Brand Relations Reviews 

I had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with the Managing Director of Brand Relations: Richard Horwell.

After I was commissioned to provide a replacement business website for Brand Relations, he decided to get me to improve his girlfriend's website, something supposedly very quick and simple until he added more features after an informal price was set. Despite loving the new website, he refused to pay any more than the original simple version (which he attempted to trick me into offering at a lower price).

After it was clear he wouldn't pay anything at all, I had to take the matter to the small claims court. In the meantime, he added a massive counter-claim and another entirely new claim totalling over £13,000 for "loss of business" among other things.

The hearing for the original debt of £600 for his girlfriend's website did not go well for him as he lost all the arguments, his counter-claim was thrown out and the judge awarded everything I asked for. On the day he seemed quite bewildered about basic business concepts, lacked knowledge of what his staff were doing and failed to provide any useful evidence besides hearsay. The judge tried to help him, but it didn't make much difference. He stormed out shouting "Bias!" before the judge finished his statement.

The whole thing was thoroughly unpleasant, partly because of his numerous intimidating emails and partly because this was all over such a small amount of money - the website was very good and would have saved his girlfriend money (hosting and booking system) and helped with their online presence. Richard said he loved it right until he realised it was no longer the super cheap job he so inelegantly negotiated.

In preparation for his predictable response, I have evidence to support all the claims I have made here. The judge specifically affirmed my arguments across the board and without any exceptions. Arriving late at your own hearing is a pathetic excuse for being objectively unprepared and lacking any evidence to support the series of outlandish and unfounded claims.

Also, Richard Horwell made a false report to the police as a vindictive response to my taking the claim to the small claims court as a waste of everyone's time. I gave my side of the story and the investigation was discarded before the day was out. Richard Horwell appears to not understand the Computer Misuse Act 1990 - he hoped the police would find some dirt for him somewhere as he was probably too lazy to read about it first.

I strongly recommend avoiding this business while such an ill-tempered man is in charge. His self-written 5-star reviews here and on Glassdoor are laughable - each one says virtually the same thing in direct contrast to the negative reviews. He even acknowledges his anger issues in replies to negative reviews here (all positive reviews and subsequent replies occur within a day). It's rather pathetic if wasn't actually affecting his poor staff so badly. No one should take out their anger on colleagues, clients or business contacts. It's shameful.

I am so grateful to Brand Relation for my rebranding which I absolutely love
Richard went above and beyond for me, he educated me on what I needed to do as a business and helped me trademark my brand
The team was also fantastic
I have spoken to others who have used Brand Relations and have heard nothing but great feedback

Would like to say a big thank you to Richard Horwell and his team at brand relations who helped us with creating our drink from the idea all the way to manufacturing and beyond. Definitely recommend. Professional service and a lot of knowledge within the industry.

Left extremely disappointed.
I placed my trust in Richard Horwell and was let down spectacularly. I approached Brand Relations to help me develop a sports drinks concept that had a specific target market in mind. I was told by Richard that the concept had potential. To reassure me, he stated numerous times that he refuses to work on drinks concepts he feels have little chance for success. After signing the contract, I was surprised by Richard recommending that I drop, both, my original concept and target market to focus more on the Nootropics arena which he wrote ‘…is BOOMING’. After numerous email discussions and Richard’s assertion that Brand Relations had already done ‘… a MASSIVE amount of research in this sector’, I agreed to proceed with the new concept on the premise that Brand Relations would conduct research that would help define our new target market and capture its flavour and functionality desires. In addition, it was mutually agreed that the research would shed light on key factors that need to be considered as part of the concept’s feasibility such as regulatory requirements, competitive landscape etc.
Upon receiving Richard’s confirmation in writing that Brand Relations can do all the research required, I paid the research fees upfront and in full. What I received back, within a matter of days, consisted mostly of slides depicting screen captures of existing Nootropics products with a few slides on ‘findings’ mostly copied off Minitel consumer research report. The ‘research’ report did not provide any real insight and in fact did not cover any of the key areas we agreed. I wrote back stating the obvious and in return received a nasty email from Richard! After several emails back and forth, Brand Relations forwarded a second deck that covered some of the areas we agreed to beforehand but that contained very little insight. The research was still nowhere near being fit for purpose. I immediately decided to cut my losses…

I contacted Brand relations in order to discuss possible cooperation. They invited for a free non obligatory meeting. After the meeting their proposal was sent and I politely refused as did not need what they offered. Owner Richard has shouted at me and called me i****t. If you do not believe me check their Glassdoor reviews.

An update on this. Now the owner has written to
me saying that he will invoice me for that free non obligatory meeting, unless I remove the review