star I wouldn't believe me! Called up harrow council maintenance team today and every single person I spoke to on the phone was so rude to me the attitude was unbelievable especially from a girl called hanna! It's like they either didn't want to help or they all hate helping people! Really don't understand why you would work somewhere that you hate with that much passion and it seemed to be everyone I spoke to! Clearly harrow are not treating there employees correctly or there just hiring any Tom Dick n harry with completely no people skills. What a shame and an embarrassment to the London borough of harrow!

Worst staff ever . Paid for another bin and 3 months and million of emails later still no bin or money back . Nobody wants to help you !!!

Finally I moved out from this Council. High council tax for low service provided and poor quality of life. Dangerous neighborhood with dirty streets. If you call the Harrow Council Customer service they say they are struggling with "Coronavirus" and ask you to go to their website which is very confusing and out to date. However, for applying PCN to cars they are not struggling with "Coronavirus".

What a joke! No words to describe their appalling service! What a literally rubbish council! No street cleaning no bin collections but top amount for council tax. If I have to take my rubbish to recycle center what do I pay Harrow council tax for? No service at all. Utterly disgusting borough to live. What's the point of building new houses and expanding the area creating more living spaces for people if it brings great harm to residents especially regarding the rubbish!!!!!

Called out a parking enforcement officer as somebody had parked right in front of my driveway so I could not drive out. They promised to come within 20 minutes as they have a rapid response motorcycle team. When they eventually turned up 4 hours later, and after the offending car had already driven away, they blamed me for wasting their time. Disgraceful and appalling attitude to us council tax paying residents.

Incompetent, inept and in need of a good sorting out! The local residents will never forgive them for the brown bins fiasco. Harrow used to be a nice place to live. Not any more!

Terrible service.

Their automated voice call system makes it impossible to contact them, or get through to the right department. They have a draconian policy when it comes to dealing with PCN's.

Harrow Council have ruined the town of Harrow - They have turned Harrow into a residential ghetto - i.e. lots of places to live but nothing to do. If you go to the local train station you will see it has had to have special railings and a telephone to the Samaritans installed because of the super high suicide rate in Harrow. Harrow council demolish anything they can to build flats. Two petrol stations have gone to make flats, bowling alley demolished to make flats. They allow three houses in a row to be bought and demolished to build 16 flats. They are crazy about flats. Mean while their only offer of anything to do in Harrow is grass and pubs.

The worst council ever , the bin collection service staff has confirmed to me that they crashed my green waste bin and asked me to contact council for a replacement, every time I call after a long wait someone says it's not reported and they will get back to me and they won't.
Alternatively I can pay again for a new one which I won't
It's been ongoing for two months

I probably have to go to my local MP for rubbish matter !!!

Incredibly abysmal and shoddy service and the most rediculus and expensive council .

It's not different to theft, is it ?

1 star only because otherwise you can't post.
I'm wondering if ANYONE at Harrow Council is reading these reviews - have you received ANY positive reviews at all? - Have the courage, integrity and courtesy to respond to the poor schmucks who PAY YOUR WAGES. One of the highest council tax rates and by far one of the worst boroughs to live in. I've been here for over 20 years and all Harrow council do is build more car parks, fine more drivers and try to squeeze every last penny out of their citizens by charging for garden waste collection because they are too DAMN INCOMPETENT to manage a budget.

I cannot get through to pay money on rates for a property to which I am executor. You would think I can get through as I am trying to give the council money! I find it unbelievably frustrating. I have been trying to pay this bill for nearly three weeks.

Wow! some bad reviews in here... I guess I am the lucky one as I had a great experience on the phone. The lady who helped me was lovely and very useful.... Thank you so much!

Harrow council department- disgraceful service, steal peoples money, dont give peoples money back when they owe it to you, do not trust these liars, they have stolen over 1 grand of me and are not paying it back

Complete waste of time. Never reply to phone calls or emails. Very poor service

Seems like they don't care too much about businesses, with no proper resources, unlike my local London Borough that has library resources and an SME Champion. The website passes us off to the general government website whereas my Borough has in house contacts.

