Solictors from hell - help?

kevinyork

Hi. On here to vent some steam and ask for some advice if possible.

We are selling our house to a first time buyer. They have their mortgage offer in place and have completed valuation & survey and are keen to move. When we accepted their offer it only took us 10 days to find a place and it’s a new house which is ready for occupation. On paper then a pretty straightforward conveyance.

We instructed Solicitors we had used about 18 months back when we were selling but we ended up losing our buyer then for other reasons. The Solicitors were fine, good communication and a direct phone line and quick email responses.

However, soon after the process started this time round thing started to go wrong.

We have pages of notes on our communications with them but to summarise:

90% of the time we call we get an answerphone saying to leave a message and they will get back. We do, but they don’t, and then when we eventually speak to them they deny any message being left. Our estate agent has called them 3 times in the last 8 days, left 3 messages and had no call backs.

We get no unprompted updates about progress at all.

After moaning about the poor communication we were told they have a 5 day Service Level Agreement to respond to calls, emails and letters. This is why we have not been getting responses. However on 3 specific occasions now they have gone several days beyond this SLA before taking action on an issue. Their response was ‘yes, sorry about that we have been busy and in any case the 5 days is just a guideline.

We didn’t know anything about this 5 days response when we instructed them. It’s not in the terms they sent us and their answer is if we had emailed them requesting a quote for their services (rather than called) the auto response would have included details of this. If we had known we would not have used them. 5 days is appalling and they are not even meeting that.

The Solicitor was 10 days late in requesting searches on our purchase. We were the ones asking him if they had been requested and finally his reply was how can I request them when you have not paid any monies for them? They never asked for any either. He finally accepted we should have been asked for monies on account on instructing them.

He sent a later he had received 8 days previously from our buyers Solicitor straight onto us by email asking for a response. The letter was legal jargon and asked for things we knew nothing about. When we emailed back asking what was needed, we got no response. We tried to call and was told they would pass the message on. In the end we did lots of work speaking to another Solicitor and the Local Council and finally uncovered what was being requested. This shouldn’t be our job and if it is he should have provided help to get the info required. The Council guy couldnt believe we were being asked to get this info.

We have complained about the poor service and communications and been told they have introduced a 1st tier to field calls and answer questions. Problem is this first tier doesn’t have a clue. When we have asked to speak directly to our Solicitor has always busy and doesn’t call back. A girl on this 1st tier told us they were there to field calls and allow the fee earners not to be bothered by clients so they can earn more fees!'

Each time we calm down and think one hurdle is over, another one comes along. It seems like we should be about a week from exchange but we have no confidence it is going to happen quickly at all given the snail’s pace so far. We did escalate it to a Partner who’s first response was if you are not happy then de-instruct us despite us quoting specific examples of how they had let us down. He also said why didn’t we pay for their premium service at 50% more then they would respond quicker.

We’ve searched the net in the last week and found some awful reviews about the same firm with everyone saying the same thing. These are all recent reviews from this year. Their own website talks about being better than previous solicitors, regular updates to all parties, speedy service, personal attention etc. Its all rubbish.

We are pretty demoralised. It feels like they have us over a barrel but we can either suffer it and hope or find another Solicitor.
Does anyone know how easy it is to de-instruct and get another Solicitor to take over? I know we can complain to the Law Society after this is all over but the deal may not have gone through at all by then given their incompetence so far.

Doozergirl

It's quite simple - you call another solicitor and ask them to take over for you. They will ask your current solicitor for all the detail they have to be provided.

There is a complaints procedure which you should be following to get to the Law Society. You should have been provided with terms of business, do follow this procedure - I suspect that speaking to a partner would be part of this, but it's important that you follow it if you can get their services so far for free. Do you have anything in writing from this partner suggesting that you kick them into touch? It would be handy obviously if you need to claim back any money spent or dispute an invoice. Ultimately, although not MSE, it's sometimes better to spend a bit more and get to where you need to be without the extra hassle.

Are you going to tell us who they are?!

kevinyork

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's quite simple - you call another solicitor and ask them to take over for you. They will ask your current solicitor for all the detail they have to be provided.

