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Choices

Agent rating: 2.3 out of 5.0 based on 31 ratings. This website contains 31 user reviews of Choices.

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Choices

Choices was established in June 1989 with a mission to create a new kind of estate agency, one built on a relationship of trust where we could offer our clients all the services they needed under one roof together with the advantages of shorter lines of communication, economies of scale and of course cost effectiveness.

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This Agent ranked 8129 out of 9267 in the UK

Overall Customer Rating

2.26 out of 5.00

11 recommend
20 disapprove

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Customer Reviews (Page 0 of 2)
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A 4-star review by 'Mrs Law' 5/2/2012

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

I’d like to express my gratitude for the good service Esme Hinton provided me as my Estate Agent. I now have a property that is an example of something that is too good to be true. She took great care in my case, promptly responded to my requests and showed kind understanding that I needed so much.

It is important to note, however, that I was in urgent need of an alternative accomodation and your tireless effort helped me to finally relieve the stress and have a solution to my problem.

For that, I thank you.

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A 4-star review by 'Lynda' 5/2/2012

Branch:

41 - 43 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

Debbie Stanley at choices in croydon brighton road, special negotiator, is a nice and warm person to deal with, she is professional and has got customer relation skills , she makes you feel valued and encourage you in every way, her determination to see your property rented is amazing. i have only been dealing with Debbie on the phone but she makes me feel i have known and done business with her for a very long time.
I will say she is one of the best negotiator,s you working for you.
Good work and keep it up.

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A 5-star review by 'Andrea Dunbavin' 2/2/2012

Branch:

2d Carshalton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

I have been with Choices Sutton for just over two years and what a fantastic service I have received!!
I left my family home under very upsetting circumstances, Choices were fantastic on both a personal and professional level. I walked in at 11am and by 5pm I was entering the door of my new home.

Every stage of the rental process there has always been someone who makes it as simple as possible with the upmost professionalism with a personal warmth.

I am sad to have to terminate my tenancy and would just like to say a massive thank you for everything!!
I would highly recommend to anyone looking to rent to use Choices.
I haven’t experienced their service in the buyer’s market but sure their service is second to none.

THANK YOU CHOICES SUTTON!!!

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A 1-star review by 'Propman1' 1/2/2012

Branch:

41 - 43 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Choices estate agents/ letting agents seem to use every opportunity to charge an extra fee even though i am using a so called full management service. In addition they are charging six months in advance and have not even looked at rent reviews in years, they do nothing for you (except the legally enforceable stuff like gas certificates) unless you push them.
Different departments are in different offices in a different towns, so you don't get joined up thinking on any issue, it shows they are effectively too big to provide the local level service required.
To make it worse they recently wrote to me to say they are putting up their charges, by an extra 2% (which equates to closer to 20% for their income) whilst telling me the tenants belong to them and they can do what they like! i will be looking into this very closely and wont take it lying down.
I would be interested to know if anyone has similar experiences of this increase occurring

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A 1-star review by 'Ex Customer from Horley' 31/1/2012

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

As a new landlord, they were great. We have been using them for 9 years and to begin with, they were very helpful as we had no idea what we were doing or how things worked. However, once you know what you are doing, you can see though the glossy brochures and sales pitches. They are DREADFUL. Fees taken where no work has been done, annual tie-ins which mean it is not cost effective to move unless the tenacy happens to run out at the same time, staff who do not know what the landlords legal obligations are (so they just do more work and charge more unecessary fees). We also ended up letting from them for a period of 1 year whilst waiting for our own house purchase to go through and saw the same ethos from the tenants perspective. If you want to give them a go, you could probably do worse as they have good coverage and are great at getting the tenants in but be really careful and check everything they put in front of you and mind out for the 'landlord care' and 'property management' teams! They are awful.

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A 5-star review by 'Samuel' 30/1/2012

Branch:

115a Brighton Road Coulsdon

Services:
Lettings (Prospective customer)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

Very helpful and caring. They were able to find a good accomodation with reasonable price for me within a short period.
I was happy with the service I received.

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A 5-star review by 'Ashley' 29/1/2012

Branch:

115a Brighton Road Coulsdon

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Staff Member

Esme Hinton

Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

This was our first experience dealing with estate agents to rent a property and I must say it was extremely pleasant. The young estate agent that assisted us was Esme Hinton. She was extremely helpful, very sincere and transparent about the whole situation. Her very endearing nature made us feel as though we could trust her 100% and, in the end. she helped us acquire a beautiful property in Coulsdon to rent. She's a credit to the company and,as a result, we will definitely be using this company again. Ashley and Sharon.

