Countrywide Property Lawyers - are they as bad as I've read?

betmunch

Ewok123 wrote: »

I was just wondering if anyone had received a 'good' service from them?

If one person pops up and says I got good service are you then going to ignor the hundreds of ithers that had the standard awful service?

The HSBC/Countrywide combo is a match made in hell and has cost several people on this board their house due to the incompetence all round.

samkma

From my experience they are awful. You have to make frequent calls to get things going, very slow and it took more than 2 months for a very straight forward transaction, they are a nightmare. From my experience NEVER go near this firm.

rongxu

We had very bad experience with them when we first time buy house. They ask you pay £200 in advance in the account of total search fee £370. But finial payment, they didn't deduct that £200. You paid extra money to them. But when you ask refund, they didn't pay back!!

Scardim

This is the worse conveyancing provider I have ever had the displeasure to use. Their charge is £500 higher then 2 other quotes... But choose them instead because I was assured they were super fast (which is important because the property I am in the process to purchase is quite desirable (10 viewings in 1 day) and the longer the purchase takes more at risk of gazumping! 2 weeks in and they haven't request the searches (despite of already taking payment for them when I 1st called them) , no enquires have been sent to the vendors solicitors, left a message for them to call me back BUT had no reply... Called them again and they said they have been waiting for the memorandum of sale from the estate agents... Countrywide Property Lawyers had then the audacity to ask me to chase this document from the estate agents (I thought I was paying them to do theses things).

Its now been 15 days since I started the purchase and 4 days since I contacted them to ask them to please start making enquires so that contracts exchange ASAP but nothing has been done!

Do not use them!!! They are unprofessional, unreliable, expensive and a complete waist of time!!! Buying a home it's stressful I know that BUT using Countrywide Property Lawyers makes it 100 times worse!

biccies

Hi all,
I feel I should post here. I have had a positive experience with Countrywide. I have been dealing with Manchester Team 3. And contrary to what a few people have said I know the name of my 'actual' solicitor and actually spoken to him on numerous occasions.

I am also a first time buyer, throughout the process I have found Countrywide to be thorough and prompt. In fact there was a time when they were chasing me to return a document.

I have had delays during my purchase (offer was accepted in December!), but that seems to have been from Nationwide.

I must admit, I did not search for reviews prior to instructing, and I'm quite glad I didn't!
I did do my research in terms of pricing, and while they were more expensive than some local solicitors- I found comfort in the fact their phone lines are open longer and their website tracking facility.

I thought it would be worth sharing my story- I know it's a small voice amongst an angry crowd.
Countrywide & Nationwide seem to be a good combination :-)

Good luck on your purchase!

moneyistooshorttomention

Just sat here thinking "Isnt that one of the firms that my viewer must NOT have as their solicitor/conveyancer. Duly giving my estate agent headaches at present re those ****/poor unfortunates who chose them for other houses he is selling and causing him problems because of it?"

kingstreet

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Just sat here thinking "Isnt that one of the firms that my viewer must NOT have as their solicitor/conveyancer. Duly giving my estate agent headaches at present re those ****/poor unfortunates who chose them for other houses he is selling and causing him problems because of it?"

Are you using a Countrywide agent to sell your property? If you are, you can depend on them trying VERY hard to get your buyer to use their mortgage and conveyancing services...

If you aren't, they may get away with it, if they escape the clutches of the Countrywide mortgage adviser when they look in there for property.

LogisticsGuy

For me, they were fine - had to chase a bit, but no more than the previous "walk in, sit down" convenyancer I had used for a previous purchase. They may not be my first choice for if I were to move again, but they certainly wouldn't be my last either.

Opinion and experience of the majority should be the deciding factor...

muppetlab

Please anyone who is reading this avoid Countrywide like the plague. If you value your health, sanity and want to keep a sale or purchase then DON'T use countrywide property lawyers. They take over a week to respond to anything, will delay the sale to the point of collapse. We bought from a vendor using cwpl and neither were in a chain. Great we thought this should be quick and hassle free. 14 weeks on and we nearly pulled out as nothing was being done by cwpl who made all the right noises but never actually managed to do anything. We lost two good tenants from our property and the exchange date was put back 5 times each time a week later. Please please please use anyone else, local solicitors will be easier to contact and half the price to boot.

Citywall

what a pity not everybody reads these posts - have just failed to exchange on the appointed day purely down to a cockup in cardiff or wherever they are - really cant blame the folk we are buying from who were evidently cajoled by their estate agents, part of the countrywide group of course, to use their in house cut price conveyancing service. that countrywide have the nerve to claim on their web they are famous for customer service is, shall we say, a little surprising ....