Barry Bennett Ltd Reviews 30

After problems with the choice of software and an issue with one online trainer who didn’t seem to understand disability at all, I want to say a big Thankyou to Andy for his patience and his time, it was much appreciated and he has really helped me

I'm not sure they know what they're doing. I have an adviser who has been helpful at first but then couldn't answer basic questions and now has just started asking the same questions that he has already asked and have already been answered. He's a nice enough guy and seemed to be trying a bit, hence giving 2 stars rather than 1 star, but it's just like having a conversation with a friend who doesn't know anything now. I doubt he has had much, if any, training.

I can easily have a moan with my actual friends who don't have any support training; there's literally no use for the guy now and it's just a waste of time. And as he'as asking the same things, he clearly doesn't keep proper records.

I'd say maybe use an adviser for a little bit to help you get on track with things, but then don't bother after a few sessions as it's just wasting time that could be used productively. I've not put the actual date of my experience as I don't want to get him into trouble.

I am deeply grateful for the outstanding support from Barry Bennett and the DSA, who connected me with my dyslexia tutor, Tanya Keers. Although I had completed a couple of degrees before starting my Master's in Sports Science and Coaching, I soon struggled to keep up. My grades were slipping, and I felt overwhelmed and left behind, which began to take a toll on my confidence and well-being.
Working with Tanya was a transformative experience. Her expert guidance during our one-to-one online sessions helped me lift my academic performance from just passing to achieving distinctions and rebuild my self-esteem. Tanya supported me in developing effective study strategies, improving my dissertation writing, and, most importantly, believing in my ability to succeed.
Thanks to the tailored help I received through Barry Bennett, I now feel equipped to pursue a doctorate next year—something I would never have imagined possible before. My university peers have noticed the positive changes, especially in how I express myself and engage in professional environments.
I wholeheartedly recommend Barry Bennett to any student needing support with dyslexia or visual stress. With the right help, success truly is within reach.

Very poor unprofessional company no idea what they are doing and I am baffled universities use them. All good when they are getting paid

My laptop screen broke over Christmas! I went through the system to request a repair and Barry Bennett contacted me the next day to arrange collection for the following Monday.

The laptop was picked up on Monday, and by Thursday, I’d had an email to say the laptop had been repaired. The laptop was returned back to me the following Monday. So complete, turn around in a week with great communication.

Really, really impressed! I have the standard AMD Ryzen laptop purchased through Barry Bennett with DLA, so perhaps they just have a lot of spares in of this model? But no complaints here.

If I could give this awful company 0/10 it would still be too high a score. Their customer service is the absolute worst I have ever come across! Our daughter has learning difficulties and relies on her laptop for her university work.
The Dell laptop supplied by these clowns developed a fault and was picked up for repair and they had it for weeks, it took many calls from my daughter to get it back only to find it had exactly the same fault. It was collected again and kept for weeks only to be returned with the same fault and now the screen flickers. I called to complain and it took 27 minutes to get through, only to be told a manager would call me back ,,,,guess what? No one called. We are going to complain to the university. I sincerely hope they loose there contract!

Dreadful customer care. My son is a DSA student and had to return his laptop as had been damaged. That was beginning October!!! Still not returned and causing major issues with study. Not answering emails from my son or his tutors. Disgusting. As a DSA provider they should be ashamed. They are causing massive stress. Disgusted!!!

Awful customer service and have had to send the computer back twice for the same repair. It's been four weeks since I last saw it

I received a fantastic service from Barry Bennett and the DSA, who placed me with a specialist autism and dyslexia tutor (Tanya Keers). Despite completing a couple of degrees before starting a Master's Conversion degree, I quickly realised I was out of my depth. My grades were struggling and I was getting left behind in class, which was causing me a lot of stress. Working with Tanya was an incredible opportunity and experience. Following Tanya's guidance and instruction in our one-to-one tutoring lessons online, I was able to pull my grades up from barely a pass to a 2:1. Tanya helped me with not only my grades and dissertation writing but also my self- esteem and confidence. Thanks to Barry Bennett I am now aiming to continue my studies in the form of a doctorate next year. My work colleagues have noticed a huge improvement in how I communicate with others and I am finding navigating the professional world a lot easier. I highly recommend Barry Bennett for any student who needs help with their autism mental health or dyslexia study skills!

