I’m at the end of a 13 month horrendous experience with PB. Put the house on the market Aug 2020. Slow to sell despite lots of interest but sold Jan 2021. Took until June 2021 to be ready to exchange then last minute told us our buyers, buyer had pulled out. Didn’t come from PB, our buyer had to tell us. Our buyer also told us that PB were notified a month earlier but didn’t bother to pass on the message to anyone. Turns out they were a commercial company with a property portfolio who often pull out last minute - thanks for the heads up and due diligence PB! We decided to wait to see if our buyer could resell but made it clear we had to meet the Sept deadline for the stamp duty holiday. He resold quick to a first time buyer - great. Turns out PB solicitors hadn’t bothered doing any due diligence on his property first time round so a mountain or enquiries got thrown up including an issue with the title. This caused delays that magically disappeared when we threatened to pull out. August comes - PB told us everyone was aiming to complete mid August but solicitors for our buyer (through PB) were refusing to answer the phone or respond to our solicitor to confirm where things were up to. We start threatening to pull out if we don’t exchange in good time for the Sept deadline or get clear indication of what’s going on. First ultimatum passed -PB agent assured us they’re getting ready to exchange the following week and we’re nearly there but still nothing from solicitors. Mid week comes - our solicitor finally gets an email saying they’re working towards completion on 30th Sept. No mention of exchange. We made it clear we needed to exchange - by this point our faith in them was shot & we needed the legal protection afforded by exchange. Turns out these cowboys were hoping to string us along until the 30th to exchange & complete on the same day. Leaving us with zero legal protection, having to trust a firm that can’t even pick up the phone or engage with our solicitors. We’re not cash buyers and we’re in a chain of four people. It’s inappropriate, reckless and incompetent and what’s more - they didn’t even bother to tell us this was their plan. Just hoped we’d hang in there! Needless to say after 13 months of hell, thousands of pounds wasted and a mountain of emotional stress and anxiety, we pulled out. Feel awful, not our buyers fault but no point doing business with a firm proven to be incompetent, untrustworthy and unable to communicate. I had images of being sat there on the day of completion, in the moving van, house packed and my lawyer having to tell me she can’t get hold of anyone to exchange or complete. Save yourself the stress and heartache and don’t go near them with a barge pole.