Food bin waste not collected again. Harrow standards are a horror storey. I personally would give them Nil Points Sack the lot of them. It seems they are only part time amateurs. Anyone one up there ever had a real full time job? Angry tax-payer

All they care about is giving parking tickets...useless council!

They never seem to answer telephone calls! Terrible is actually an understatement. Been on the phone for over an hour! This is how the hard earned tax payer money is used!

Totally useless systems and staff, a public disgrace, very sad. Volunteers would be more polite , well informed and helpful. Please people of Harrow, vote for a better council !! One star is given to Waste Deposal staff who sorted out an issues last year with politeness, intelligence and effective action.

The worst service! My bins hasn't been collected for the last 6weeks and no one cares! I reported this issue so many times They keep sending me emails that they will collect it in the next 48h and its been almost 2 months and no one came!

Transfered after 20 minutes to the wrong automated selection, which disconnected me. Again on hold....after reading the reviews, im not convinced my question will even be answered.

Appalling. If I could give no stars I would. I have been trying for nearly 2 months to get a council tax refund and so far I have gotten nowhere. No contact numbers or email addresses for anyone. Thoroughly useless.

The website is absolutely shocking. Don't expect a decent or timely response with email. I wish I could give this place minus stars.

The council tax department are rude patronizing and unhelpful and do not send copy bills but always manage to send liability orders and summons !!!!!!!

How dare they have 1 star. They proceeded with my PCN after I made a mistake at 08:00 in the morning during Christmas BANK HOLIDAY. Profit over people always. They don't care about humanity. We're just digits and figures. Untrustworthy unsympathetic beaurocrats!!

To start off the number on the Harrow website is INCORRECT !
The bin service is as useful as a wet paper bag! They have a standard email reply to every issue but don't act on it. I suspect Harrow have got rid of the department altogether. They never answer calls, reply to email or deal with issues. I can only assume all have been sacked and the office is manned by a MONKEY!!!
PS - I want to give the council a zero rating but my post cannot be uploaded unless I gave, at least, one star!

Worst council in the world!!! No one can help you in person. When you try to ring them you can't actually get through to anyone as it just sends you in loops with options.

I HATE Harrow Council

Very long holds on the phone and then you finally get through to somebody very unpleasant and unhelpful.

Pretty awful experience in getting my parking permit renewed.

- They don't take bank transfers as a form of payment.

- They don't accept installment payments despite knowing the financially difficult times that people in their council are going through.

- She charged me a surcharge without even telling me before hand I was going to be charged.

Pretty miffed and annoyed at what is typically poor service from the council.

Harrow residents need to vote out these cowboys, there new web site is a joke, they don't respond to email, they send out wrong information, one section doesn't know what other is doing, all they want is payment and if not send it to debt collectors who then fine you more money and reply speak to council. Disgrace..

Overall negative. I've lived in different boroughs and I have to say this is one of the worst. Direction of this borough is turning into an urban sprawl with no character or uniqueness (with the exception of Harrow on The Hill this place is in a world of its own). Certain areas are more blessed and taken care of due to the affluent/influential neighbours and other areas are completely deprived i.e. Harrow Wealdstone. Council Tax has been hiked up considerably and I cannot see this sustainable at all. Since 1990 it has jumped 50% - an additional tax on top of the tax we pay to the government which is another point to be making elsewhere. This borough has taken new housing to another level and built on every available plot of land with flats and so called affordable homes with only a few allocated as affordable and at the same time not providing a safe, clean, value for money area to live in. Roads are getting congested as there are more cars per household with lack of parking to accommodate the increase). Byron Quarter planning proposal wants to see hundred of new homes!? How on earth are the roads going to cope! Council creates problems, we suffer and we go to the council for help and only for the council to provide a solution that is to their own benefit! Council should be held accountable and peoples views should cause a government inquiry - quite like an OFSTED - people are not happy, then there must be accountability and change. Its that simple.

I wish there was a choice for zero stars. Ordered online recycling bags. Didn't arrive. Online form to chase said bags does not work. No phone number for recycling department on website. Not even a main number is shown on the website. They want us to recycle, but don't make it easy and the bags aren't cheap. Useless, useless, useless.

