Trusted Agent profile · East Sussex
★★★★★
463 reviews across 2 platforms
6-7 Queens Parade, Hangleton Road, East Sussex, BN3 8JG
Fox and Sons's office in East Sussex, at 6-7 Queens Parade, is rated 3.3 out of 5 across 463 reviews on two platforms, including 42 Google reviews rated 4.7.
Every review we hold for the East Sussex office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
5/5
TrustpilotA smooth, brilliant experience
I had a brilliant experience working with Fox & Sons to purchase my first apartment and felt very supported throughout the process.Special mention to Grace Ottewell, who was really exceptional - with attentiveness and professionalism, Grace was very conscientious and handled all communication with care and excitement - it was really an absolute pleasure and took so much worry and stress out of the experience. Thank you all.
5/5
TrustpilotEFFECTIVE - PROFESSIONAL - DILIGENT
Without question Fox & Sons, specifically the Eastbourne branch headed up by Thomas Barrett, were on the ball from day one. Living in the USA and selling a house from 3500 miles away is no easy task but they were up for the challenge, effectively guiding me through every requirement. Step by step Thomas and his team checked every box, receiving an offer in the first couple of weeks. I was most impressed with the communication from their office, a key component in any business transaction, it was clear, concise and timely. They worked well with my solicitors and were able to keep everyone on task. With that being said, I can highly recommend Thomas and his team at Fox & Sons, Eastbourne
1/5
TrustpilotI want to give this review to help the…
I want to give this review to help the fellow future tenants who are looking upto this Letting agent for getting apartment. I would like to narrate the story :) with not so pleasant scenes. The communication began june end via rightmove ad and on basis of virtual veiwing by letting agent who chased till i deposited token money. It was first eyewash to impress tenant that how much they care to give update. Then began u-turns of no commitment in deal / as deal could go wrong and landlord can take u-turn even on ur move-in date. The scared/confused tenant gets sleepless nights and yet sends mails, leaves messages about progress after referencing agency results. upon direct calls with this letting agent , It is informed with super rude/unclear /uncertainties clad communication that you are looking only negative and till now move in date isn't fixed. The painful part is just 2 days before the move-in date the agent informs that flat has failed safety check, imagine how would tenant feel just 2 days of move in date :).practically homeless in this Covid situation.The tenant had to book airbnb and whole place criteria as logistics and broadband etc were booked, so all charges and inconvenience don't even qualify for a "Sorry" from super insensitive /rudest agent . however having arrived in airbnb and finding a back up in different city :),the tenant again politely replied to mail/call by agent after a week and gives a try to have a look at flat. The agent was so rude/insensitive/unclear with answers about a glitch in Lock of door even. The tenant will be spending 2000 pounds in airbnb, moving place and having a homeless situation in covid-19 times . The tenant found a place which was available 3 weeks after. But when tenant said no to this agent ,the agent blasted and called tenant as a confused person. Also was so reluctant to return token which a tenant will get as the document signed for token was 3 weeks ago . So the story ends with tenant who ignored red flags of shady communication, unprofessional behaviour of agent ,rush to book flat with token and insisted to share debit card number as part of the process to secure token . who does that,are they not aware of payment rules /guidelines of not taking the card information and forcing customer. why the screenshot of transfer of token money not a proof ? And why a unsafe flat qualifies to be a property to be posted at Rightmove by fox and sons ? . Is this a gimmik that agent tortured /harassed a future tenant with uncertainties fear and made homeless. Also on the top the agent suggested tenant not to vacate the current property and even if it is booked ,tenant to should talk to them and wait for this so called agents call to be aware that when this property will be available (still no clear date). This is my story, i had to travel from London to Worthing with all my luggage and in airbnb . Please be aware of fox and sons worthing , read the reviews , and be direct with them.
1/5
GoogleI attempted to arrange a viewing with Kayleigh on Thursday for a flat. I heard nothing by the end of the day. On Friday, Kayleigh was out of the office so I spoke to Dimitri, still no viewing arranged. At the end of Friday, he offered a Saturday viewing but he needed the owners to confirm even though the Rightmove advert says they have an open house on Saturday, very odd. I was to receive a text straight after with the property address. I received no text and I haven’t been contacted since, it’s Monday! Appalling and very poor service!
2/5
TrustpilotMy Fox & Sons experience was not great.