Tanya provided me with NMH support. Over the past three years, Tanya has been an incredible source of support and encouragement for me, both in my academic journey and well-being. Her unwavering dedication to helping me succeed has been invaluable, mainly as I have worked through the challenges of my nursing degree.

Tanya has consistently supported my mental health needs, always offering a listening ear and wise, compassionate advice whenever I felt overwhelmed or down. Her encouragement has helped me stay focused and resilient during times of stress and uncertainty.

Academically, Tanya's help has been nothing short of remarkable. She has not only guided me through writing my essays, improving my grammar, and refining my academic skills but also played a significant role in my academic success. Her patience and constructive feedback have greatly enhanced my writing abilities, enabling me to express myself more clearly and effectively in my coursework.

I am deeply grateful for Tanya's support, kindness, and guidance. Her encouragement has helped me grow academically and personally, empowering me to face challenges with confidence and strength.

I've never known of a company to extort people's disabilities as much as this company. It is evident that the company is in it for the money rather than disability support.
Customer services is non-existent. You have to chase for progress or updates continuously. I am still waiting for equipment despite it being near the end of the academic year. Not only has their conduct (or lack of it) greatly impacted my studies and grades. It is exhausting having to chase for a service that they have already been paid for (at your expense of having a disability). It most definitely seems I am not alone with the way I have been treated. They should not be allowed to profit from those who need a little extra help with their studies. Avoid this company. I will be now making an official complaint with disabilityrightsuk.org.

I wish I could give 0 stars. This company is as terrible as the “delivery” company they chose to deliver my package.

To start with I submitted DSA order via email on 20.2.24. According to their site you will get a confirmation of your order within 48hrs but that is a lie.

On 22.2.24 I called and was in a queue for almost 30mins!!! I finally get to the front and the phone rings, someone answers and hangs up. I call back again and someone hangs up. I call back a third time and no one answers and then they're closed.

I fill in their contact form to complain about the wait time and being hung up on, up to now there has been no acknowledgement of that message.

I then went back on their website and submitted my DSA order through there and I received confirmation on 28.2.24, but again this is a 48-hour process.

I'm always concerned when companies say things like “Don't keep emailing as it will delay us helping you” because that tells me they don't deliver good customer service and they don't want you contacting them about it.

I pay my £200 contributions I'm given a slot of Monday 11th March - 13th March for delivery, the delivery company will confirm.

My mum waits in on the Monday, nothing from the delivery company. She waits in on the Tuesday, again nothing. I call BB and someone made a mistake, my package hadn't been dispatched so it will definitely be delivered tomorrow. Well, that did NOT happen!

My package wasn't dispatched until 13.3.24 so would now be delivered on 14.3.24. It's now 16.3.24 and my package hasn't been delivered because they've used a company that has terrible reviews and for the past 5 months have been receiving 1 star due to missed, delayed or unattempted deliveries. They don't deliver on the weekend so I will have to wait until Monday for an update.

BB knows the importance of the equipment that they're providing, but there is a lack of care and professionalism. Where is the customer service? I wish I had read the reviews on here before because I would've requested a different company to provide the equipment.

I'm now concerned my laptop could be cheap, refurbished or not work at all as some of the previous reviews have mentioned their horrific experiences.

It should be a privilege to have this contract to provide such specialist equipment for those in need, but you are negatively impacting the lives of disabled people and that should not be taken lightly.

I am stressed and upset because I cannot do my assignment without this equipment. I've had a panic attack, I can't sleep and I'm not eating because I'm so worried.

If I can't submit my assignment this time round I will have to delay it and that means I won't finish my course on time. This is the impact your poor customer service has had on my life and a generic apology doesn't cut it.

I'm so sick of companies taking people’s money and not providing the service that's been paid for. People make mistakes, but at least take accountability.

When it was realised that my package wasn't going to be dispatched on 12.3.24 I should have been notified.

I don't know where else I can make a complaint, but I will find out. This is unacceptable and I feel sorry for myself and other students that are suffering and will suffer due to their incompetence. My mental health is being impacted by this and it was all avoidable.

