Warning - do not use wolstenholmes solicitors

Catwoman8950

anotherproblem wrote: »

Hi Having done a bit of research I see you are from Manchester. I am trying to get people farther afield interested. Even the very basics are not being reported outside of the main WH areas.

Actually The Times ran the story just after the SRA intervention but I've not seen anything in the national press since.

homelessmat

anotherproblem wrote: »

And already starting to go the same way as WH

http://www.solicitorsfromhell.co.uk/index.php?listing=&option=com_directory&page=viewListing&lid=1117&Itemid=0


So What are the SRA doing???????

Hopefully approving my application to the emergency compensation fund!

anotherproblem

homelessmat wrote: »

Hopefully approving my application to the emergency compensation fund!

:rotfl:NICE ONE

homelessmat

anotherproblem wrote: »

:rotfl:NICE ONE

Seriously though, hope to be able to give a positive update in the next few days. I don't want to tempt fate by saying too much at the moment, but exactly 4 weeks to the day since I found out about the intervention, things seem to be starting to move in the right direction and with more pace than they have been.

anotherproblem

homelessmat wrote: »

Seriously though, hope to be able to give a positive update in the next few days. I don't want to tempt fate by saying too much at the moment, but exactly 4 weeks to the day since I found out about the intervention, things seem to be starting to move in the right direction and with more pace than they have been.

I hope everything goes ok for you I have only just applied to the SRA and have not heard back yet. It would be nice to know some body has a happy ending.

LadyLawyer

Simply_Me wrote: »

LadyLawyer wrote: »

Hi
you get what you pay for.

LadyLawyer as a member of the profession which one of the two tiers of regulation do you subscribe to? When I last looked all solicitors were regulated by the SRA, a one tier regulator making no distinction between solicitors or the fees they charged.

Lawyers as a profession charge professional fees for a professional job which involves a high degree of training and personal liability if we get anything wrong. Please try to understand that wolstenhomes llp are the exception not the rule. The conduct being described would be sackable in most firms if one individual acted so poorly let alone a whole heap of "lawyers".

There has to be, and is, competition in the legal industry and just in the same way you can buy a second hand car as a 17 year old without really knowing what a bucket of rust it is, so you can end up instructing a firm of solicitors who will not look after you properly. The sad thing about wolstenholmes is that they took advantage of a lot of first time buyers who were encouraged to instruct over the internet saving time and often money and those people are the most vulnerable, having never done it before.

I have every sympathy with people who have done this, nobody wants their legals messed up and then to hear "I told you so". But please also understand that the profession as a whole cannot stand these outfits for exactly the reasons you give above - they are giving the rest of us a bad name.

The profession is ever evolving and the flexibility brought to us by technology should not prevent work being carried out professionally and honestly. Many lawyers are becoming more flexible in terms of home visits, out of hours appointments etc so look for one who is keen to do a good job and make you happy over price for medium term peace of mind.

If anyone needs their ID certifying for DWF to release their files, try your GP who will often do it for free. Your bank may also be able to help although it is a pain to queue.

Lawyers do not generally charge to certify ID for their own clients (they should have done that anyway) but most of us make a small cash charge for doing it for people off the street simply because it takes up time when we could be working for our own existing clients.

There are dodgy individuals in every walk of life- I am a single mother who began as a secretary and has studied on the job since the age of 21. I am now 31 and joining a city firm. It has been a really long road, not just for me but my daughter who is now 10, it's expensive to train and there is a lot of snobbery in the industry and yes there are people who charge too much. Actually I really enjoy dealing with families, little old ladies and first time buyers because they are real people who need a human face and some straightforward advice. We are not all monsters.

Horrified_Solicitor

homelessmat wrote: »

Seriously though, hope to be able to give a positive update in the next few days. I don't want to tempt fate by saying too much at the moment, but exactly 4 weeks to the day since I found out about the intervention, things seem to be starting to move in the right direction and with more pace than they have been.

That's good. I've heard that the SRA and the intervention agents initially found it difficult to get a grip on what was happening at WH because of the number of files and the fact that a lot of them seemed to be missing. However, they now have a very large team working on it and are beginning to make some progress.

Simply_Me_2

Is there anyone out there who can shed any more light on what was truly going on at Wolstenholmes. Was it all a scam designed to fleece as many people as possible or was it a bunch of lawyers who bit off more than they could chew?

anotherproblem

Hi
My underestanding is that the people in charge got greedy and took more clients than the staff could cope with. Putting them under more and more pressure. You know what happens when people are under pressure and the work piles up. Well I believe thats what happened to the staff at Wh. There were staff cought up in it that were trying to do their best under very difficult circumstances. And as with all walks of life some will have been more capable than others. I really cant complain about the solicitor that I had but both she and I got cought up in the crossfire between WH and the SRA. And in the end it was the sellors solicitor that did not do the job as the file dissapeared, leaving me stranded. Well thats how I see it anyway.

mjmal51

Simply_Me wrote: »

Is there anyone out there who can shed any more light on what was truly going on at Wolstenholmes. Was it all a scam designed to fleece as many people as possible or was it a bunch of lawyers who bit off more than they could chew?

I would love to find out the full story. There are a mix of clients caught up, some paid a deposit and got nothing, some completed a purchase very easily (me for eg!) but no post completion work done, some paid for exchange then saw their money frozen, some probate, no doubt divorce cases and others.
You have to be suspicious of a master plan by the owners to walk away with a heap of clients' money though. The fact that phone calls went nowhere in Dec, e mails unanswered, files sent to other companies without permission, Birmingham suddenly closing, apparently Cheadle was going the same way at Xmas, all seems to point to a plan.
As WH were an LLP what would have happened if they had declared going into administration at Xmas? I guess we would have been in an even worse position.
Hope it all comes out in the wash!