Regus reviews

Miscommunications and deceptive contracts

After being a loyal and pay on time customer for 9 years we provided a written termination notice as our company was relocating. We verbally confirmed with a supervisor that a 90 days notice was required to terminate. Reasonable. Yes, but a contract addendum stipulated that the arrangement automatically renews on December 31 for a full 12 month period so the 90 days notice is really a fallacy. After not agreeing to pay for the full year Regus stuck a low life attorney/collection agency on us.

But it doesn't stop there. During the years we had to complain several times about our mail not being forwarded timely and upon their internal investigation discovered that they had an incorrect address in the system. Technically, after a 10 day period of not forwarding mail the contract rental becomes void. But Regus only follows parts of the contract that benefits them. In addition, we were wrongly charged for several months for call forwarding that we did not authorize which I had to fight to recover.

I applaud the virtual office concept but do not recommend such a group to partner with on this.

2 days ago

Reply from Regus

Dear Tammy,

Thank you very much for taking the time to provide us with such valuable feedback. Please can you give us more details such as center location, company name, etc.. at customer.service@regus.com? Our customer servce team will look into this for you. Thank you.

Deceptive Sales Practices / Awful Lounges

UPDATE 5/15/2013 - Someone from Regus called today to talk to me about this review. He was very nice and said they would go ahead and let me cancel my account. So, the major complaint I posted here about not being told by the sales rep about the one-year contract - has been resolved. I appreciate them for doing that.

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I signed up for the lowest end Business Lounge package. A guy from Regus called me on the phone after I contacted them through their website. He told me how great it was and it would only be $25 a month. I thought - wow, that's a great deal!

So he sends an email with a form for me to type in my name and click submit in order to sign up. Yes, the form had a check box next to "12-month-agreement". So yes, I screwed up by not paying more attention. But here's the wording of the only warning I had that this was a binding 12-month-contract that there was no possible way in the world to ever get out of:

"12 month term and get one month FREE"

That's it! In my haste I went ahead and signed. Now you might be saying 'what's are you complaining about? You screwed up." And that's true. But the sales person should have mentioned it at least once. He should have said, "to get this price, you have to sign a one-year contract." That's all... very simple. Just tell the customer up front what the deal is and be completely HONEST about it!

But this guy didn't say a word about the one-year locked-in contract. Not one word. Like a scam car salesmen, he never mentioned it.

When you call a cell phone company and inquire about their plans they're at least honest enough to tell you how many years you're signing up for. It's in the contract, sure - but the person you speak to also tells you. When you sign up for a health club membership, the term of membership is also in the contract, but the sales person ALWAYS TELLS you as well.

But for Regus that wasn't the case.

And to make matters worse - the reason I wanted to cancel is that some of their Business Lounges are terrible! They have all these beautiful pictures on their website where these lounges are in big open lobbies with windows, but when you get to some of them, they herd you back to a dreary windowless room. They just weren't as comfortable in person as they looked like they would be on their website. To be fair though, some of them were very nice and were in open areas with windows.

The company is morally a scam and legally in the grey area.

HUGE hidden costs. Inflexible you can't cancel the contract.Even photocopies cost twice as much as the shop down the road. What else can i say? Impersonal, wrong charges, there is no one responsible to solve your problem. The 'director' is a person in another company. They claimed to have Google as a client and i discovered that they didn't exist there because i wanted to sell them something. They still have the sign of google there (Athens tower block). Even now they have overcharged me for about $500 which is a very convenient number because it is not worth chasing. The best thing about Regus is that now i am working with a company with 1/3 of the cost. Regus: 99% facade, 1% actual (bad) service

Jonathan Cousar found this review useful

24 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Michalis, thank you for providing us with your feedback. Our dedicated Customer Services team would like to investigate your concerns further. In order for them to do so please provide your company name, centre in which you are based along with your contact details to customer.service@regus.com. Kind Regards.

