Warning - do not use wolstenholmes solicitors

PJCampana

I am in the process of selling ba property using Wolstenholmes Solicitors and received an email last Wednesday saying that their Birmingham office was closing and that my file would be forwarded to their Heald Green office in Cheshire, and that I would be hearing from them by the end of the week. So far I have heard nothing. I've tried their freephone number 0800 862 0319, the contact number on their email, and emailing them using the email address informing me of the closure. So far no reply. I the phoned the Lay Society Helpline 08456086565 and according to them Wolstenholmes Solicitors are still trading, although a number of other people have already contacted them on the same matter. Where do I go from here? Could't Wolstenholmes Solicitors at the very least email the people originally contacted over the closure advising them of what is happening.

Nobunaga

How far along has your transaction gone PeterC? Have you exchanged contracts yet or is it right at the start of the process?

hoverdonkey

Them sending your stuff to Manchester won't help chap, because that's where our files were and they've since been moved. To where, I know not. It's an absolute disgrace and playing with people's lives. It's not like we've bought faulty TV's. This is actual bricks and mortar stuff.

To the charge of us going for the cheapest, I would agree in a sense. You buy the cheapest TV, you probably lose quality of pciture. However, there is a minimum standard to expect, especially from a law firm who are supposedly closely regulated and no one should have expected this, no matter how cheap. To imply those who went with Wolstenholmes deserved it is unfair.

zAd_2

PJCampana wrote: »

I am in the process of selling ba property using Wolstenholmes Solicitors and received an email last Wednesday saying that their Birmingham office was closing and that my file would be forwarded to their Heald Green office in Cheshire, and that I would be hearing from them by the end of the week. So far I have heard nothing. I've tried their freephone number 0800 862 0319, the contact number on their email, and emailing them using the email address informing me of the closure. So far no reply. I the phoned the Lay Society Helpline 08456086565 and according to them Wolstenholmes Solicitors are still trading, although a number of other people have already contacted them on the same matter. Where do I go from here? Could't Wolstenholmes Solicitors at the very least email the people originally contacted over the closure advising them of what is happening.

Phone a local Solicitors and ask them to pick up your case.
Go in and see them, give them the paper work you have and they should help you out.
Forget about saving money and forget about Wolstenholmes because they not going to help you anymore.

This is what i've done today and its all looking good now.

Good luck, i think we all need it.

brbrwilde

I went to the Heald Green office on tues and collected my documents but they couldnt give me my refund cheque because they couldnt get into the system. I was promised that it would be posted out to me asap all i can do now is wait and see. living in hope along with all the others.

MSAB_2

We used Wolstenholmes to organise the Conveyancing side of our House sale.
Nightmare....
The main fundamental problem is they have taken on to much work and there 'case workers', can't cope or won't cope.
Trying to ring my 'Case worker', i'd find that each phone call lasted no more than 5 sec's as I was hurriedly disconnected. The usual excuse was "I'll ring you back later" when I did phone back later (the next day), "I was just about to ring you" was excuse number 2.

As an inexperienced House seller I'd be chasing them as the Buyers solicitor was always waiting for some information or paperwork.
I ended up having to organise the 'Environmental search'. Bearing in mind i'm completely inexperienced at this.
Quite simply if I had'nt pushed and pulled the House sale would have fallen through.

My main gripe however is when we finally sold the property I asked for the standard statement of fee's ect... We waited 3 weeks and though the 'Case worker' said everything would be fine on closer inspection we had paid an Estate agent a fee of £3460? We used House Network to market our property and there fee was only £299.
Who did we pay?!!
Try as I might to get a conversation longer then 5 secs to resolve; I failed.
It got so bad that they no longer answered there main number and failed to reply to emails.
This was alot of money and they did'nt want to talk to me about it.
I complained to one of there senior managers and she has'nt even replied yet.
Challenge..
Try to ring there office number next week> 01614371232 and you'll find a voice mail telling you there office hours are 9 till 5. Try and ring within that core time and you get the same message. Are they still open for business? Has the weight of there c**k up's finally killed them off?

You know what, to rub salt in my already exposed wounds they we're supposed to have got money for some items of furnature we sold to the buyer. We have'nt received this either.
I contemplated calling the police as what they've done is an act of theft and if you can't trust a paid solicitor to manage your money who else can you go to?

Morale of the story don't trust a comparison website that provides good reviews and a fair price for a solicitor called Wolstenholmes.
I found out on this forum that the comparison website is owned by someone linked to Wolstenholmes.

"Dear Wolstenholmes please do everyone a favour and close.
Make sure you pay me back beforehand"

jumpexchange

I would like to point out that many people are affected who have not employed Wolstenholmes. It was the first time buyers in our chain that employed them. We had made the sensible decision to go with a local recommendation. As I described earlier in this thread, our buyers pulled out becuase they could not be bothered to wait any longer - caused by the delays from the bottom of the chain caused by these so called solicitors.

I'm so cross with the solicitors. But also our buyers, who were not affected by the stamp duty issue they just "didn't want to spend christmas surrounded by boxes"!!! Well we are devastated.

We have no redress to either our buyers or the solicitors since no contracts were exchanged (even though we had signed a week and a half earlier) and we did not have a direct relationship with Wolthenholmes.

As I type this I realise I am venting my frustration and anger here as it is my only outlet, but I also realise it will do me no good. We have lost the home we were so excited to move into and £2000 in costs. Since this all went wrong earlier in the week, my daughter has cried every night. My son has autism and the uncertainty is awful for him. I put the kids to bed and then I cry too. I can't see a way forward.

lorna0001

I initially asked Wolstenholmes to assist me in buying a house in Aug 09. All actions slow except when they wanted money. This week has been the worst. I was unable to get hold of anyone in either Birmingham, Cheadle or Manchester Offices until Wed 16th Dec. Then Andrew Kenedler actually returned my call. He said the Birmingham office were closing 18th Dec and all were being made redundant. They have my £300 fee deposit plus my £14800 deposit for my house. Zakir Hussain emailed me saying he would refund the money. I have not yet rec'd refund and need to exchange by 24th Dec to catch the stamp duty holiday. Initially they were telling me that the files were being despatched to Cheadle. However, no one was answering the phone at Cheadle either. I have contacted the Law Society who report that they are registered with them. The Law Society are aware of a problem but are not allowed to disclose this to anyone until possibly early next week. Suggest we all get on to them next week. Help line for solicitor complaints is on their website. Is anyone able to visit the offices and let us know if there is anyone there???? I am on the South Coast.

emma192017

We are using Wolstenholmes to buy our house, over the last 3 months since deciding to go with them we have only been able to speak to our solicitor once - after calling nearly every day and emailing. Now cannot get in touch with anyone at the other offices either. We are in Carlisle but going to Leeds for Xmas so will be going over to the Heald Green office if we haven't heard from them by Xmas Eve.

groovy_mucker

I too am suffering as a result of Wolstenholmes acting for buyers.

I thought I'd mention - since some posters don't seem to be aware - that you can get some useful information (even if it's not always bang up-to-date) from the Law Society website at the URL you might expect: xxx.lawsociety.org.uk - obviously substitute "w"s for "x"s.

As for me ... I wait!