I used Fox & Sons at 13 The Parade, Minehead, Somerset for their Tenant Find service. I thought I was choosing a local company and supporting the local economy. I was wrong. They are controlled by an organisation called ‘Sequence UK Ltd.’ After having had problems I checked Trustpilot to find 97% of the reviews for Sequence are one star Bad.The staff at the Fox & Sons were generally pleasant and mostly helpful but so much of the paperwork and processes were apparently completely out of their control. Information feeds into ‘Sequence’, that faceless unresponsive company. Sequence emailed me a copy of the proposed Tenancy Agreement to review and sign, but I wanted an unfair clause removed which would have forced the new tenant to switch to a utilities company rated 35 out of 37 in a Which? survey. I assume ‘Sequence’ would have got a commission for the referral? I was told that removing it would need approval of a Director? It took over 2 weeks to make the change and every day they sent another email with the same Tenancy Agreement, telling me I had to sign it. They ignored all my efforts to try to stop this barrage. It was getting too be a harassment. Staff at the shop just accepted that this was the way things were and could do nothing about it? Neither Fox & Sons or Sequence told me when the amendment had been made. The only way to pick it up was to every day trawl through the draft contract they demanded I sign. Utterly hopeless communication!The Tenant Deposit retention service included in their t&c’s are another sneaky thing to be aware of. They keep the deposit cash and you have to pay the annual insurance fee of over £50 for the privilege. A lot of the bad reviews are about Sequence taking months to return deposit money. I had my own DPS (Deposit Protection Service) account (free) and gave them the reference number but Fox & Sons much later said they would not get involved as I was not using their service. Surely this is part of what I am paying for? I had to sort it out with the new tenant myself. Not impressed.I paid them over £200 for a check-in report to be done. I’ll save myself half this next time and arrange it myself. The report included meter readings but nothing was done to update the utility company with this information. Agents I have used previously have always done so as part of the process. It took a week and various phone calls and emails to get them to pay the balance of the Tenants first month rent to me. Delayed apparently by having to go through Sequence process.My Fox & Sons experience was not great. Mostly good for their direct involvement and pretty appalling when Sequence were involved. I’ll try another agent next time.
1/5
TrustpilotThey fail to answer email or messaging…
They fail to answer email or messaging at all in some instances, otherwise doing so late causing properties to be lost in some cases.
1/5
TrustpilotFox and sons Taunton Estate agency
My review is based on a potential buyer of a property that Fox and sons in Taunton that are currently advertising. I intially phoned up to show interest in 45 Nicols Place, Cotford-st-Luke and spoke to Isabel who asked various questions and booked us a viewing, which I had a text confirmation for. The day before the viewing I received a text to say that our booking was cancelled, I phoned the office and spoke to a guy who said I'm just back from a day off and it was me by mistake I will reinstate the booking. We viewed the house and was greeted by Joein who explained that he is filling in and that he will answer as much as he could, where I explained I had a lot of questions. He showed us around, but couldn't answer most of our questions, lacked enthusiam and we came away deflated. I phoned the office to put in a offer, which Joein promised to phone me back before 12:45pm on the Saturday, but didn't. I then chased the office, which took a total of 9 calls until someone answered, which was Lewis, who explained he was on his own. I asked for Joein, but I was told by Lewis that he was finished for the day, so the promised phone call was false promises. Lewis put the offer over to the vendor who then rejected this and we forward another offer, which was now handled by Isabel on the following Monday. As we had spoken to 3 people in the estate agency I had to repeat myself on numerous times which I had told Joein. They have no personal service, don't listen and you find yourself explaining your situation over and over again because they either don't write things down or because your dealing with various people they don't liaise the information over to the next person. The final offers that we placed for the property were dealt with Isabel, who I can say was polite, but after a further two offers were rejected I was told that another potential buyer had put in a higher offer. I asked what that offer was to be told data protection comes in force and that she couldn't tell me? I'm not asking for personal details, only the offer on the table. We were then told that the vendor is going with the other buyers and that they were in a better position even though we had a cash buyer on our property, completing in 2-3 weeks and we were ready to go? It felt like a game of cat and mouse with the offers, they have no care for potential buyers and only care about their vendor the seller and getting as much commission as they can. Buying a home should be exciting and Fox and sons just ruined our whole experience. I shall not deal with this shambles of a company ever again and should of read Fox and sons trust pilots reviews before I even considered picking up the phone!
