I marketed my property with Prospect at the start of 2024. Having a poor experience with estate agents in the past, I was tempted to "go direct" with a company like Purple Bricks, but Prospect convinced me to go ahead based on their promise of ensuring a smooth sale. I had also worked with Bernadette Martin (after-sales progression) previously and was confident that she would help me progress the sale. Bernadette is amazing and is the only positive part of this process. Within a few weeks after marketing the property, it was clear that the list price Prospect recommended was too high and they were suggesting I reduced it for a faster sale. This was disappointing as it felt like they'd inflated the price to get my business - something which I was already wary of. After the reduction, we had an offer within a week. Prospect then recommended a local legal firm to me. I was told that the buyer also had a local firm which was very good and well known to Prospect, helping the sale move quickly. I was keen to progress fast so went along with this. I then did everything in my power to ensure the process was fast - I expedited sales packs from the management company, I spoke regularly with my solicitor and Bernadette who also did a great job at streamlining and communication. However, the solicitors Prospect had recommended were awful at communication - they seemed to speak to each other once a week on average, repeatedly asked for the same information, didn't speak over the phone etc. Neither solicitor seemed proactive at progressing the sale. After six months of going round in circles with solicitors asking for information, much of which was deemed to be unnecessary by multiple parties, I found out that my solicitor had left and my case was now being run form a parent company in the north of England. It took me a month to track down and speak to the new solicitor who was the least helpful person I have ever met. I was regularly ignored, if I got frustrated then he told me I was being abusive (which wasn't true) and threatened to end the contract on many occasions - he clearly didn't need the work or care about completing it. Bernadette did her best to help but we were both powerless to move things forward with two solicitors who didn't talk to each other or their clients. After another month, we ran into issues with cladding which slowed the progress again. My sale completed in on 30th September, nearly 18 months after the process started. I cannot fault Bernadette as she has always been incredibly helpful and professional. We had daily calls for months, trying collectively to move the solicitors forward and I am sure that if she hadn't been involved then the nightmare process would still be ongoing. I am very grateful to her and everything she has done. I appreciate that she has worked on this case for 18 months and has put in a great deal of effort. Bernadette is clearly the best part of Prospect estate agents. However, I do feel that Prospect all-up secured my business with promises of a higher sale price which was reduced quickly, they recommended terrible legal firms, they signed me up to a Legal Aid company for ID checks which automatically subscribed me to their services (which I assume meant Prospect received a referral fee). I realise all estate agents cost money, but when I look at the outcome of this engagement and the cost of £4,515 for the service, I do not think it was justified. I also realise that there were external complications with the sale based on cladding issues that arose in January and this review is tainted by two TERRIBLE legal firms... but these firms were recommended and the cladding issue didn't happen until ~8 months in, when the property should have sold many months before if all parties involved had been more professional.