I'm looking to sell or rent my flat in London, and so far have had four different agents come for valuations. The standard of service has been appalling with three of these - lack of punctuality, communication, and professionalism.

Today, an agent was 40 minutes late for a valuation with no communication or apology. The idiot was actually on the phone about 20 metres from my front door for the duration of that delay and I could see him from the window. When I questioned him as to why he was late, he lied and said he was coming from another appointment - and then was shocked when I said I didn't want his business and not to waste each others time. I understand that schedules change and people get delayed, but all it would of taken was a courtesy call from him or the branch.

I get the London property market in particular moves on it's own, but is this experience typical? Is it wrong to expect a decent service and transparency in exchange for the £000s I'll be handing over, or is that naive? Does anyone have any good experiences with estate agents?

And to any estate agents on here, I'm not hating on your profession. It's just unfortunate that three quarters of my small sample have confirmed the stereotypes. Would it be so hard to do the basics?