arrghh estate agents....dont know what to do

[littlemisslost]

we have been on the market now for just under 2 months. I know its a hard market at the moment ..but! We chose a relatively new agent who has opened locally and seemed good. However, the first week we had 2 viewings and after 4 days we had heard nothing so I had the call the agent for some feedback despite being promised to have feedback within 24 hours. after 3 week we had no other interest and I suggested it was maybe priced alittle high so we dropped it by £5k. That was a 1 month ago and we have heard nothing at all from the agent since then, again when I called them! They do not have a city centre office, we went away for a week and popped in last sat to tell them we were going away and at 2.45 on SATURDAY they were shut! I have just been into the office and said we are changing agent they said I was perhaps being unrealistic about the market but did apologise for a poor service:-S
oh and also, when we had them aroudn to value to house they said their selling fees were a flat rate of £1600 plus VAT. less than a week later when we had them around again to put it on the market they said it was 'a flat rate of £1900 Pus VAT ? do they think we are stupid?
am I being unrealistic or are they pants

I think I'd get a friend to pretend to be a potential buyer looking for a house that fits yours. See if your house is suggested and what the ea's say about it. Maybe even get the friends to book a viewing and see how the ea present the house?

If it's anything less than excellent service, ditch them and start again.

If possible get recommendations for a good local agent. Try calling a few yourself and see how helpful they are to potential buyers on the phone.

They sound crap but normal, iyswim. Did you get any other valuations? Were those more or less in line with the one from the agency you went with? Two viewings in 8 weeks isn't great - all told, I would feel justified in ditching them (but I might not expect the next set to be any better either ).

we have another (major local agent) coming on thursday to value, they charge 2.5% which is going to be higher but then they have several branches and are open everyday. They have been calling us all the time with houses to view so I hoping they will be as proactive with ours?
We did have another valuation at the initial time who valued it at £2k under what our current agent did.
I felt bad today when i went in and said we were changing agent but I do feel they are rubbish

No need to feel bad, the other ones sound much better and, if they sell your house, will be worth a bit of extra commission (which may well be negotiable anyway, especially if you end up buying from them).

Yes, definitely try and negotiate on the commission. We negotiated 0.5% off. You may well get more depending on where you are and how competitive the EA market is in your area. Don't feel bad! As a paying customer you're entitled to expect good service and to go elsewhere if you don't get it. FWIW we also chose the EA who was most proactive with arranging viewings for us.