One hiccough in my first year

I've been with Regus for about a year using their Mailbox Plus service as a kind of postal firewall between my newly formed company and my home. The service works well and the staff have been consistently outstanding. There was one 'hiccough' in the first year appeared to result from Regus ceasing business abruptly with the offices used to provide services where I had my Regus account. The transfer to another Regus office was not horrendous for me but it was not pain-free and was unexpected. I'd hoped that in times of crisis like this, Regus would have swung their significant corporate experience and really smoothed the way for customers (perhaps giving them a month of free service as a sign of goodwill). As it was, while I felt that the front and back office staff shared my pain and really did what they could to help transition to the new office address, I also felt that they were constrained from going the extra mile to make amends. I have great working relations with the new office and I'd encourage any customer to really take the opportunity to sit down and talk with their office manager, I've always found mine to be available and supportive.

What a con of a company!

I have asked 3 times in writing and on the phone for my contract to be terminated. According to Regus's contracts you have to apply once in a year and thats it! so for the whole 11 months you suffer a company that over charges. I am paying 65 pounds a month for a virtual office and have had incorrect billing issues, poor office use (no phone provided) and then when I ask to cancel am told its impossible. What kind of rubbish contract is this? I have found another similar company who are offering telephone answering with mail forwarding and a hot seat for a fraction of the price im paying. For a start up company these things matter. I would tell everyone NEVER TAKE OUT A CONTRACT WITH REGUS- THEY ARE CON ARTISTS!

Jonathan Cousar found this review useful

19 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Nargis, thank you for your recent communication. We would like to assist with your concerns and in order to do so we require your company name and the centre in which you are currently located. If you could send your details through to customer.service@regus.com, our dedicated Customer Services team will contact you as a priority. Thank you.

Regus has met all of our requirements

Flexibility, willingness to work with their clients, pleasant, enthusiastic are all words which describe Regus Victoria Square Birmingham.

A genius idea that helps small companies like mine have a greater presence.

Kristy at Regus in Staines has given our company outstanding customer service and I would like to thank her for that. Also Craig at Regus, Stockley park has really supported us. If it wasn't for these members of Regus my business wouldn't have been as successful as it is becoming.

If you would like to reduce your overheard then Regus is for you.

Start up businesses with limited capital for office cost, Regus has an answer for you.

One star because this is the sceond survey you have sent me about the same booking

One star because this is the sceond survey you have sent me about the same booking

10 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Kevin, thank you for your recent post. Your comments have been sent to our dedicated Customer Services team who will investigate why you have received the same survey twice. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Kind Regards.

great local service but renewal increases are too high

The centre in fleet is great and the local staff are fantastic and can never do enough for you. However thats were the good news stops, the call charges a massivelly over priced and the internet connection is too slow and far too espensive. Then when it comes to renewing your contract they want to jump up the price massively. Not good thats why there are so many changes in the centre people get fed up with the renewal charges and move out.

11 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Lee, thank you for your comments which are helpful to assist us improve our services. Shoud you wish to give us more details and/or need further assistance, please feel free to email us at customer.service@regus.com. Kind Regards.

regus service

service is good
in terms of facilities, toilets could be cleaner

10 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Tim, thank you for your recent feedback. Your comments have been passed to our Customer Services team who will liaise with the centre team to address your concerns. Thank you.

Great office services for a growing business

Regus have given us a great opportunity to impress customers during our growth phase. Supported by excellent front of house staff, professionalism and customer care are always key features our clients comment upon. Keep up the good work

Professionalism in a nutshell

All the people here are approcahable from the site manager to the cleaning team, when I have had issues (not that I have had many) I tell one of the site people and it is dealt with.
The support level is good.

Excellent

I am very impressed with the costumer service and also wirh friendly guidence from our building manager, we have expand our business rapidly with Regus and also i would like to thanks Mathew Barnes and his team for exceptional assistants all the time.

Kind Regards
Akbar

Regus - is about service to the customer

Regus has friendly staff to assist you what ever your needs
I fully recommend them if you are looking for office space

sometimes it is hard to get fast support

Even though there is an automated response which ensures that my request is recorded, it is already 3rd business day ending since I've submitted my issue.
It wasn't like this before so it appears that the things are getting worse.