Shocking service, their phone lines take you in a loop designed to get you to hang up. Absolute disgrace, but they are experts at sending out letters of money owed.

Bin not collected yet again! Allegedly it was too heavy this time....which is strange, because the weight is no different to any other week. When asked what the correct weight should be, was told whatever we think is right!! I was however More

Completely useless, impossible to contact, archaic website.

foor concil ther concil stop very very bed i dinnt see iny concil lik thes no bady helpe all loing f u go to harrwo concil u faling thes not englind cincil me be ander contry

Disgraceful, pathetic, totally customer unfriendly...... Words fail me. Such disgusting service Harrow Council is providing for the bins collection service. Reporting system is terrible.
Mina was so rude on the phone and she actually dropped the call after that. How can Harrow Council be run with people like her and with the kind of service she is giving to Harrow residents. Are the Managers aware of such poor service? Do they care or are they the same?
WOW! DISGUSTED RESIDENT.

Very disappointed with the service of Harrow council mainly on bin collection. Where are they? I guess, they do not care about these one stars.

Utterly abysmal. 30 mins waiting on the phone to alter council tax details and then cut off. Fuming!

this is possibly the worst council/customer experience in the world. How do they get away with it?

Unbelievably rubbish, council tax payment line doesn't function properly, and no one answers the main line.

What a rubbish service.

Very poor service year on year!! Nothing improves despite feedback! No brown bin collected yet again!! What is going on?

Inexperienced staff. dictating and shouting at me after providing all sorts of misinformation. Appalling service..

Rang Harrow Council @ 16:47hr, only to be greeted by answer machine informing me that they are closed! Business hours are 9-5pm, and from a professional point of view, calls should be taken up to this time.. Useless council with uneducated people working there.

Worst council ever . They just want to be difficult for everything. So many things they do wrongly which other councils are doing so easily. This people either dont want to work. Or they dont know how work have to be done. Even they have not issued grant to any business till date . And rejecting them without reason. Even they got money from Government for this grants in march. I hope everyone report them to Mayor of london and Rishi suchak .

worse council they can not deal with simple issues the staff are highly rude which i don't even understand how they managed to get a job within the council in the 1st place, they couldn't do simple maths which put me in debt took over a year to sort out along with the stress of having a child on the way and sent me a court summons for council tax. Ive now moved out of this harrow area and still find them a pest and on my case. TRUST ME HARROW IS NOT a GOOD AREA and AVOID the COUNCIL at all means otherwise your life be hell or they will make it hell i cannot give a ZERO star review so hence the 1 which they don't even deserve.

At best inept. At worst corrupt. If I could move I would purely to get away from what council has turned Harrow into.

Disgraceful,
Waiting for a parking permit nearly 2 months, irresponce staff never care about customer, awful service.

The worst council and worst service possible. There needs to be a complete overhaul. Shameful!

always have some pathetic excuse as to why bins are not collected,when the scheme is paid for by council tax-if the money we pay isn't appreciated then maybe residents should stop.....

You can't find a contact no. that anyone can use it. And if you find it after years of searching you can't talk ro nobody to sort out your issues all you get over the phone is automated lines and robots.

just awful online and on the phone, what are we paying council tax for?

Awful service, limited options on the computer system, have to wait for an eternity to speak to someone. Very very poor service.

Very bad London Council and Borough. Barnet is better. Too many things to say, I could be here all night. The worst service you can possibly get. Poor, rude staff and service. Bin collections are rubbish. The website doesn't work. They make a lot of mistakes. Jesus Christ... Just don't move to Harrow and don't live here. I lived in the Barnet Borough most of my life, and that's like Heaven compared to here.

Wish Google gave me the option to give 0 stars because there's absolutely 0 doubt this is THE WORST council in the UK, if not, in the whole of Europe. Stay away at all costs.

You guys gave some random Donnie permission to spawn the wither in my house...... I demand to see your manager

Fairly bad service. Face to face and over the phone.

The member of staff I spoke to was accurate and knowledgeable. She confirmed the details of my issue accurately in a later e-mail.

