Warning - do not use wolstenholmes solicitors

Catwoman8950

Simply_Me wrote: »

Well I have some good news, a cheque for the return of my money was despatached to my solicitors on Friday, just spoke to solicitors, cheque has been received and as it is a Law Society cheque the funds are cleared straight away.

My God after 47 days and a meager £17 in interest at a rate of 0.33% (day light robbery comes to mind) but nevetheless I am reunited with my money.

Whilst I am relieved to have my money back words cannot explain the toll this has all taken on my life. For all those who insist we got what we deserve for being cheap, I have a few words of wisdom for you also, "go and drop De~d."

Very glad to hear you got your money back at last. I wonder if Tracie-X has been successful too?

anotherproblem

old_dog wrote: »

Whilst people did not deserve to be deceived, there is the fact that we are all so often warned - "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". When you consider the call out and similar charges for very simple manual jobs, is it likely that spending significantly less than that on the most important financial transaction of your life will ensure that you get a first class service?

I appreciate that I will receive vast torrents of abuse having dared to post this - but as a retired Solicitor I'm getting a bit fed up with the continuous totally indiscriminate Solicitor bashing. Posters like Kieren saying that we should all be killed, or told to drop dead etc - along with some of the other vile replies that I have received in response to private messages to other posters when I have tried to be helpful to them - does tend to alienate the sympathy that one should feel towards all those who have suffered.

And one thing that everybody is forgetting - all the Solicitors that have been named here were puppets. Yet the unqualified puppet masters who were really pulling the strings have vanished off the radar. Punish the lawyers who have done wrong - yes, most definitely - but don't let the masterminds get away scot free. They cleared £12 million in the mobile phone scam - I dread to think how much COULD have vanished here.

Take an average mortgage at £150K. Take perhaps 2000 files. The potential for missing money is vast, and we'll only know the score when DWF have concluded their work. And as other Solicitors have commented, it's us who will have to pay additional levies next year to balance the Compensation Fund's books. I don't want you to weep for us - but do appreciate that we will feel some financial heat as well, instead of tarring as with the same brush as being totally justified objects of a lynch mob mentality, when this is in fact totally unjustified

I dont call £500 for a simple transaction to good to be true. One sellor one buyer no other parties involved. Simple mid terrace tiny freehold property. I think it's about time people realised that the £99 conveyance did not exist. I think £500 is a fair price for a simple house purchase (no estate agent) only the very basics of searches as I new the property. Hips Pack in place. I earned £10.50 an hour before I retired. Am I qualified yes I am very qualified. What on earth makes solicitors think they are worth so much. They are not in the real world.

Brahan_seer_3

old_dog wrote: »

Whilst people did not deserve to be deceived, there is the fact that we are all so often warned - "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". When you consider the call out and similar charges for very simple manual jobs, is it likely that spending significantly less than that on the most important financial transaction of your life will ensure that you get a first class service?

I appreciate that I will receive vast torrents of abuse having dared to post this - but as a retired Solicitor I'm getting a bit fed up with the continuous totally indiscriminate Solicitor bashing. Posters like Kieren saying that we should all be killed, or told to drop dead etc - along with some of the other vile replies that I have received in response to private messages to other posters when I have tried to be helpful to them - does tend to alienate the sympathy that one should feel towards all those who have suffered.

And one thing that everybody is forgetting - all the Solicitors that have been named here were puppets. Yet the unqualified puppet masters who were really pulling the strings have vanished off the radar. Punish the lawyers who have done wrong - yes, most definitely - but don't let the masterminds get away scot free. They cleared £12 million in the mobile phone scam - I dread to think how much COULD have vanished here.

Take an average mortgage at £150K. Take perhaps 2000 files. The potential for missing money is vast, and we'll only know the score when DWF have concluded their work. And as other Solicitors have commented, it's us who will have to pay additional levies next year to balance the Compensation Fund's books. I don't want you to weep for us - but do appreciate that we will feel some financial heat as well, instead of tarring as with the same brush as being totally justified objects of a lynch mob mentality, when this is in fact totally unjustified

It remains to be seen whether the investigation being carried out turns up any evidence of fraud or theft. Undoubtedly it will show that the whole conveyancing and accountancy side of the firm was a total shambles. What also concerns me is that non-lawyers appear to have been in charge - mario cardinali and wasim siddique. As I understand it until the arrival of Imran Hussain they did all the hiring and firing - see lurking lawyer's post 724 on page 37(?). I sincerely hope that their involvement is being investigated and that if lessons are to be learned about allowing non-lawyers to run legal firms that the powers that be take notice. Tesco law- what next?