1/5
TrustpilotBad is not enough to define and…
Bad is not enough to define and describe the service provided by Fox and Sons in Western Road. They use all the resources they have in hand to make money at the expense of tenants.When we left the apartment, they sent a company to carry out the check out and they claimed money for "damages" that already existed when we moved in (but they did not mention in the check in report). As a way of example, they wanted to charge us £185 for an allegedly damaged skirting in the living room. Well, this was only the result of an existing structural crack in the wall that made its way to the skirting. This coupled with other reasons that were rejected by a dispute ending up in me and my wife wasting time on the dispute and getting my deposit back 3 months later. On top of that, when we moved in and because we were starting new jobs, we had to pay 6 month in advance plus deposit. We made it clear that we only wanted to be on a 6-month contract and after go on a rolling contract. Well guess what? we paid to secure the apartment and when we got the contract is was a 6-month contract subject to a minimum additional 6-month contract. They do not care about tenants!! Stay away from them if you are renting!!!
5/5
TrustpilotA great service and advice
I bought a couple of property from Eastbourne branchSteve (the BIG guy) dealt with all the sales hiccups I really impressed with his skills set and ability to solve any issues also Tom was helpful tooI very highly recommend this branch and will deal againthanks, guys
Hassan hopefully not the last property I have to find you!On a serious note Thankyou for your kind words
1/5
TrustpilotDODGY!!!
As in former reviews stated:All what counts for “Fox and sons” is money.After paying agency fees and deposit they stopped caring for us.With living in a flat which is mouldy and damp for over a year now, it is more than obvious that they’re NOT interested in solving the KNOWN problems.One room can’t even be used anymore.As we’re moving soon it becomes quite clear that the flat will only be re-decorated to sell it overpriced.My husbands health problems increased massively through the mould and damp.When it came out that there is an insurance with a certain company they even expected us to lie, that no other companies were involved.That is fraud!!! Although former tenants had the same problems and even got the Council involved, nothing happened.Fox and sons Maintainance company is useless simultaneously!
1/5
TrustpilotBrighton Lewes Rd branch. Avoid!
Awful. Enthusiastic and charming to get your business then incompetent throughout the whole sale. Weeks without viewings. Phone calls and requests never returned, lack of communication between buyer and myself, Darren was always "on the phone" or "just gone out" when I needed to talk. He even admitted to being lax on requesting important information from my buyers, taking four weeks to get feedback. Staff in office were polite but clueless. I eventually had to be my own estate agent to get my sale through by acquiring my buyers number and working with them and solicitors. Only interested in money..
2/5
TrustpilotFox and Sons, Bognor Regis
Fox and Sons, Bognor Regis are just not up to the jobThey are full of promises to sell your property within 6 weeks etc but once you have signed the four month contract the reality is they probably aren’t up to selling your property and you can’t get out of the contract.I lost confidence in them after a series of let downs. A sale fell through, communication was slow and inadequate. Following an offer being withdrawn, a number of days went by before my details appeared correctly online without showing sold STC. I often had to chase queries not responded to, viewing feedback and offer negotiations which I believe were not handled efficiently. Viewings got cancelled, and for some that did take place I received no feedback at all. A friend emailed them asking for details and a viewing and they responded with no offer of a viewing, and neither did they chase it up. Marketing was poor, and photos and presentation very amateur. I even had to ask them to use some of my photos instead of theirs and I rewrote the property details for them. I contacted the Area Director twice to express my disappointment and dissatisfaction, and requested I be released from their contract so I could try another estate agent and have a better chance to sell. This was refused. Needless to say, Fox and Sons did not sell my property.
5/5
TrustpilotI first found Fox+Sons late one day
I first found Fox+Sons late one day, when I phoned around all the lettings agents in Plymouth. Laura Bradley was the only agent still answering, working late, still open for business and that says it all really. I signed up there and then because I was so impressed. She has a 'can do' attitude to every question, and is well experienced in her job. She has a great team, and they work hard and efficiently to provide a great lettings service.
1/5
TrustpilotPleasant staff but I had a poor…
Pleasant staff but I had a poor experience. They recommend Conveyancing Direct. My file was passed to 4 different solicitors. That led to my purchase falling through and my sale left uncompleted.CD say they're based in Hastings, even the number on the phone is that number. In truth, my solicitors were based in Cardiff.My £1000 deposit was voided when I was gazzumped. F&S refused to get it back. So I did it. At the end, F&S even refused to deliver my spare keys (0.6 miles from their shop). 'We're not a delivery service'. At times they spelt my name wrong and basically failed to neither get the sale nor my prurcase over the line in time. So I stayed put.They distanced themselves from CD and said it wasn't their fault.£2000 out of pocket, no apologies...
5/5
TrustpilotSaltash
Kate and Tom in Saltash Branch were amazing. They did everything they could to get me into a property with such short notice. They answered all my questions, not right away as I know they are busy but they always got back to me. Would recommend them to anyone looking for a property in the area.
