terraquest.co.uk Reviews 8

I very rarely leave negative reviews, but my experience with the Planning Guidance Service has been one of the most disappointing customer experiences I have ever had.
Before paying for the consultation, I actually called the service to explain exactly what I needed help with. I spoke to a gentleman named John, who I believe may be a supervisor. I described my situation and the questions I needed answered regarding planning and building control regulations. He assured me that this was exactly the type of advice their service provides and encouraged me to book and pay for the consultation. It was on the strength of that assurance that I paid approximately £75.
I chose this service because it operates through the Planning Portal, a platform that many local councils direct people to when dealing with planning matters. As a member of the public, this naturally creates an expectation that the guidance provided will be professional, knowledgeable and reliable.
When the consultation took place, I spoke to Faith Chingono. Unfortunately, the experience was completely different from what I had been promised. The consultation lasted only a few minutes, during which she repeatedly told me that she did not know the answers to my questions and could not explain how the planning or building control process worked. Rather than receiving professional guidance, I was left with more uncertainty than before the call.
The most astonishing part is that Faith herself acknowledged that the consultation had not been useful and suggested that I should receive a refund. She told me she would contact her supervisor to arrange it, and I subsequently received an email confirming that the matter had been passed on.
Since then, nothing.
No refund. No meaningful response to my emails. No response to my follow up calls. I have simply been ignored.
I did not ask for a refund because I changed my mind. The refund was proposed by their own consultant because the service I paid for had not been delivered.
Mistakes happen in every business, and I could have accepted that. What I cannot accept is taking a customer's money after assuring them that the service could provide the advice I needed, acknowledging that the consultation failed to do so, promising a refund, and then completely ignoring the customer afterwards.
The poor consultation was disappointing. The complete lack of communication afterwards was even worse. The experience left me feeling as though my money had been taken and I had simply been abandoned as a customer.
Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this service and would strongly advise others to think very carefully before paying for it

TerraQuest actually does what most claim to do — Tom sources land directly from the landowner. No long chains, no stacked commissions, no drama. He kept the deal clean and straightforward, which is exactly why it succeeded. If you want a land sourcer who genuinely delivers, Tom’s your guy.

We have used Terraquest for a few projects now and the interaction has always been extremely efficient and professional. We have used them for land referencing on some major projects involving Compulsory Purchase Orders which demands precise records being collated. We have found Terraquest to be the ideal company to use for this work which has been delivered on time and to budget. Communication is clear between the parties, queries are resolved quickly and the team are extremely easy to work with.

Professional, approachable and always do a good job. The TerraQuest team are always a pleasure to work with and delivery a good service.

I instructed Terraquest after receiving an email from them regarding their land finding service. As a director of an architectural business, I see the value in what this could bring to me personally, my business and its client. After a call with Jack (a Director), I instructed Terraquest to locate a site of a certain size in a specific area. After consultation on what specifically I required, they sent me across various sites over a period of a few months. We eventually settled on one which had great development potential for what we needed. We successfully received Permission in Principle on this development, and are now looking to exchange contracts.

From the start to finish, Jack has been most helpful and understanding of our situation. I initially wanted to use their service for my own developments, but will now be expanding their scope to include pieces of land suitable for my clients. Their fees are most competitive. It gave my confidence that it is the same company that run the Planning Portal, which I have trusted and used my whole professional career. They have been flexible on payment terms too, enabling me to progress while reducing initial outlay.

I will be using Terraquest for future endeavours. If you are thinking about finding a piece of land, I would have no hesitations about recommending the team at Terraquest and Jack to assist you.

Luke Kenton-Woods, KW Architectural

Complete waste of money. Consultant had no idea about planning permission from my specific council, when I had included PDF files in my application for an appointment she claimed to have not received them and I had to spend about 1/3 of our allocated time sending them for her to look over. This meant she had done no preparation familiarising herself with my query prior to the call. Complete scam, save your money and just spend more time on Google. Didn’t even bother taking up the whole half hour as was clear within the first 10 mins that it was a waste of time. Avoid.

Very strange relationship with "Studio Charrette" which the Planning Portal seems to promote at every opportunity.

- "Thinking about solar panels? Then contact Studio Charrette"
- "Thinking about an extension? Then contact Studio Charrette"

The Planning Portal enjoys a quasi monopoly on the submission of planning applications online and this close relationship with an architectural technician / architectural designer seems very unusual.

If you look online at the reviews on Google for Studio Charrette the reviews are exclusively 1* by people who feel that they've had poor service / been scammed by Studio Charette. And many of these 1* reviews say that they went to Studio Charrette purely because of the association with The Planning Portal.

The nature of the relationship between The Planning Portal and Studio Charrette needs to be made much more transparent. Studio Charrette DO NOT install solar panels - they are draftsmen, architectural technicians. The whole thing looks very murky and is not a good reflection on The Planning Portal.

I rang them up about their Authentiquest company, the receptionist put the phone down on me. I rang again and told the receptionist I was unhappy that he put the phone down on me. He put me through to someone called Cameron, who then told me that Jules (Julius) would ring me back within 15 minutes, which was a lie and that was the last I heard from them.
Tried using their online contact form, it has an error message.