09 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Evgeny, that you for your recent post. Your details have been passed over to our dedicated Customer Services team who will liaise with the centre team and yourself to get this resolved. Kind Regards.

Regus Windsor service fit for the Queen

Great team very friendly very efficient always happy to help

Easy, everything you need, when you need it

Regus make it very easy to get on with your day, no hassle, no problems.

Regus ticks all the boxes for my company's requirements.

I am very satisfied with the offer and service provided by Regus, both in the King Street Manchester offices and Preston office. The staff offer a very friendly, helpful and professional service.

Very good experience

I moved into the location in January and have had no issues at all

I would recommend Regus to all!

Great experience on the day only let down by poor ordering and communication experience

Can't fault the delivery on the day. Very straightforward, friendly service. Room good and fitted our need perfectly.

Only hassle was in actually booking the room using the website. Had a convoluted process that involved me booking, being informed at the point of payment that I couldn't complete the booking online using the website I was on and had to call.... being told on the phone I had to book using a different website.... Then the room I'd booked had become unavailable.... so had to move to a different office...

Adding people to the order later on and being told that the additional cost would come out of my account on the day of the event.... and then being charged at the time of the call... [No problem with that.. just being told one thing and something different happening grates a bit]

04 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Stephen, we are sorry to hear of your recent experience, rest assured we will review our on line booking system and process ensuring it's easy to use, informative and most importantly there's complete consistency between our on line services and our sales teams. Again thank you for taking the time to review our services. Kind regards Regus Customer Service Team.

Unbelievably in flexible

For the past 2 years we have had a serviced office in Melbourne's Rialto Tower with Regus Australia.

After the initial issue with fees whereby Regus didn't charge a credit card for the monthly fee (we were charged late fees) we settled in and have never used the service.

We noted that we were to provide 3 months notice; however we didn't note that it has to be exactly 3 months prior to the contract end date. We gave 2 months and were happy to give 3; however after discussions with the Assistant Manager and General Manager of Regus Rialto Towers we were informed that the agreement had automatically been rolled over (two months prior to the end date).

We gave Regus the benefit of the doubt and went with them - even after we were a burnt supplier of theirs.

Obviously there is not a great deal of margin in sub-leasing commercial space and therefore they need to supplement their income by charging ridiculous fees and hiding behind contracts.

I reiterate we were 1 month late in providing the 3 month notice; however we were happy to provide 3 months notice - even 4 months.

Yes the notice period is our issue and we should have argued the point when we signed up. I just wanted some flexibility as we have been a client for 2 years.

I am awaiting confirmation that the notice has been accepted for the "next" contract end date.

Jonathan Cousar found this review useful

04 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Gary, Thank you for you feedback, please be advised your comments have been shared with our Asia Pac team who will contact you personally to discuss in more detail. Thank you Regus Customer Services.

Untrustworthy. Sharp. Morally and ethically on the edge - make double glazing outfits look good.

Read the other bad reviews - they say it all! The people who run the centres are nice enough (I think a genuine commitment to training is lacking and many of them seem demotivated), but the company gives off an image that it cares and wants to foster long term relationships and my experience is that all they want to do is to take as much money as they can out of your wallet - and they don't even have the decency to do it when your back is turned. Get a lawyer before you sign. They are a hard sales business. Not my cup of tea. End of story. Oh, and the financial administration is poor, really poor, unnecessarily poor. If you just want to book meetings, they are actually pretty good, but hiring an office as an SME? Prepare to be bloodied..! Oh, and one final thing. The virtual office deal is good. I managed to get two months free on a year contract, but even without that it is good value for money, a great package in fact. You get the use of their address for mail and a telephone number so you look like a big outfit, even if you work at home out of your second bedroom, like I do..! Shhh...

04 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Jack, thank you for your feedback and although disappointing to receive, we do encourage clients to share their experiences as we are keen to understand how the service received impacts you, and most importantly so we can improve the overall service delivered to our valued clients. Our dedicated team can be emailed customer.service@regus.com and will be happy to discuss your experience in more detail. Kind regards Regus Customer Services.