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A 5-star review by 'Daniel' 28/1/2012

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

"I'm very new in the property market therefore I decided to join Choices without knowing what to expect. Being without knowledge towards deals, locations and prices, choices and specially Sasha has given me a good idea how the property market works throughout daily information in properties and also suggestions on better deals.
Without a doubt I will be working very close with them. many thanks indeed"

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A 5-star review by 'Mr Hussain' 28/1/2012

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

I really love the way the team work especialy SASHA shes a great piece of work. Does things that she says soon as possible. Rings back when she promises to.......

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A 1-star review by 'Ben31uk' 12/1/2012

Branch:

5-7 Broadwalk

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

"Lack of transparency on fees"

Landlord alert! Choices Lettings are a nightmare for fees (and for tenants too I understand). They will charge you an annual sub-let letting fee upfront, regardless of how long the tenancy lasts (in my case tenants only signed for 6 months). So, £900+ upfront for a LET ONLY fee. And its a rolling annual contract. I dont like how the tenant pays them the rent and then they pay me... 7-10 days after the tenant has paid.

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A 1-star review by 'Brown' 28/12/2011

Branch:

41 - 43 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

This is the worst agent you'll ever come across. You never speak to the same person twice as they have such a high staff turnover. We have lost thousands through them letting our house to bad tenants who then didn't pay rent. They just put anyone in and couldn't care less if things go wrong. It is difficult to describe how inefficient they are - paperwork faulty, inspections not done but charged for - the list goes on an on. Don't use them!

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A 4-star review by 'SarahB' 8/11/2011

Branch:

41 - 43 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

Choices found me a tenant very quickly. Unfortunately, it didn't work out with that tenant, but this was not Choices' fault, but they did everything to resolve the situation as quickly as they could and found me the perfect tenant.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.

Go Sam!

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A 1-star review by 'SeeYouInCourt' 12/10/2011

Branch:

115a Brighton Road Coulsdon

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

After two months of Choices completely ignoring my requests (& then complaints) I've been forced to seek damages through the civil courts.

I have never been subjected to such overwhelming incompetency nor dishonesty.

There are plenty of other letting agencies & properties on the market - do not use this company.

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A 1-star review by 'Mrs B101' 12/10/2011

Branch:

115a Brighton Road Coulsdon

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Don't rent from this totally unprofessional outfit, ever. I moved into a Choices-managed property 11 weeks ago and wish I knew then what I know now.

On the day we collected the keys we signed the contract at Choices offices before going to the property, which I now realize was a huge mistake. When we arrived at the property the drive was covered in rubbish and the property had been left in a terrible state by the previous tenants (including a busted lock on the bathroom door, tiles missing from the bathroom walls, holes in the walls and smashed covers on external utility meters). Choices... (read more)

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A 1-star review by 'PD' 5/7/2011

Branch:

99 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Choices Redhill

Incompetant? Liars? Both !?

This is my first time writing any sort of review but my experience with Choices Redhill needs to be shared to prevent anyone else from using this shower of B@5t4rD5.

I recently contacted Choices with a view to renting a property,first viewing was fine and was pretty keen on the place, I requested a second vieiwing to take measurements but no-ne turned up, after calling soemone from a different office turned up almost an hour after the agreed time. Inconvenient but not the end of the world.
I decided to go ahead with the rental and was... (read more)

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A 1-star review by 'Loz' 3/5/2011

Branch:

99 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

I moved out of a property in early Feb and still haven't had my deposit back. They deal with my phone calls by fobbing me off each time and never calling me back. I'm looking at taking them to court over it because right now, I can't see how I'm going to get my money back. Also, they refused to do a check in/check out inventory at the beginning and end of my tenancy which is just ridiculous and has only added to my deposit woes.

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A 1-star review by 'Disappointed' 5/4/2011

Branch:

41 - 43 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Extremely disappointed in their service. The worst I've ever experienced so far. Will never deal with them again.

When I first viewed the property the kitchen and the bathroom were dirty. I asked them if it was going to be clean, they said it would certainly be. When I moved in, everything wasn't as promised, kitchen and bathroom were still dirty,when I asked them about it, they said it wasn't their responsibility and they did nothing about it.

When I had 2 months left for my tenancy, they were already bugging me about viewings. It was very disturbing. While showing the property to potential tenants, they were extremely unprofessional, noisy, and impolite. They don't knock on doors or ring the bell, they just barge in, as if the property is their own. They would lie in my face and say that they called me about a viewing when they certainly didn't. They are nothing but an embarrassment.

They would give you misleading information, untrustworthy, over-priced. Very rude, unprofessional, money-grabbers.

