How many agents does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer is two – one to screw in the light bulb and another to screw the customer. This joke is repeated frequently by stand-up comedians or comedy bloggers and, it would seem, jokes like this are embedded in the nation’s funny bone.

This was most evident a few years ago when Savills annoyed TV presenter Piers Morgan who then turned to Twitter to vent his anger, prompting an avalanche of tweeters to recount jokes and criticism about Savills and the property industry in general.

And yet the most recent in-depth research into the public’s attitudes conducted last year by consumer group Which? reveals a different picture. Its researchers found that only 16 per cent of those who had used a sales agent said they were dissatisfied with the service provided, down from 26 per cent in 2004.

Which means that satisfaction with the service provided by estate agents is higher than in many other sectors, including the mobile and fixed-line telephone markets. And yet you don’t hear so many jokes about telephone engineers?

So to punch through the hype, clichés and jokes, we decided to go straight to the horse’s mouth and interview three of the property industry’s recent customers – what do they actually think of the service they get?

The up-sizer

Carl Bates, 42, from Leighton Buzzard
Works in: a local school
Bought: a four-bedroom house Carl and his family wanted to move home to a house with more space but with the same number of bedrooms and newer (and therefore needing less maintenance).

In a nutshell
The sales process was relatively painless for Carl and he used an agent he trusted and had used before, although he was disappointed in the initial valuations. He was aware of the online-only agents but he thinks a good agent who offers the ‘human touch’ is worth the extra money.

Carl’s story
“I asked three local agents to come around to value my Victorian house and they all said it should be marketed at £320,000 but might go for less,” says Carl.

“After the initial valuations I felt they were all wrong and did some research online both in our town and in similar ones nearby and discovered that Victorian houses in central locations like ours were going for much more than £320,000.

It’s the people who count, not so much the ‘brand’. I discounted several agencies because their staff were too ‘sales-like’ – not human enough. Carl Bates, Leighton Buzzard.

So Carl went with the agent he knew best and then told them to market it at £350,000, agreeing that if there was no interest from buyers after two weeks, he’d drop his price.

“The agent I chose was pretty good and had two families lined up  who were very interested in the property. So it didn’t even make it to market – it was due to go onto the portals on Friday afternoon, we had viewings Friday morning and they made an offer on it that afternoon.

“Another couple viewed it on Saturday morning and then got involved in a bidding war with the other couple – which ended up finishing at £370,000. It was my agent’s idea to do the sealed bids.”

“I guess that twenty years ago before the internet I would have gone on what the agents had suggested, potentially losing myself £50,000.”

Carl says he knows about the online agents, but, “I am pleased we didn’t use them because, had we done so we wouldn’t have got £370,000 for our house because the online-only agents don’t offer that level of support and knowledge,” he says. “I feel that our agent’s shop window, local network and knowledge did help us.

“Although we had to pay fees of £5,000 we did eventually get £40-50,000 more than we would have done otherwise.”

Carl says he thinks it is also all about customer service because the agent he picked did a good job and looked after him during the sales process

“It’s the people who count and not so much the agency ‘brand’. I discounted several people because their staff were just too ‘sales like’ in their approach and not human enough,” he says.

The second-time buyer

Mike Hollingsworth, 37, from Windsor
Works in: software sales
Bought: Three-bedroom house
Selling: Two-bedroom flat

In a nutshell
It was the solicitors and mortgage company who gave him the most pain during the process, but he slightly regrets choosing a smaller, cheaper agent to sell his home because their sales progression was slow and contributed to the delays.

Mike’s story
In 2012 Mike bought his first home, a new-build flat in Windsor, but soon he hankered after something bigger as his career progressed. His first offer on a house fell through after MMR rules prevented him keeping his flat and remortgaging it, so he decided to sell his flat and buy via a smaller mortgage instead, which his lender finally agreed to after he sorted his finances out.

Mike then made an offer on another property in the town but then the problems started and, although his offer was accepted on 29th July last year he didn’t complete until the 20th November, a 17-week process and considerably more than the national average.

“The frustrating thing was there was no chain, which should have made the process very easy,” says Mike. “My flat was being bought by an investor and the house I was buying was already empty,” says Mike. “The woman who owned it had already moved in with her fiancé.

“I’ve realised now that the process is only as good as the worst solicitor in your chain. I was ready to go with the purchase at the end of September – and yet it took another two months to complete.

“I can’t imagine how a family would feel in my position. I’m single and it was a hassle, but what if you had kids and schools to worry about? It also has a financial impact. You end up throwing money at problems during the process to get things moving, rather than taking more time-consuming but cheaper routes.”

Mike says his agent charged a 0.9 per cent sales fee, which he thought was a good price for a high street agent and they took just three weeks to find a buyer for his flat, which is pretty good going. But a low fee has to give somewhere and Mike says his small, independent agent didn’t offer the best sales progression service. The vendor’s agent used a large corporate agency and their sales progression skills were much better – but Mike discovered they charged a 1.6 per cent fee.

The new-homes buyer

Jana Korpova, 36, from London
Works in: financial services
Bought: new build three-bedroom townhouse in Maidenhead

In a nutshell
Jana felt abandoned by the developer who, despite providing generous cash benefits to help her and her partner buy the property, offered very limited help to buy the property and Jana did most of the chasing to complete in time.

Jana’s story
Jana works in central London and had hoped to buy a flat there but after many months of searching realised nearly half a million pounds would only just buy her a small one or two-bedroom apartment. Instead, like many city centre dwellers these days, she chose to move out into a commuter town and found a three-bedroom house being sold by a major developer for £485,000.

Along with a sizeable deposit, Jane signed up for the government’s Help to Buy scheme but as soon as their offer was accepted, they were under pressure to move. The property was the last in the estate to be sold and the developer wanted to close down their sales office before Christmas.

“The Stamp Duty came to nearly £15,000 and I was struggling so they said if we can complete before Christmas they would give us £5,000 towards that bill,” says Jane.

“The main complication was the bank – the mortgage in principle was sorted with our first lender within 24 hours, which was great, but then they dropped us like a stone. It was such bad service that I’ve lodged a complaint with the Financial Conduct Authority about them.

“Luckily, our Financial Adviser was really good; I was panicking because we had one week until exchange so he lined up another lender and they issued an offer within 14 hours that was identical to the first. It was pretty impressive.

The main complication was the bank – the mortgage in principle was sorted within 24 hours, but they suddenly dropped us like a stone. Jana Korpova, Maidenhead.

“But the other complication was the developer’s buying support which boiled down to an online guide which was pretty general and not very helpful.

“I would say that the developer wasn’t good at staying in touch with all the parties. I had five people to deal with (bank, employer, two sets of solicitors and the developer) with and it was very stressful because I have a full time job.

“Developers should do more to help people; a lot of the onus is on you, the buyer, and that’s not good. At the start of the process I thought I was experienced but at each turn I realised that I wasn’t; there are just so many parties – at one point I was looking at being homeless!”

So it seems that the ‘evil, useless estate agent’ is a bit of a myth. That’s a relief – and a great way to start the year!