We put an offer in on our first choice, rejected this morning. Estate agents were okay but not overly proactive (e.g. remembering which contact details to use, calling back when they said they would).
Just put an offer in on our second choice and the difference was astounding: very friendly bloke saying the negotiating agent would call me back, negotiating agent calling back within ten minutes (also very friendly), NA wishing me luck on my new job and asking the sorts of questions to make our life a bit easier (e.g. do you need to store anything early as you are serving notice on your flat), promising to "do the best for you" and then calling me back five minutes later to say that both her calls to the vendors had gone to voicemail but she would try to get hold of them today and would let me know as soon as she'd spoken to them.
Which of my experiences is closer to the norm? Disinterested #1 or friendly and warm #2? I have to say I feel much more comfortable and reassured dealing with #2... am not surprised our offer with #1 was rejected as I didn't feel confident that they were putting it forward properly.