Solicitors charges for emails

bryanb

princess_loki wrote: »

my solicitor did not charge for e-mails. if it hadn't been for e-mails everything would have taken far longer to resolve. maybe i was lucky!

Do you imagine that your solicitor works for nothing? Perhaps it was included in the time charged to your account, although not itemised.

fifixx

Sorry all - for the 3 rd time - of course I know that solicitors charge. i don't want to pay £17.50 plus VAT for an email that says Thank you - that's all - sorry if the wrong end of the stick has been picked up........

fifixx

Whoops - not me being talked too......

Weirdlittleman

fifixx wrote: »

Sorry all - for the 3 rd time - of course I know that solicitors charge. i don't want to pay £17.50 plus VAT for an email that says Thank you - that's all - sorry if the wrong end of the stick has been picked up........

Your not. Your paying £17.50 for your solicitor to inspect your submission and ensure it meets the requirements then replying to confirm receipt and that there are no problems.

fifixx

I know I shouldn't continue with this - but, yes, I am happy to pay £17.50 for the solicitor to read my email with information in and also to charge me £17.50 to send me an email with information in - any information, just find it hard with the Thank you one!


also:


"The OP seems to want the best of both worlds though. It sorted out quickly and cheaply but also lots of touchy feely stuff without paying for it."

I want probate to be concluded efficiently and at a correct cost to the estate.


think this should be the final post on this......

DVardysShadow

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

The example in number 11 is her sending an e-mail and then the solicitors almost immediate response.

The fact the solicitor responded immediately suggests that a response was expected or required.

Had the OP perharps had a phone discussion about what to e-mail or such.

I understand it to be charged as 6 minutes to read OPs email and another 6 for the email reply.

OlliesDad

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

Your not. Your paying £17.50 for your solicitor to inspect your submission and ensure it meets the requirements then replying to confirm receipt and that there are no problems.

Not true. According to the OP the solicitor charges a seperate £17.50 for receiving the email, that is to cover the cost of inspecting the submission. The £17.50 charged for replying would just to cover costs of sending that email.

trevormax

To the people saying that the solicitor gets an email and then has to do hours of research before replying. Those hours of research would be added to the bill on top of the email sent in reply.

If the email sent or returned waa a long email taking time to read/write, then yes they should be charged at the rate the OP has said. However, in the example shown by the OP, these should not be added to the bill.

What if the OP had replied to the email example in their post to say "Thanks" and the solicitor had replied "Happy to help"? Should this then add another £35 to the bill?

RobertoMoir

As this is obviously addressed to me.

trevormax wrote: »

To the people saying that the solicitor gets an email and then has to do hours of research before replying. Those hours of research would be added to the bill on top of the email sent in reply.

I agree that the solicitor shouldn't be "double-dipping". The OP should check that isn't the case.

If the email sent or returned waa a long email taking time to read/write, then yes they should be charged at the rate the OP has said. However, in the example shown by the OP, these should not be added to the bill.

What if the solicitor charges a flat amount per email, regardless of content? The rate charged seems a bit steep for my tastes on that idea but if the solicitor sent 6 emails, 2 of which took 2 hours to compose and write, 1 of which took 40 mins to write and the other 3 took 10 seconds to write then things might balance out fairer than we might think.

What if the OP had replied to the email example in their post to say "Thanks" and the solicitor had replied "Happy to help"? Should this then add another £35 to the bill?

Well as I already said, I don't think they should be charging at all, or at worst should only be charging a peppercorn amount, for emails like that. Unless they're doing what I suggest above.

BLT_2

It doesn't matter whether the communication is done through phone or email you still have to pay. Each time you email or talk to the solicitor you are taking up their time, their time is chargeable by the hour, ergo you get a bill.

If they didn't work this system they would never get off of the phone or email due to people querying the daftest little things. Its amazing how many people think solicitors actually chat to them on the phone because they are helpful, its all about the money:-)