Barry Bennett was supposed to supply me with software to assist me with written work because I am dyslexic. They have been paid by SFE of course but they say the software is out of stock. So they have been paid out of my DSA but as this is a Tory Goverment contract it does not matter if they actually provide the service they have been paid to provide. Oh yes of course this comes after a phone call from someone at Barry Bennett who said all my software was ready for me to download. But the adviser sounded like they had no idea what they were talking about with lots of long pauses and strange noises. Well done to they shareholders for getting the contract Tory government contracts are the best, all you have to do is get paid a vast amount of money to provide a half a**sd service.

Contacted them today. The laptop my daughter has been given won’t even switch on. Waited ages for a repair. Still not working. This is causing her severe anxiety as she’s now behind. They were no help at all.

Writing this review based on my experience.

I have found Barry Bennett to be very responsive to support issues for the laptop I received back in May 2023.

I encountered a number of issues one being a battery charging issue and another which was intermittent and caused the laptop to not startup when putting the lid down, but every time I got a good response from the team, who were always happy to help and get the issues resolved.

The issues persisted and without any problem I have been given another laptop which will swap out the old one.

Technical issues happen but I have found Barry Bennett to be very helpful, supportive and considerate when dealing with requests.

As a postgraduate student reliant on DSA provisions to support my academic journey, I am deeply disappointed with the service provided by Barry Bennett Ltd. Despite applying for my equipment back in July, well ahead of the start of the term in September, I am dismayed to report that it is now November, and I am still without the necessary tools to assist me in my studies.

Moreover, I personally invested in an upgrade to the standard laptop provision, a cost that came out of my pocket with the expectation of a timely and upgraded service. This has only added to my frustration, as the justification of a “busy period” does not excuse two months of delay.

A company that specializes in providing essential equipment for students should indeed anticipate and be well-prepared for the increased demand around the start of the academic year. This lack of foresight has a direct and negative impact on students like myself, who rely on these tools.

In conclusion, the service I have experienced from Barry Bennett Ltd has been far below acceptable standards. Students considering using Barry Bennett for their DSA needs might want to look elsewhere or be prepared for potential delays that could impact their education.

This company's undisclosed policies and procedures have been a disappointment. The first laptop arrived with missing software and licenses, kept crashing causing me to lose university work. Despite providing photo and video evidence of its ongoing issues, their IT support team assured me that the laptop met DSA tech requirements. They promised the next laptop would work flawlessly. Upon returning the first laptop, I discovered it was collection-only with no replacement. After a reluctant agreement, they sent a second laptop, which also had compatibility problems. This completely disrupted having any of my assistive technology sessions and forced me to use phone calls for specialist skills sessions. After my last complaint, they initially agreed to replace the laptop, but today, I was informed otherwise, being offered a loan laptop instead, which I did not agree to. I was met with ignorance of taking responsibility, a member of staff using persuasive language and a poor debate attempt. When I realised their attitude, I requested the refund for the laptop but was told I am not eligible for that either. Given this situation and the time wasted, I plan to seek assistance from my university and SFE. From my experience, they were more bothered about constantly pushing upgrades than solving existing issues. I've also reviewed their Google customer reviews and have strong doubts about their legitimacy.

They are supposed to support with disablity equipment the support and service is shocking, computer not working, software very poor and customer service very low standard.

Awful customer service. Have a computer in for repair. Do not answer phone, messages or emails. Steer clear

I had extremely disappointing experience with Barry Bennett when I purchased a laptop that turned out to be defective. Not only did it take an incredible long time for them to collect the faulty item, but instead of providing me with a new product as requested, they insisted on giving me a repaired version against my will. The company totally ignored the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

This leads me to believe that the company deliberately provides students with faulty or repaired products. Such unethical business practices and lack of respect for customer preferences in unacceptable. I strongly advise against purchasing from Barry Bennett and recommend seeking a more reputable and customer-centric retailer.

Furthermore, Barry Bennett claims about their commitment to the environment and reducing carbon footprint. Not only they fail to deliver on they promises, but they also provide customers, including myself, with Chinese laptop bags that emit strong toxic odour. This raises serious concerns about the company's lack of quality control and disregard for customers well-being. I urge others to be cautious and consider alternative retailers that truly uphold their environmental values and offer products of higher quality.