scottfraser - Headington Avis 

Disrespectful and incompetent.

I have rented with several estate agents in Oxford and Scott Fraser are by the far the worst. I wasn't able to move into my room for 6 weeks due to someone leaving the company and not handing over my room application. When I went to pick up my keys (prearranged appointment) no one was there. When I did manage to get hold of someone (The Sales team were lovely and helped me get hold of someone), they only gave me a key to my bedroom and not the front/back doors. After back and forth with them for a month, they said they couldn't find it and I would have to get my own key cut.

Throughout my tenancy, Scott Fraser staff have turned up unannounced (no 24 hours notices given which is illegal) and even locked me out of my own bedroom for one night. For this I was compensated, but only after persistently asking. These are only a few issues that happened over the course of a year.

Scott Fraser are only quick to act when it suits them. I even had to chase them about my deposit. If you can avoid renting with them I would.

Iulia at Headington branch helps me a lot for my letting.
She is nice, patient and helpful. Thank you.

I had the displeasure of dealing with Scott Fraser in the role of a tenant. Disrepectful, untrustworthy & generally incompetent.

I don't want to waste anymore time on them other than to leave a short review to advise those who have the choice to AVOID.

My experience with Scott Fraser was really great. The letting agent Wiktoria Wacinska was absolutely fantastic. Knowledgeable, efficient and super helpful. The whole process has been smooth and many thanks to Wiktoria and Scott Fraser team for making it easier and streamlined. Well done.

This review is from a maintenance perspective. Our new property manager, Mark, delivered an efficient service in resolving our boiler repair issue.

From the offset, ScottFraser were unprofessional and incompetent.

Even before I moved in, the process of negotiating and signing my contract was a nightmare. I ended up having back-and-forth communication with various different ScottFraser employees as they failed to amend clauses in my contract and repeatedly sent over the incorrect document (key details were left out like the fact that bills, WiFi and TV license were included in my rent). The whole process took so long that I ended up signing the contract on the day I moved into the property - the first of many red flags.

(New tenants also be warned, they'll try and sign you up to a Zero-Deposit scheme even when you refuse. Luckily I spotted this clause in the contract, but they'd tried to include it despite the fact that I refused to join the scheme multiple times).

During the nearly two years I lived in the property managed by ScottFraser, we had over 10 different property managers. We were never told when our property manager changed, which made reporting any maintenance issues near-impossible. Emails and phone calls to the letting agency were repeatedly ignored, and maintenance issues were left unresolved. Whenever anyone did come to the property, they never seemed to know anything about the issue(s) so nothing ever got fixed. In the end, we started going directly to our landlord for all maintenance issues. Our landlord also filed several complaints to ScottFraser, but to no avail (they even had the cheek to complain that we were contacting them too frequently about maintenance issues!)

To top things off, they made my whole experience of moving out incredibly stressful. Everything had to go through their portal system, The Depositary (they claimed this was so speed up the process, but it did no such thing). All my communication went unanswered in the weeks leading up to my move and getting my deposit back was a nightmare, taking nearly two months and endless pestering (nearly daily phone calls).

My list of complaints about ScottFraser could go on and on. They're quick to take your money, but that's the only thing they'll do with any efficiency. Avoid at all costs.

I have just completed a House Sale with Scott Frazer in Headington.
They were fantastic from start to finish. I had the pleasure of dealing with Adrian & Elaine.
I was doing everything from a distance and Elaine couldn’t have helped me more.
I would highly recommend this friendly super professional agency.
Sally

We dealt primarily with Simon Liddicot, who went above and beyond in helping us sell (although all the members of his team that we encountered were excellent).
Selling a house can be really stressful, but Simon took care of all the details with humour and grace.
Thank you again.

They are big time scammers. They loot people in the name of cleaning charges. Please don’t connect with them at the time of letting your property and they indulge into unethical practices.

Appalling service to uni tenants.
ScottFraser staff continually fobbed my son and his housemates off, for the disgraceful state of the house in Morrell Avenue Oxford.
Mould, damp, doors that could not open, raw dirt water standing in the drains. These were all problems they pointed out at the beginning of the tenancy and they remained the same as they left a year later.
Added to which 8 weeks after the property was vacated we are still waiting for our deposits back.
The house was left in a better state than when they moved in and no claims by the landlord.
Complete and utter disgraceful service, taking advantage of young people living away from home for the first time.

