My original 5 star review was left at the request of Michelle at Ashley Stone. I rented a property with them for just over a year. As soon as we decided to leave, (due to our landlord breaking contract and a number of other issues) my opinion of Ashley Stone has massively lowered for a few reason. One being that when we needed the referencing done, despite the fact that Michelle knew how important it was, she proceeded to take ages to complete it. Luckily, we pre-warned our new estate agents of how difficult Michelle and our landlord could be and we were able to get into our new property without the referencing. I wouldn't ever use Ashley stone again.

The accounts submitted by Caine and Sheila are very familiar. Don't deal with this estate agent, it will cost you a lot and you will get NOUT!!! Here is a little more ............. They use the wonderful FCC PARAGOON for their referencing. They charged me £360 for a referencing fee. Since discovered that this service cost them £12. 348 quid for tapping a few keys. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT ! So then , how do you justify charging £360 for your referencing search ? That is EXCESSIVE !

Worst estate agent I have ever had to deal with. Had a offer accepted, paper work in and had to deal with a rude administrator that lied and had a stinking attitude. Wasted mine and my partners time - withdrew on the offer because I didn't trust the estate agents. Not knowledgable on renting laws, happy to make them up to suit them and try and take more money from new tenants by creating lies. No communication between staff and the owner just couldn't care less. AVOID - there are plenty of honest estate agents in Leigh, use someone else. If your a landlord, think about how they would treat your tenants. Not acceptable in my book. Update: I can be honest and have no need to lie, I pulled out of the property, I had sufficient references and there was acceptance on the part of the landlord so please do not lie. After I pulled out of the property the property went back on the market for a further two weeks. So saying you had other parties interested is a lie. Please do not insult my Inteligence or further customers. I wasn't angry I didn't get the property as I chose not to go forward and I have edudance of this in the form of emails. You're property manager even though she has 14 years of experience in my opinion needs to be refreshed. I own a business and I have a business partner who ownes a estate agent in east London. I spoke to him and a solicitor he uses for property law and he confirmed that what your property manager stated was not true. She stated that only a permitted occupier could be a person without income (I.e a student or child) this isn't true and all your company wanted to do was more money for referencing. I was happy to have my partner referenced for staying in the property 4 days a week but I wanted the tenancy in my name. I earned more then what was sufficient amount of money to cover the rent and I have over 5 years of renting glowing references. Again I would like to highlight I PULLED OUT IF THE PROPERTY BECAUSE YOUR PEOPERTY MANAGER COULDNT PROVIDE WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION AND MADE UP LEGAL TERMS THAT DIDNT EXAIST DUE TO LACK OF COMPETENCY. I highlighted to Lynda that I would not like her managing a property I would live in - I could not be able to have a professional tenant / management agency relationship with someone I didn't trust and doesn't know propert law. It's a shame Lynda works for such a diabolical company, as she is actually a very professional and personable agent. Hopefully she sees sence and moves to one of the many agents available in Leigh-on-sea.

We viewed a property with Ashleigh Stone a few weeks ago, the communication up to the viewing and the viewing itself was professional, however, as soon as Ashleigh Stone took the administration fees for the property to be put on hold, the communication was terrible. Despite having paid the £300 administration fee the same day as the viewing, they did not hold the property as they had said but continued showing other clients the property. We asked for a receipt of our £300 and never received this either. Me and my partner decided to pull out of the property due to the continued viewings, lack of communication and due to receiving no receipt of the fees paid. We called Ashleigh Stone to cancel, they did not argue against a refund of the fees and said they would refund the money immediately. Again we asked for e-mail confirmation of this and received nothing. Three days passed and no refund had been received, we called them yet again and thankfully it was done the same day. I would not recommend this estate agency after dealing with other companies that are far more professional. While their sales in the beginning may be well executed, once fees are paid, they seem to lose all interest in customer service and looking after their clients.