There is a complaints procedure which you should be following to get to the Law Society. You should have been provided with terms of business, do follow this procedure - I suspect that speaking to a partner would be part of this, but it's important that you follow it if you can get their services so far for free. Do you have anything in writing from this partner suggesting that you kick them into touch? It would be handy obviously if you need to claim back any money spent or dispute an invoice. Ultimately, although not MSE, it's sometimes better to spend a bit more and get to where you need to be without the extra hassle.

Are you going to tell us who they are?!

Thanks. Was tempted to name them but I dont want to upset things further as its possible to identify us from the info Ive given. When its over, one way or another I will of course spill the beans.

JayZed

I agree, you should simply disinstruct them and instruct someone better - but bear in mind that you may end up paying a bit more overall. Probably worth it for the peace of mind, though.

tek-monkey

My vendors solicitor can't even work a fax, and as with yours is never available. I'm a FTB, they have another house to move straight into, yet we're fast approaching 3 months from my offer and I'm still not sure I'll get the house. I swear they don't want him to sell for some reason, the absolute lies they've told as reasons they haven't done as required are staggering. It seems myself and the vendor are now doing the solicitors job, just to try and get things done!

Thats Grindeys in Stoke, I don't mind naming!

kevinyork

JayZed wrote: »

I agree, you should simply disinstruct them and instruct someone better - but bear in mind that you may end up paying a bit more overall. Probably worth it for the peace of mind, though.

Thanks. Thats my gut feeling but its the time this will take that worries us. My guess is the current Solicitor will drag their feet handing over any papers. Given their lack of speed so far we so no reason why they would not. Wouldnt suprise us if they didnt hand the stuff over till we paid their bill!

Fire_Fox

kevinyork wrote: »

Thanks. Thats my gut feeling but its the time this will take that worries us. My guess is the current Solicitor will drag their feet handing over any papers. Given their lack of speed so far we so no reason why they would not. Wouldnt suprise us if they didnt hand the stuff over till we paid their bill!

Can't you inform them by letter you are instructing someone else due to the poor standard of service, that you will be in on X date (say three working days after they receive the letter) to collect all the documentation and settle your account?? Then go into the office with cash, pay the invoice and physically take the paperwork to the new solicitors yourself. If they aren't ready tell them you are sitting in the office until they are.

Zelie

As a tip for the future: always get an email address.

If you call and leave a message then immediately follow it up with a quick email saying 'I called at x time and asked for y thing'. If you have a conversation you can send an email saying 'just to recap, after our conversation today at z time my understanding is that you will do.....'. Sticking it in writing never hurts.

Richard_Webster

Can't you inform them by letter you are instructing someone else due to the poor standard of service, that you will be in on X date (say three working days after they receive the letter) to collect all the documentation and settle your account?? Then go into the office with cash, pay the invoice and physically take the paperwork to the new solicitors yourself. If they aren't ready tell them you are sitting in the office until they are.

If they are that bad, you write saying that you intend to make a formal complaint and want your file and you do not expect to be charged for the work done. If they do propose to charge, you add, then that will be a further source of complaint!

You also want back from them any money that you gave them that they did not spend on searches etc. and the results of the searches to take to your new solicitors.

DVardysShadow

kevinyork wrote: »

We did escalate it to a Partner who’s first response was if you are not happy then de-instruct us despite us quoting specific examples of how they had let us down. He also said why didn’t we pay for their premium service at 50% more then they would respond quicker.

His message is loud and clear. For whatever reason, he does not want your business.

ukmaggie45

Our situation was different (probate) but when we instructed a new sol (first sol was named as co-executor with OH in my parents' Wills) first sol co-operated and continues to with new sol.

Wouldn't do anything much for us, but was prepared to send papers to a "fellow professional". We love our new sol :smileyhea, best bit for OH is he hasn't had to deal with old sol since new sol took over.

So it may take a bit longer, but not necessarily a huge amount more longer.

Best wishes, and good luck. I hope to read here soon that you are in your new house! :beer:

Maggie