Perfect – no reservations, I would recommend this company to anyone.

, I would recommend this company to anyone.

Good people, sometimes slow but in an acceptable extent

I've made many requests in the course of using Regus as my "home" office, and they have shown a quite nice level of response. Some reactions took a long time, some didn't come out at all...but the requests were mainly of less importance to me, at least acceptable to wait for.
Overall, I would recommend Regus for the serviced offices.

Convenient Office Environment

Regus Poultry - Staff friendly, polite & attentive and the office space is great for small businesses. Good facilities & very little, if any downtime. The only issue are the paper thin walls, meaning that there are no corporate secrets....

It's all down to the people

I've used Regus in a number of locations, and found the meeting spaces all to be acceptable, fit for purpose. and a reasonable price. However, what made the experiences stand out (for good and not so good) were the people. Isn't that always the case? A very warm welcome from a 'couldn't-be-more-helpful' Receptionist at one site in London, to an abrupt finger point and barely understandable English at another London site. I'm afraid it's mixed out of London too... some truly fabulous, some needing some work.
So Regus, time to have some people development sessions I think. Learn from your stars, empower them to blaze a trail!

04 April 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Emma, thank you for your invaluable feedback, we are keen to understand where we need to improve our services, systems and most importantly team focus and delivery. Please feel free to email our dedicated customer service team: customer.service@regus.com and help us move forward delivering you the very best level of service, consistently throughout our global network. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

Regus have been very supportive and helpful

I have found the staff at Regus very helpful. On a daily basis they have worked very hard to fulfil their obligations to their clients. Often they are very busy, and if they cannot deal with an enquiry or help immediately they will endeavour to assist when they have time.

Great Service but too difficult to pay for.

The staff are friendly and pleasant and the facilities perfect for working on the move. The only issue I have had is being presented with invoices to be paid and struggling to pay them, some for as little as £2. I am busy with work, therefore it sadly takes a significant effort to find time to focus on the invoices and pay them. I could not pay in Cardiff as their payment machine was not installed. I was told to pay on line but when I got round to looking, that was not possible either. I was then told to do a bank transfer but I don't carry around my security device. I was sent emails chasing payment and then telling me my account was suspended. Finally I called up and found out I could pay over the phone. Had someone called me to chase the invoices I would have paid them immediately over the phone. Please make it easier to pay you.

An office made to feel like home

From day 1 I was impressed with the Regus experience, it wasn't the cheapest office I had seen, but it certainly gave the perfect office feel I was after.
The atmosphere is so relaxed, the staff are incredibly helpful and approachable, and they handle the business with a high level of professionalism.
I would highly recommend the Regus experience!

The team are always helpful, pleasant and above all else professional

It is obvious that the team is very busy - but they respond immediately to any requests for information or help. The environment is extremely well maintained and visitors are greeted in a welcoming manner. As a Consultant who works for a large group - but in an office individually - Regus allows me to manage a high volume of candidates in a manner that supports the delivery of programmes to large corporate clients.

Conveniently located offices

The best thing about Regus is that many of the offices are in great locations. The customer service can be hit and miss and the booking system is not as easy as it could be.

You get what you pay for!

Regus aren't the cheapest, but they are the best! I've been a Regus client for 2 years now, and I love that you can walk into any one and know what you're going to get!

The team at my local Regus are first class, and couldn't do any more for me if they were my employees!

Very easy experience

Quick, friendly service. Good venues. Would use again.

Great people to work with.

The Regus team at City West are always happy and available to help out. MYB have quite specific and unusual needs as a Company, but nothing seems to be too much trouble for the team. I would recommend them to anyone with flexible office space needs.

Don't believe what you are told in sales meetings and the brochure

The following information I present is fact. If it transpires that there are any factually incorrect statements I will gladly update them. The only opinion I am trying to give here can be found in the headline and 1 star review.

Background
The charity I run was started last year and I was looking for offices to aid in my work life balance. I had 2 criteria for offices: price and customer service. In this review I will give the facts of what transpired in these 2 areas having signed a 6 month contract with Regus just over 11 months ago.