Slow, non-responsive, ineffectual. Gave me 3 PCNs at the Bridge junction in Wealdstone for turning right where I didn't realise it was prohibited due to unclear signage and road markings, rather than tell me the first time within a few days so I didn't do it again. Blatant money-grabbing on their end because of this. Rubbish everywhere, low quality of general upkeep. Guy on the phone gave me completely made up information about paying PCN, had to check the government website to find out the correct info. Obviously had no idea what he was on about.

In short, the council might as well be staffed by monkeys - would probably get more done and make Harrow a better place to live!

Absolutely useless housing options useless housing advice useless even going to civic center is a waste of time.even worse than Birmingham city council.the Asian woman at the housing benefits desk 2 is very rude also your required to leave your passport with the security guard never seen anything bad like this

Just moved here from brent, and can see a big difference. Wish i was back in brent to be honest. Unfriendly and unhelpful staff. The council tax is a rip off for the service we get.

I'd give the council zero stars if I could. Still trying to get my brown bin emptied since before Christmas. I wouldn't mind but I'm paying a premium rate for this service. Absolute robbery

The worst experience I have ever had with this council Phone line and website as well. More than 20 attempts to resolve a issue with a wrong council tax statement. I don't blame them for any other services that they are doing for the people and the environment in this council area. And I appreciate their hard work. But they should improve their services on the phone and website.

The worst ever council I've dealt with. You pay the council tax but they don't provide anything. Missing bin collection. My landlord has ordered extra bins half year ago, nothing has arrived.

1 star is not worth.
For more than a month automatic voice announces that the line is closed so homepage contact or via email to the proper designated officer and it takes several weeks the officer checks the email. Hence I tried to call several other council and they all answers right away. So disappointed.

Hi.Twice a month were not collected my food waste bin.Nobody from council helped me and I have to wait another week to collected.Horror.

1 star is much than they deserve. We pay that much tax every month evry year for this that is way to much I have make complaints with emails over phones about parking front of my house and still they don't do anything about it I do t recommend with nothing. Bad customer support bad everything. Less than 1 star they deserve

Website is awful, it takes you round and round in circles and it's impossible to find any bloody contact info to actually email or call them. Useless.

Not good at all.Putting roundabouts in random places,causing mess

Unhelpful staff and unbelievably slow at replying to emails.

called three times promised to call back but never did disgraceful harrow council

Worst council ever. Ok have lost my original documents for the 6th time. Can u believe 6th time and bloody always wants proof.not even 1 star. I never seen rude people like them absolutely horrible just after the money. And they dont let you finish talking

How bad can harrow concil get. Very bad services, it must be all the cutbacks

Does anyone actually work at Harrow Council - no one seems interested in answering the telephone or assisting residents with their queries.

Very bad service. They keep hanging up the phone and don't have enough staff. The people are very rude and they don't answer enquiries properly.

The shittest and useless people got together in harrow council even that one star is more for them but I don't have any other option......

It snowed 2 weeks ago and still no Blue bin collection. When you call them: 'sorry, we'll do it today or tomorrow' 2 WEEKS HAVE PASSED with this script. How can a council get away with this??? How can a council have 200+ negative Google reviews???

A disgrace. Seems a little racist by the looks staff gave when Had my registry. The certificate if you call it that, I mean a 3 year old child would have clear hand writing! Every time I look at the messy grammar makes me sad then seeing happy moments! Close dorm or recruit better staff! Thank god I don t live in this borough.

incompetent staff which don't know what their doing, they should work in cleaning washing floors

A horrible institution, the people you answer the phones are nasty. They act like a mafia organisation bullying people

worst ever site and customer service ! Can't get a basic answer, not even for business enquiries, which means getting money for council ! Total lack of interest for development !

Phone service is terrible. You can never get through to anyone. Automated service is rubbish

Useless bin collection. The green bins should be collected two weeks before, but it wasn't collected. Expected to be collected with blue bin this week, again disappointed. No use of calling the council as no responsible person to report. All of them are rude and not professional. Useless council and useless service

Shocking service. Cannot complete online change of address form due to some error and then unable to get anyone to talk to who is a human. So basically stalemate and cannot pay my outstanding bill and transfer the account to the landlord!

Really bad service. I have been kept on hold for 30 min TWICE

Very poor service. Given mid information. Don't know why I pass my community charge!