Simply_Me_2

Brahan_seer wrote: »

It remains to be seen whether the investigation being carried out turns up any evidence of fraud or theft. Undoubtedly it will show that the whole conveyancing and accountancy side of the firm was a total shambles. What also concerns me is that non-lawyers appear to have been in charge - mario cardinali and wasim siddique. As I understand it until the arrival of Imran Hussain they did all the hiring and firing - see lurking lawyer's post 724 on page 37(?). I sincerely hope that their involvement is being investigated and that if lessons are to be learned about allowing non-lawyers to run legal firms that the powers that be take notice. Tesco law- what next?

If the SRA have any sense they will call in the Police to deal with those two as clearly they do not have the resources or accumen to.

Further let's understand one thing clearly, I did not use Wolstenholmes because they were cheap, my new solicitors are as cheap, if not cheaper than what I paid Wolstenholmes. I was impressed by their speal which turn out to be a lot of bull. Clearly there is a great disparity between what solicitors charge for a conveyancing transaction.

When I was looking for a new solicitor quotes ranged from £350 plus VAT to £700 plus VAT, now which one do you think I went with. If the profession is that confused about what is an appropriate fee to charge then maybe they need assistance and a charging band set out by the Law Society to insure consistency in prices.

Imagine, we keep hearing talk about what must be one of the biggest transactions of your life and you would risk going cheap, well imagine this I am buying a car, make it two luxury cars, garage A has it on sale for £10,000 more than garage B, same car, same deal now which garage do you think I would do business with.

Horrified_Solicitor

Brahan_seer wrote: »

It remains to be seen whether the investigation being carried out turns up any evidence of fraud or theft. Undoubtedly it will show that the whole conveyancing and accountancy side of the firm was a total shambles. What also concerns me is that non-lawyers appear to have been in charge - mario cardinali and wasim siddique. As I understand it until the arrival of Imran Hussain they did all the hiring and firing - see lurking lawyer's post 724 on page 37(?). I sincerely hope that their involvement is being investigated and that if lessons are to be learned about allowing non-lawyers to run legal firms that the powers that be take notice. Tesco law- what next?

The problem is not going to be Tesco law, but Bogota law. Major changes to the legal profession will mean that solicitors practices can be legitimately owned by overseas shareholders. The SRA believes that it can check up the criminal records and antecedents of people world wide to make sure that they are not criminals. Bearing in mind how slow off the mark they are in checking firms in Britain even after complaints are made, I think this is ludicrous optimism.

What is inevitably going to happen is that criminal gangs will buy UK law firms and run them to further their criminal enterprises. It's not just mortgage fraud and stealing the clients' money that will be carried out - drugs gangs will find their own firm of solicitors an ideal vehicle for money laundering.

Dobloyerdosh

anotherproblem wrote: »

I dont call £500 for a simple transaction to good to be true. One sellor one buyer no other parties involved. Simple mid terrace tiny freehold property. I think it's about time people realised that the £99 conveyance did not exist. I think £500 is a fair price for a simple house purchase (no estate agent) only the very basics of searches as I new the property. Hips Pack in place. I earned £10.50 an hour before I retired. Am I qualified yes I am very qualified. What on earth makes solicitors think they are worth so much. They are not in the real world.

All I can say is that we employed a "proper" solicitor to handle the conveyancing on the sale of our property and she has been fantastic and certainly not overpriced. What a pity our buyer tried to save a few quid using WH. We are now in limbo waiting for everything to complete again after everything ground to a halt on the day we were supposed to complete (16 Dec.). We had requested a mid November completion date from WH on a conveyance that commenced at the end of September which I did not consider unreasonable. Now we will have to pay 3 or maybe even 4 month's council tax by the time we complete on a property that is empty. Can we claim this back from the SRA who have been the main cause of all the problems by their lack of action. Please don't tar all solicitors with the same brush as there are some out there that work fast and accurately instead of some who dawdle along racking up the hours just to make money.

Horrified_Solicitor

anotherproblem wrote: »

. What on earth makes solicitors think they are worth so much. They are not in the real world.

It's not that solicitors think they are worth so much, it's more to do with the very substantial overheads that exist if the job is to be done properly. Cut corners and you end up with the likes of WH's standards of service.

RRPhantom

gemini24 wrote: »

They have failed to complete on a very simple purchase

Why didn't you do it yourself?

RRPhantom

Librachick wrote: »

I have just completed on my house in England.......with another solicitor.

So to all these lovely people, who keep quoting "you get what you pay for", I have just paid over £900 to sell a house for under £120,000 and I did all the work. The solicitor, was an !!!!! Worse than wostenholmes, IMHO.

Goodness me.

Who recommended your solicitor to you?

You should have a word.

RRPhantom

Librachick wrote: »

confused.com

Do you work for confused.com because if so I have a question for you.

Thanks.