Finances
Regus: “a lease that suits your terms not ours”

The contract I wanted and thought I was agreeing to was for £456 (+VAT) for 6 months with 2 months free rent. This did not include internet (£15 per month + VAT) nor landline (£60 per month + VAT, an extra £15 per month +VAT if you want reception to answer your calls). I agreed to 2 internet connections and 1 phone line with call answering. I was not aware of at the time or made aware by Regus that once these services are asked for they cannot be cancelled (they remain on your invoices until your contact expires).

The contract I got was a 12 month contract with only 2 months free and liability for all the services. Why did this happen? After just over 4 months into the contract I needed to evaluate the cost of maintaining the office on my own and wanted to find out where I stood in extending my contract. Basically I wanted to see if I could maintain the office under the same terms as the first 6 months. At the time I was sharing the office with a friend to save on costs. He was due to leave leave after 6 months and I no longer needed 1 internet connection nor the phone line.

What happened when I contacted my Regus Centre Team? I was told that my contract has “auto-renewed” after 3 months and I was now contracted to my Regus office for 12 months in total. Obviously, I was not aware of this auto-renewal process as it is not a part of the contract you sign with Regus. This term/condition is part of the ‘house rules’. Each centre has them but they were not discussed with me at the sales meeting, when signing the contract, or when I moved in. I was not made aware of the ‘auto-renewal’ beforehand nor after it was applied until approaching the staff to enquire about my contract four and half months in.

Since that time I have remained in my office at Regus to see out this contract. After much chasing, emails and a meeting, 6 weeks after my initial it was agreed that Regus would adjust the contract to the terms of the first 6 months but would not let me break the contract. The terms were agreed that only rent and 1 internet connection would be charged. Those 6 weeks were very stressful, worrying and of great concern as I had spent 6 months unpaid to try and make a difference with the charity. If Regus had enforced the contract it would have bankrupted the charity. There was no apology or understanding from Regus staff and they never made an effort to address the issue until I sought legal advice.

Conclusions
Regus has many terms and conditions that are not made aware to you by Regus when considering or signing a contract with them. This is not an usual case as I have read about and spoken to many current and previous Regus clients whom have had the same issues as me.

I am now leaving Regus at the end of April due to these problems. They have not tried to retain my business. The main problem now is that I have another issue to sort out.

Despite Regus agreeing to not charge me anymore money in writing (I have paid all my rent on time and in full for the 12 month contract), they have sent me another invoice for £707.40. Why? For office restoration and a 3 month continuation fee. Did I ask for this? No. Do I want this? No. Do the need this? No. It’s part of the ‘house rules’. I sought confirmation of this charge 6 months ago and I am still awaiting a response.

The office is newly decorated and I do not use mail or telephone services with Regus. If I did, the mail can be redirected by Royal mail for just £205 per year.
Regus may say that this money is used to redecorate all offices before all new clients move in. I was told this when looking at my office but on moving in was told by the centre manager I would have to pay for that. It took 7 months before my office was redecorated. Additionally, a friend was charged this fee on moving out 2 months ago. His office has not been redecorated and is now being used.


Other financial irregularities:
The charity was charged for use of Wi-Fi when our internet was down (an issue on Regus’ side).
Incorrect advice from Regus staff on invoices and credits
In the last 6 months I have not had a correct invoice despite regular requests for clarity.

All this has taken me a great deal of time to sort out and is not an issue created by the charity. In effect, it costs us money to sort out the mistakes of Regus.

Customer Service
Regus claims in its sales brochure to have “World-class customer service that anticipates and meets our clients’ needs” and “... to lead with integrity and operate responsibly” and have staff trained to the “highest competency” in “customer service and communication skills”.

As before, I want to give fact not opinion. If you have read the above you may disagree with some of these statements as I do.

Additionally, I would like to add that I have always given feedback to the customer service team about these issues but have received no response until a customer services Co-ordinator contacted me on the 15th March to say “Please be assured that your feedback and comments will be fed back to the centre by myself on your behalf.”

