Sale is close to completion now. Karen Preece, our Client Care Manager, provided good communication between all parties, and aided in the process of contract exchange following an agreed sale. As with every house purchase, progress could have been faster, but that's the way the system works and isn't a reflection on the competency of the agents. Prospective sellers: beware of tagged-on 'extras' such as Right Move premium listings and video highlights sold after engaging the agents to sell the property.

Karen Preece was great at keeping me informed throughout the purchase of our new house. Although not working for me, as I was the buyer, she was great at providing weekly update calls and also helping move through the slow conveyance (as it always is!)

Karen Preece at Preston Baker York made buying our house as stress free as you can get. She answered all our queries speedily, explained the process step by step and her approach was always helpful & friendly. Team in general offered good customer service. Thank you.

Very responsive and friendly when I enquire a year ago

Whereas they did manage to get potential buyers through the door at the point of valuation I was told I would not have to do any viewings. This lasted a week and then I had no choice but to show the couple who turned out bought our house around. This wasn't what I had paid for but as we needed to sell I had very little choice. Karen was attentive and understanding I felt she was working for our buyer and not us which was disappointing.

Our house finally sold! There were a few mix ups and I'm not sure if PB were at fault of if it was just one of those things. At first we found Karen impossible to get hold of - whenever we phoned, she would be "in a meeting - out of the office - on another call" etc etc. It started to feel like this was the stock answer for anyone who phoned for her! However once we realised that she preferred to do business via email she was very efficient...keeping us up to date an emailing at any hour and even on her day off!

Disappointing

After Preston Baker took over Bairstow Eves, the service from the lettings team was pretty good. As a landlord I would be kept updated, payments were on time and correct, and I felt they were providing a good service. Unfortunately since then the quality has steadily decreased. Communication became poor, even when I was promised an update, payments had mistakes in them (including one time not paying a rent increase) and I was having to do more and more myself. I have since moved my property portfolio to a competitor, and am enjoying a much better service for the same cost.

Do Yourself a favour,.... steer clear of Preston and Baker, York, with the exception of Helen who did try her level best to bring our sale to a favourable conclusion , they are by far the worst Estate Agents we have ever had to deal with in York... Our house sale was stressful and not made any easier or helped by staff that simply did not have the clients intrest at heart and could not even communicate with each other confidently.... They were happy to pass the blame on their collegues at the drop of a hat , Truly shameful agency. Even though we raised concerns via Telephoning /emails we received no apoligies or even a reply from the branch Manager, truly dreadful experience....

Rating as a buyer.... Arranging a viewing and pre-purchase sale discussion was good (Angela from memory). Once the purchase was transferred to a sale negotiator, I felt that the lady who did deal with the purchase was not interested and she came across as rude on more than one occasions. As part of my job, i do deal with a number of estate agents and i do feel that the one lady who was the only person i could speak to made me not want to buy through them again. If i have had known what i know now, i would have selected another agent as the property was listed with two different agents. We had a strict time scale and at no point was i given updates when the seller had issues. This was a purchase under another persons name ("JC") as we did this as part of my family business and if this had been my dream home or a first time purchase, i would have been upset. Cannot rate as 1 star as everyone pre-sale was really good, it's just a shame that one person can spoil an entire property purchase. It's a shame i had to leave feedback as i was not given any other way to ask how the sale went.