Is anyone else fed up with their solicitor?

jockettuk

xela_17 wrote:

Must have a rant about my solicitor. Firstly, I requested the F and F list about 3 weeks ago, as we were going to measure up last weekend and thought it would be helpful to have. Knew the solicitor had it because she told me. 2 weeks, several emails and one voicemail later we still didn't have the list. On Monday I rang up to shout but only got hold of the assistant, who said she would send it out. Finally receive list on Tues, 2 weeks after asking for it and too late for the house visit. :rolleyes:

Had to ring again several times this week as our vendors are really keen to move next week and we've not even exchanged yet. On not one occasion did I get through to the actual solicitor, she was always "on the phone". So I leave messages for her to call me back - she never does.

So yesterday I emailed her (given up with the futile voicemail leaving), asking for news. No reply. Emailed her again late yesterday, asking for a reply. She emails back (finally) but only saying she'll update me today. It's now 4.45 and despite emailing her yet again, I have yet to receive an response.

Sorry for mammoth post but I'm really fed up. Is anyone else's solicitor this useless?

oh this sounds so familiar and i believe we lost our buyer because our solicitor so slow.. we should have exchanged we should have completed and still the buyers solicitor had heard nothing.. eventualy they got fed up and went and bought another house.. cant say i blame them

moonrakerz

jockettuk wrote:

oh this sounds so familiar and i believe we lost our buyer because our solicitor so slow.. we should have exchanged we should have completed and still the buyers solicitor had heard nothing.. eventualy they got fed up and went and bought another house.. cant say i blame them

As you probably know (looking at your name and avatar) this couldn't happen North of the border. Much better system up there.

PS: I'm English !

Bossyboots

HelpPlease wrote:

Your solicitor sounds 100% like mine its scary, she is even a she like yours, just out of interest is your solicitor in the Eastcote, Middlesex area ? Same issues for me, rarely returns calls, emails, has called me once in 3 months, has NEVER been on top of anything !! If she is not the same as yours, its proof the vast majoriity solicitors are crap. Mine is pretty certain to fall through now and I do partly blame her !!!!! :mad:

I hardly think the mention of a handful of problems on an internet forum proves the "vast majoriity solicitors are crap". Thats like the surveys that claim 95% of the population think something or other and then you find the survey was only 1000 people. There are posts here too of good experiences which negates some of the negatives.

That said, I would never recommend using a solicitor suggested by estate agents.

loulou41, it doesn't matter whether you have a solicitor or a conveyancer, as long as they can do the job. It can be the case that a conveyancer is better as they will be specialising solely in that area of work, whereas a solicitor may also be handling other types of cases that can become more pressing than conveyancing transactions.

The main difficulty with conveyancing now is that the fees people are prepared to pay have dropped significantly over the years and therefore there needs to be a bigger client base to ensure sufficient income can be generated to pay the staff wages and overheads. This is bound to lead to a reduction in service because there is only so much work one person can do in a day. It is also leading to the employment of more unqualified and inexperienced staff.

There are incompetent solicitors, like there are incompetent members of every profession. Every law firm will have a complaints procedure with a named complaints handler. If you are not satisfied with the way the case is being handled, contact the handler and tell them. I would suggest this is particularly important where the problem is one of lack of contact and lack of return of calls or acknowledgement of e-mails etc. It is appalling that they can lose a cheque that was personally delivered and I would be asking one of the firm's partners to explain to me how this can possibly have happened.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

loulou41 wrote:

Am a bit confused, went to the local solicitor's office about a quote and I was given a Conveyancer to deal with me. I hear people mentioning solicitors, do I need to insist on a Solicitor or the conveyancer can do the job of the Solicitor. Thanks

Some solicitors only do criminal law, some only family law, and some only property conveyancing - don't worry, sounds like you have the right one.

Voyager2002

Bossyboots wrote:

The main difficulty with conveyancing now is that the fees people are prepared to pay have dropped significantly over the years and therefore there needs to be a bigger client base to ensure sufficient income can be generated to pay the staff wages and overheads. This is bound to lead to a reduction in service because there is only so much work one person can do in a day. It is also leading to the employment of more unqualified and inexperienced staff.

Conveyancing has always been done by the most junior and lowest-paid people in the solicitor's office. Most of the work, most of the time, is an absolutle doddle. For far too long it was used to cross-subsidise the other things that solicitors did. Now, thank goodness, licensed conveyancers have come on to the scene and are doing the job for a fee that is a fair reflection of what is actually involved.

xela_17

Thanks for all posts - at least I know I am not alone! Quick update - after much chasing last thing on Friday, I finally managed to get an assistant (not even the solicitor) on the phone and she put the contract in the post for me to sign.

Unfortunately then got a call from the EA to say that the person at the top of the chain has only just realised she needs a mortgage offer, she can't just transfer her old mortage, :rolleyes: so we won't be moving this week after all. How can you get practically to exchange before realising this??? :eek:

stattoma

Bossyboots wrote:

I hardly think the mention of a handful of problems on an internet forum proves the "vast majoriity solicitors are crap". Thats like the surveys that claim 95% of the population think something or other and then you find the survey was only 1000 people. There are posts here too of good experiences which negates some of the negatives.

Well not quite like that. A survey of that size which finds that 95% agree on something is very strong evidence. You could be pretty sure ("95% confident") that the real proportion across the whole of the population is between about 93% and 97%.

Back on topic. My solicitor is also cr*p. My biggest dislike is him not telling me he's going on holiday - he's away today (the day before we're supposed to exchange and complete) yet he didn't think to mention it on Friday. And obviously there is nobody else in the whole firm who could help ...

Grrrr.

Anecdotal evidence, but strong anecdotal evidence!

jockettuk

moonrakerz wrote:

As you probably know (looking at your name and avatar) this couldn't happen North of the border. Much better system up there.

PS: I'm English !

yes much better system north of the border