When there has been logistical problems in the past (e.g. internet, phone, invoices, reception services, membership, decorating, etc) the Centre Team often took the approach of that it is our problem and couldn’t help. For example, if it was a problem with IT they would expect us to spend the day trying to repair problems at our end only to find, once we had exhausted all possibilities, that it was an issue with their side of things. A day without internet in the modern world is costly. We have had situations where it has not been sorted out for days. This is due to IT being offsite and it is always the client whom discovers the issue in my experience.

There was a need to follow up on issues as the staff would not update you of any (if any) progress they had made.

In terms of the staff: in general they are polite and try to be helpful. Do I blame them? Not at all. In the last 11 months there has been a turnover of around 20 staff for the 5-6 full time positions available. This means there can be neither development of business relationships nor understanding of your ‘client needs’. Many of the staff have no experience of working in this kind of environment previously. In fact, the only member of staff in the centre whom was here when I moved in is the centre manager.

In summary
My charity are leaving our Regus office. Why? Well we don’t want the cost and hassle of moving, the location is fantastic for our needs. We have asked to negotiate a new contract but have received no response in the last 6 months. If I’m honest, I know we have to leave now, if only for 1 reason, we no longer have any TRUST in Regus.

All we want now is for Regus to adhere to their agreement and cancel the £707.40 they have invoiced us for and to return the £912 deposit they hold on the day we leave (30th April 2013). If any of the customer service team at Regus is reading this, we would really appreciate you helping with this.

Kind regards,
Dr Jon Ward
Chief Executive of BEE:ER
Soon to be moving out of 2 Wellington Place, Leeds

26 March 2013

Reply from Regus

Dear Jon, thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear of your recent experience. Your details have been sent to our dedicated Customer Services team who will contact you today to fully address your concerns. Kind Regards.

No Loyalty, Sharp Practice, Hidden Fees, Hold Deposits Back, Not Suitable For Small Busines!

My business has used Regus on and off for over 7 years. The last contract was at Abbey House Slough. We needed to get out December 2012 due to restructuring the business. We got an email just after the 3 month to end of contract point telling us of the small print where we had to now continue on till March. So, extra 3 months on top of the year contract. Sneaked that one in a treat they did.

They are still holding my deposit of nearly 3K. They have sneaked in a couple more clauses from their small print. 1st one...business continuity. 3 months after the contract ends. You pay for something you don´t need. For 3 whole months after. Plus, they need to clean the office. That´s another big smash in the chops. Last I looked they were supposed to clean the office anyway. Now they are saying we have to deep clean the office. So all the time we were there they clearly were not cleaning the office properly. Crabby and dirty offices were not something we were supposed to be paying for but there you have it. They have said in not so many words, now you are gone we need to clean the office properly. Dirty people at Regus. Filthy offices!

So once they have scraped another 800 quid off my deposit I should be getting some of the money back. I won´t hold my breath though because they seem to have so many hidden clauses in their contract and little surprises for you at the end that I will probably end up owing them more money.

I offer this as a warning to anyone considering using Regus. Make sure you have a lawyer look at the small print. It will cost you less than the money they scam out of you at the end of the contract.

I expect someone will come on from "CUSTOMER CARE" now to say they are going to look into it. Well, if you believe they will do anything other than stone wall then you and your money will be easily parted by this outfit.

I have today reported them to Trading Standards and I will be be letting everyone I know that this company is not suitable for small businesses.

Regus is not a unique business model. Every reasonable sized town in the UK has serviced offices. You should make sure you visit any of these before you ever step foot in a Regus building.

This company is not suitable for small businesses.

Jonathan Cousar found this review useful

Efficient, good but not great

The facilities were ready on time, cleaned and well fitted, actually an oversized large meeting room for 3 persons.

Didn't get how I could have a coffee and pens/pencils were not available.

Quality facilities and attentive staff for conference room hire

For occasional conference room use, the range of venue location is comprehensive, and the reservation process easy to use. It is not the cheapest option, but represents a consistent standard.

Highly recommended for sole proprietorship

Regus offices are a great place to go for meetings and when tired of working at home. Staff is friendly and helpful. Customer service is great and responsive. No issues.