From the first day we met Simon Liddicot the branch manager regarding our home sale, everything was smooth sailing. We needed to go away on holiday within a few days of commissioning Scottfraser and they were able to complete all the initial formalities on time - this meant weekend and out-of-office hours visits. When Simon was away, working with his colleague, Catherine Dernie was also a joy. One thing we enjoyed most with Scottfraser was the regular detailed information we received, sometimes real time, during the entire process. Scottfraser also linked up with the solicitors on our behalf at various times to ensure early completion. Our thanks to the entire Scottfraser Team for providing such an amazing service - you've surely got our vote!

Poor communication (emails unanswered repeatedly) and misinformation (conflicting and incorrect information provided at different times) have made letting our property through Scott Fraser a real chore. i will never use their service again and will not recommend it to anyone.
i am genuinely surprised by some of the glowing reviews here, except that presumably there are some competent members of their team and they are presumably able to manage some tasks. However, the reviews also reveal a real inconsistency - there are a good amount of one star reviews, representing very disatisfied customers like myself.

Elaine Norrie a Senior Sales Consultant is the best estate agent I have come across. She has helped our mutual clients to sell their property efficiently without any stress.

She is an asset to your company!

I am working at the Oxford University as a researcher from oversees, and the whole experience of attempting to rent an apartment with Scottfraser was a total disaster. I could nitpick a thousand things, but there were two absolute red flags: This company tries to coece future tenants into a Zero-Deposit scheme, which is an obvious scam which makes negative headlines in the UK. You should be aware about these schemes and read about them, and know whom they really benefit. People inexperienced with the UK housing marked, as I was, will fall for this and pay the holding deposit even after initially protesting.
After paying the holding deposit I was constantly spammed by an uncountable amount of affiliates of Scottfraser, some of them with very questionable reputation.
The tenancy contract I finally received was an absolute joke. Nobody in their right mind would ever sign such a document. Without going into too much detail, the contract was overblown, many of the clauses made no sense in the context. The promissed covering of electricity and water was not present any more, and the tenancy term was set to three years without a break clause. A yearly rent raise was set with minimum of 5%, without upper limit and without stating a basis for calculating the raise. Do you notice the problem here? The agent surely did not. I tried to reconcile with the agent and pointed out that I would accept the the contract only with some changes (at this point I just wanted to finally move in), but the communcation was handled so incompetently that I gave up and just left them with my holding deposit. No way I will ever see this money again.

I don't want to come off as hyperbolic, and I had enough time to think about this experience before formulating my criticism. I since then found a nice agency and moved in (stressfree) into my new home. Therefore I can confirm that Scottfraser are not the norm, but a particularly black sheep on the housing market you should absolutely avoid.

I applied for a property to rent in Oxford and filled out the corresponding application. I stressed to the estate agent I was in need of the property/ a response from the landlord as soon as possible as I was starting a new job in Oxford soon. Despite my numerous emails and calls to the office to check the status of my application, I had no response. I was completely ignored and eventually had to move on to other estate agents. This behaviour was unprofessional, mean-spirited, and disappointing. They are happy to waste customers time with no consideration and therefore, unfortunately deserve 1 star.

Very helpful and responsive in a timely manner. Great agency!

It has been the mistake of my life to let a property managed by scottfraser. Total disregard for the wellbeing of tenants and very nonchalant with communication.

Elise Lovatt you gave me an excellent service and I'd recommend you to anyone.
Thank you for your time and support 🤗🤗

We experienced a very smooth purchase with Scott Fraser Headington Sales. Fully recommended.

Please be aware of attitude how they treat people.
Very rude and humiliating behaviour one of the lady agent - Joanna Channon- on the phone conversation while I tried to explain the situation. She didn't let me finish even the sentence she was just trying get rid of me. We followed all the process via The Depositary and we've done everything according to the end of tenancy agreement. She went to check the flat on the day we booked the cleaning team recommended by agency. She done the final check before they clean and send report saying everything is soiled and needs to be clean. When I called to say that must be mistake she denied and said that cleaners couldn't get the keys from agency office because we moved out already. She was very rude to me. I called cleaners and I was told they cleaned the flat the same day in the afternoon. So obviously she didn't want to admit her mistake and looks like she didn't want to go and check the place again. Her behaviour was very unprofessional.