Seriously, their banner says it all.. Comic Sans as a font, really?!

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A 1-star review by 'kim' 12/9/2010

Branch:

99 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Useless! Had a 1st of may deadline to move, had to spend hours phoning them to get them to sort the paper work. After we moved in we were expected to sort every problem out ourselves, only time anything was done was when we contacted the landlady directly.

Had to threaten to take to court to get our deposit back after many phone calls (there was no issue with the house therefore no reason for a delay).

Never ever rang back, only got an email back when I threatened them. Never again!

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A 1-star review by 'Jeffy' 8/9/2010

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Offered a '

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A 1-star review by 'Disgusted' 29/7/2010

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

If I could have rated them any worse than terrible (1 star), I would have.

We went to them in June explicitly stating that we needed a flat by mid July, to meet the end of our previous tenancy. We put a holding deposit on a flat that we were told would be available by 24th July. After a couple of weeks and having not heard from them, we called back for a specific date to be told that it was now 27th. On this basis, we organised to have all of our furniture delivered from storage on 27th and planned to stay in a hotel (in peak season) for a few days. After another couple of weeks, we called... (read more)

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A 4-star review by 'MrsB' 14/7/2010

Branch:

2d Carshalton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

I feel Choices have done us proud!

They have always been very helpful and have always found us a tenant very quickly. They do take some time in answering quires, but I have to be fair and say they have got back to me with a good response. I can understand they must be busy!

They work efficiently and I have just given one of my properties to them at the Kingston office and they found me a tenant straight away. I'm happy with the service I am receiving from this office and will hopefully use them in the future, if there standard stays the same.

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A 1-star review by 'rocker21' 1/7/2010

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Disgusting company to deal with, if they could let a dog house, they would, fleas "n" all. I will never let anyone deal with them.

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A 4-star review by 'doyler' 23/4/2010

Branch:

115a Brighton Road Coulsdon

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

Surprised to see some of the comments here as I have a number of properties let through their Croydon office and they have generally found them to be efficient. I don't think any agent I've dealt with has been perfect when it comes to things like getting back to you straight away, but they've always found me good tenants in a short amount of time. There seems to be a few of them who are really switched on and some that just come and go, so if you do get someone decent I would suggest just dealing with them.

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A 1-star review by 'royboy' 14/4/2010

Branch:

99 Brighton Road

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

When you are using an estate agent, professionalism comes to mind. You know, they deal with many clients and they are trained to a high standard, we hope! It's their job, and they should know it inside out.

And if your like me, the normal man of the street, we think we are going to be looked after whilst using their services. But I was so wrong. And after my ordeal, I found out, that many of us were wrong. And when I mean wrong, I mean using Choices!

I myself am a good tradesman, and if I employ someone else on one of my jobs, and he makes a mistake, I have to correct it in one way or... (read more)

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A 5-star review by 'alan7' 4/2/2010

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? Yes

I am a multi landlord and have soley used Choices to let my properties for the last 5 years. Choices always find me tenants very quickly and i have to say I am very impressed with they overall service.

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A 1-star review by 'KBolt' 18/1/2010

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

They missed multiple appointments, as a new client, without any notification. Try to charge for unnecessary services during the tenancy. Do not look after my, or my landlords', legal interests very well. At the end of the tenancy; tried to view the property, immediately, without any notification.

The company appears to have no interest in its role in acting responsibly on the behalf of two clients, but would rather concentrate on making as much money as possible from both.

Some of the staff are rude, but, I suspect this is because they are treated badly by the company that employs them.

I am also a landlord myself with many let properties. I will not tolerate their unprofessional & unethical behaviour, either as a landlord, or as a tenant.

Avoid!

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A 1-star review by 'Steve' 19/12/2009

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Choices are appalling.
We recently moved out of a property after 15 months of renting it. Before moving in we were told that the missing doors to the fitted wardrobe would be fitted soon after, as they were on order. No problem we thought, but it never happened, despite repeated requests.
The property was being refurbished, and we were promised that the carpets which were disgusting would be replaced. This only happened, and the house was cleaned after we threatened to pull out (after unfortunately handing over the deposit an first month's rent at the office before going to the property on move in day).
They refused to give us the landlord's address, despite this being a legal requirement.
They didn't answer our complaints, despite their procedure required by their membership of NALS promising an answer within 21 days.
Unneccesary charges which we disputed during the tenancy were never chased for payment, but were deducted from the deposit.

They also advertise properties as available that have been let.

Don't use them.

