Foxtons

Truly horrendous.
As someone with a background in this industry who moves around a lot, I have worked with many companies. I have never in my life had a worse experience in this industry or any other.
Property was letted on false pretenses. Conditions at the flat were abysmal. They would not offer us any recourse whatsoever. Then, to add insult to injury, Foxtons will keep your deposit for no reason whatsoever. My co tenant and myself are two of the cleanest and most fastidious people imaginable. Disgusting behaviour.
Thinking of letting your place with Foxtons? I would not trust this agency with my non-​existent hamster, let alone home.
Bears repeating: truly horrendous. Use anyone else.

I’m giving them 2 stars because after giving me rental and sales valuations about 5 years ago they still keep calling me every 6 months asking if I’ve changed my mind about living there myself. They did give me a good valuation and service at the time, but it’s annoying that they won’t stop calling!

I had quite a bad experience here. While in the process of upping and moving my life to east London I came in here just to have a browse.
Obviously, I’m not a city worker or an incredibly rich trustafarian moving to be trendy but I got the impression that were it not for social decorum they would’ve spat on me till I left. Maybe if I’d visited in a cloak made of money they would’ve been more polite.
The place looks amazing though; fancy retro chairs, mini fridges full of posh water… but it is a frickin estate agents so maybe they should work on their staff snobbery more than the aesthetics?

After getting increasingly frustrated with other property companies when I was first trying to move to London, I found my early experiences with Foxton’s to be very pleasant. Rather than arranged to view one property at a time our ‘sales coordinator’ organised several viewings in one evening. This saved us an incredible amount of time and we couldn’t understand why other companies didn’t follow a similar approach. We found a property we liked that evening and signed a contract the next day.
However, it’s important to point out that Foxton’s is not the cheap option for property rental. In addition to a six week deposit we were asked for four weeks rent up front and a £340 administration fee. Shelling out this much money upfront seemed a bit over the top and hit our wallets pretty hard.
Having rented with them for a while now I’ve found their service to be a bit patchy. Sometimes it takes four or five phone calls to get them to do anything. For example, it took them three months to take our rental sign down (much to our neighbours annoyance). However, when our boiler broke they had a plummer round that afternoon. I’d probably use Foxton’s again because they made the process so quick and easy but I’d have to make sure that there was enough money in the bank first.

There are so many stories about Foxtons it is hard to know what is true and what isn’t. I used to work in the Shoreditch branch a few years ago so hopefully my inside scoop can help you.
Foxtons staff tend to be aggressive about their markets and forward in their approach to getting on properties. This makes them come across as pushy and arrogant. As a buyer once you register expect to be pestered daily if you show the slightest interest in buying or renting in the short term. They are one of the most expensive agents on the market too.
If you are a seller (vendor) they are a little bit more amiable towards you. You can expect to pay a high commission if they sell your house though. In the present market not even the mighty Foxtons can promise you a sale.
My advice is as a buyer Foxtons are not in the market to save you money but take your money. As a seller they are better because they will try and get you more buck for your property. Remember though they charge higher fees than most.
They have more choice than most and if you know what you want and have a strong will, they may be worth a shot.

With a reputation as the most competitive — and some might say aggressive — estate agents out there, I’ve always been a little wary of Foxtons. Yes, their offices look as if they were designed by Herzog & de Meuron of Tate Modern fame, yes, they zip around London in nifty little branded VW Beatles and give you expensive bottled water if you drop in, but what are they actually like?
I signed up with Foxtons Shoreditch during the summer as I’m looking for a new flat and this branch certainly lived up to the company’s reputation. Phone calls every five minutes, advice about the housing market at odds with good old common sense and worst of all, the cheek to pass my details on to a mortgage adviser without permission. And I wasn’t even in the market for a mortgage.
I should have reported them to the FSA but didn’t. The situation for estate agents at present is simply too dire as it is. I have encountered some knowledgeable, friendly and honest estate agents within Foxtons so wouldn’t write them off completely, but my agent at this branch — who has since left — did little to dispel the myth that all real estate agents are cowboys. And in that respect I have definitely experienced better…