PROPERTY services group, Countrywide plc, has won 18 estate agency and lettings awards at the Estate & Letting Agent Awards 2014 (ESTAS 2014), for delivering outstanding customer service.

The UK’s largest estate and lettings agency group, which includes Gascoigne-Pees in Basingstoke, Tadley and Andover, along with Carsons & Co in Festival Place, won the Best Large Chain (Lettings) and Best Large Chain (Sales), which Countrywide plc has won for the sixth consecutive year, as well as a new award called Best Estate and Lettings Agency Group.

The awards were presented by TV property expert Phil Spencer at a luncheon ceremony at the Hilton Park Lane Hotel, in London, which was attended by 700 people.

Now in their 11 th year, the ESTAS awards, are the only industry accolades based purely on the votes of buyers, sellers and landlords.

The annual awards recognise the best offices in the UK for delivering outstanding customer service and customers are asked to vote for estate and letting agents based on their experience in 2013.

Hundreds of agents from across the UK took part and over 32,000 questionnaires were completed by customers during the competition, making it the biggest consumer survey of its kind in the property industry.

Countrywide managing director of estate agency Bob Scarff, said: “We take great pride in being voted Best Large National Chain (Sales) for the sixth year running and winning the new combined award for Best Estate and Lettings Agency Group is a fantastic achievement.

“Our customers are at the heart of our business and these awards comes off the back of our significant investment in a customer focussed employee programme, to continually improve our service and ensure our approach and methods of communication are aligned with our customers.

“These awards are testament to the confidence that our customers have in the excellent service provided by Countrywide across the UK.”

Countrywide Residential Lettings, group commercial director, Nick Dunning, said: “It’s important to us to ensure that our customers feel valued and satisfied with the service they receive.

“We’re delighted to win these awards which are voted by our customers and are testament to the hard work of our letting agents across the UK and the customer service they provide.”

Phil Spencer, who has hosted the ESTAS every year since their inception, said: “The ESTAS are about making people happy, putting a smile on their face and making a genuine difference to peoples’ lives.

“An agent’s role is about guiding people through one of the most stressful times in their lives and that’s not an easy job.

“In a world where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to make contact with a real person in a company, isn’t it so refreshing that you can phone almost any estate or letting agent in the UK and get straight through to a real person.

“The ESTAS help agencies to focus on customer service levels and that’s why agencies keep coming back.”