1/5
TrustpilotDon't use Cornfield Road, BN21
Late last year we used the Eastbourne branch based at 19 Cornfield Road, BN21 to view a property on Wallis Avenue. The property was listed at £240, 000. We are first time buyers. Peter Bushell was the person in charge of handling the offers. We offered the asking price. The pressure that we were put under to use their in house mortgage broker was ridiculous. Take no for an answer. We'd sorted out own mortgage and got a decision in principle. Still the phone calls came. 'We think it'll be really good if you use our mortgage broker.' I wish I had a recording of the conversation Peter and I had. His words were, "Daniel, we've had 12 offers on the property and you're in our top 3. You'll be number 1 if you use our mortgage broker." Is this even allowed? Never say never, but I will never sell a property, buy a property, rent a property using Fox & Sons.
5/5
TrustpilotLeah was very professional
Leah was very professional. She took time to explain her role and approach towards selling houses when she showed us round a property.So when asked to value my flat, she was honest and clear in her appraisal.
2/5
TrustpilotDeposit hasn’t been refunded.
I sent a deposit for a property to secure it however the landlord went with someone else. That’s fine, it happens. I Was told I would have a refund in full of my deposit £415.
1/5
TrustpilotFox and Sons are the most incompetent…
Fox and Sons are the most incompetent letting agents in Brighton. There is a reason there is so many one star reviews on google, mostly from tenants. They care about the rich landlords, NOT the tenants. They allowed tenants to move into a property WITHOUT ensuring they had paid a deposit which is just one of the many errors made which led to a tenancy from absolute hell and a loss of £2,000. This is due to their absolute lack of care which is made worse by their extortionate fees. A word which comes up again and again in all of the 1 star reviews, INCOMPETENCE. They do not care about giving a good service let alone one that their clients deserve. Nearly half of their reviews are 1 star and this speaks volumes.
1/5
TrustpilotUnfortunately this estate agents harass…
Unfortunately this estate agents harass you if they get sniff of your either wishing to sell or rent your house.. got knows how they know. If you go on the market with another agent, they will cold call at your door to steal the business. We were considering renting our house unless we got the right price at selling (selling through local fab Exp agent in Salisbury, Adam Budd).. I don't know how F&S caught wind of this potential renting plan but they harassed me with calls and even turned up at my front door. Unbelievably unprofessional company who lie, cheat and cold-call to get a sale. Bad reputation.
5/5
TrustpilotKemp Town branch
I can only judge Fox and Sons Kemp Town based on my own experiences of buying a property through them and then letting it.And they have proved to be excellent in both cases. Ed showed me the property and Mike helped me finance it. No unnecessary tooing and froing and the process was smooth.Renting the property was equally easy. It was rented with a month at the price they suggested it should go for. Jenna and her team have proved helpful with deliveries and suggesting builders too.All in all I'm very pleased so far.
5/5
TrustpilotGreat job in difficult circumstances
Thank you to Carly and Kayleigh at the Eastleigh branch. The price evaluation was spot on and they got us exactly what we were looking for amidst Brexit. The house sale went through 2 weeks before our mortgage term expired and we started paying higher mortgage rates. They were also fantastic at working between myself and my ex to ensure things progressed and we were both kept up to date even once the Coronavirus lockdown began.
5/5
TrustpilotThank you Taila for all your hard work…
Thank you Taila for all your hard work dealing with an anxious landlady. Despite failing boilers, issues with the windows and guarantors you got it over the line. Thank for your help PJ
1/5
TrustpilotStaff terrible at communicating…
Staff terrible at communicating resulting in huge bills. misinforming throughout the renting process about insurance policies which are a scam resulting in surprise charges. We rented a property and was told to not worry about normal wear and tear for example paint coming off in kitchen due to not being fit for purpose as not washable/ oil based (so unhygienic!). When raised to them in inspection they said it’s been kept very well and will be fine because we have insurance and we get hit with a £450 bill to repaint the whole property and ceilings and all woodwork….. This is despite us already paying £250 for the insurance in the first place which they told us covers things like normal wear and tear and explicitly told us painting would be covered and ‘not to worry!’Due to bad communication even had a house viewing at our property that they expect to come to any time and an hour after the agreed slot without just dropping a quick text or call and forced entry into the property when I was recovering from a surgery and explicitly told them not to enter without someone present to let them in. Overall terrible experience the agent can make a huge difference on your experience renting, ultimately the bad communication and lack of clarity and transparency resulted in surprise bills.
Where the same review appears twice we show it once. We leave out reviews that name another agent or another of the brand's offices.