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A 1-star review by 'NeverChoices' 15/3/2009

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Very friendly when we first viewed the flat, but horribly mismanaged our referrals/references. The people in their office seemed completely unaware their own contract obligations and were only concerned with cash. We will never let from Choices and/or suggest them to anyone. Avoid this company (at least the Brighton offices) like the plague.

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A 1-star review by 'alex' 4/2/2009

Services:
Lettings (as a Landlord)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Firstly - on the plus side choices did fill my property very quickly and got a very good rate. As a land lord this is very important however the rest of their service is pretty poor.

Our tenants have complained to us that they have been treated badly by Choices. They have sited general rudeness and requested unnecessary documentation at cost to them when the tenants had been with Choices for several years and living just 500 yards from my house.

As the property owner we were keen that Choices maintain an open and clear line of communication with us so we know what is happening, who... (read more)

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A 1-star review by 'choices suck!' 4/10/2008

Services:
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

We recently used choices and they were awful!
The staff are all school kids with no manners and we found them very rude and unhelpful. They didn't even call us to tell us the landlord had taken the property we was supposed to be moving in to off the market. We rang them on the day of the move only to find out we had no where to go. Would never use this company again if they paid us. Avoid them!!

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A 1-star review by 'Fliss' 25/10/2007

Branch:

38 Croydon Road

Services:
Lettings (Prospective customer)
Experience:

Would you use the agent again? No

Choices advertise properties already let by other agents, and display pictures years out of date. Their properties are dirty, and their staff rude. Avoid like the plague!

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Agent Details for Choices

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Review Statistics for Choices

Review Summary

Total Reviews:
31: Total Ratings:
31: First Review :
25/10/2007: Latest Review:
05/02/2012

Overall Review Performance

Recommend :
11: Disapprove :
20

Individual Services Review Performance

From Landlords	From Tenants	From Vendors	From Buyers

Recommend:7	Recommend:3	Recommend:0	Recommend:0
Disapprove:7	Disapprove:12	Disapprove:0	Disapprove:0

Surveys	Conveyancing	Lettings (Prospect)	Sales (Prospect)

Recommend:0	Recommend:0	Recommend:1	Recommend:0
Disapprove:0	Disapprove:0	Disapprove:1	Disapprove:0

They manage our building	They are our factor	They manage our estate

Recommend:0	Recommend:0	Recommend:0
Disapprove:0	Disapprove:0	Disapprove:0

Staff Members

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Agent Fees

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Complaints Procedure

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Choices

Agent Information

Choices

Offices / Branches

This Agent ranked 8129 out of 9267 in the UK

Overall Customer Rating

Choices has not joined our 'transparent agent' scheme yet.

Customer Reviews (Page 0 of 2) show me only reviews from.. Please select.. Landlords Tenants Buyers Sellers No's Yes's

A 4-star review by 'Mrs Law' 5/2/2012

A 4-star review by 'Lynda' 5/2/2012

A 5-star review by 'Andrea Dunbavin' 2/2/2012

A 1-star review by 'Propman1' 1/2/2012

A 1-star review by 'Ex Customer from Horley' 31/1/2012

A 5-star review by 'Samuel' 30/1/2012

A 5-star review by 'Ashley' 29/1/2012

A 5-star review by 'Daniel' 28/1/2012

A 5-star review by 'Mr Hussain' 28/1/2012

A 1-star review by 'Ben31uk' 12/1/2012

A 1-star review by 'Brown' 28/12/2011

A 4-star review by 'SarahB' 8/11/2011

A 1-star review by 'SeeYouInCourt' 12/10/2011

A 1-star review by 'Mrs B101' 12/10/2011

A 1-star review by 'PD' 5/7/2011

A 1-star review by 'Loz' 3/5/2011

A 1-star review by 'Disappointed' 5/4/2011

A 1-star review by 'kim' 12/9/2010

A 1-star review by 'Jeffy' 8/9/2010

A 1-star review by 'Disgusted' 29/7/2010

A 4-star review by 'MrsB' 14/7/2010

A 1-star review by 'rocker21' 1/7/2010

A 4-star review by 'doyler' 23/4/2010

A 1-star review by 'royboy' 14/4/2010

A 5-star review by 'alan7' 4/2/2010

A 1-star review by 'KBolt' 18/1/2010

A 1-star review by 'Steve' 19/12/2009

A 1-star review by 'NeverChoices' 15/3/2009

A 1-star review by 'alex' 4/2/2009

A 1-star review by 'choices suck!' 4/10/2008

A 1-star review by 'Fliss' 25/10/2007

Agent Details for Choices

Review Statistics for Choices

Staff Members

Agent Fees

Complaints Procedure

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Customer Reviews (Page 0 of 2)
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