using an online solicitor??

red_beard_2

if anyone is thinking of using conveyancing warehouse (roberts solicitors), just dont. completely useless. i read mixed reviews about them on here and hoped for the best, unfortunately they dont really seem to know what they are doing and have delayed the process massively causing huge amounts of stress to myself and everyone else in the chain. avoid.

foued

Lambert Pugh are very good and they are internet based (*shock*). Especially Christine Potter.

timmyt

unless you use a 'solicitor' - an actual one - or a conveyancer with over 25 years exoereince, you are looking for trouble. good luck OP

timmyt

MissMessy wrote: »

Whats ironic about that? This is a money saving forum so obviously members of the forum will be looking for cost cutting products and services!!

The problem really lies with Martin Lewis featuring these cowboy companies in his Self Help articles for purchasing??

there is cheap and there is good value, but cheapo hunters end up on this forum

palu

I have my case currently with conveyancing warehouse. I wouldn't recommend it to anybody.

The solicitor never picks up my phone. Leaving voice message to call back doesn't work either. Sometime it is full week before I get reply to my emails.

I already asked 2 of my friends to look somewhere else as conveyancing warehouse service is very poor.

danielwhitehouse

In fact there's web sites that you can find that give you free quotes for local solicitors. So web and local combined? Pretty cool huh?

catloverbex

I moved into my house last Friday (Wahoo!). I used an online conveyancer (Premier Property Lawyers) because the EA pushed them hard and promised me they'd be the quickest as they had dealt with a previous sale that had only just fallen through so they knew all the details already (I knew the real reason was because they wanted their commision lol!). We wanted to go quick so decided to go with them (despite having major reservations given all of the doom & gloom mongering on these forums!)

In all honesty - they were ok. Super quick service which was excellent as we were keen to complete asap. We put our offer in on 12th September, exchanged on 21st October and moved in on 12th November. I'm pretty impressed with that speed!

Now for the negatives - they were not open and honest about their fees. We ended up getting charged about £300 more than the quote. This was fine though as we had 'budgeted' for this based on everyones feedback on these forums and we had also read the small print of the quote for excluded fees (so were expecting these).

Also - they did make a mistake on the stamp duty form (spelt the vendors name wrong) but corrected this as soon as we called them.

I'm not against using local firms. To be honest I would have preferred to use a local firm of solicitors BUT we both work Mon-Fri 9-5pm and can't deal with our solicitors during work hours. For that reason we were thrilled with our online conveyancers as we could call them at 7pm on arrival home from work and get our stuff sorted. We didnt need to take any time off work or be unprofessional and make personal calls in work time.

I'd say if you do decide to use an online conveyancer you need to be aware that you will more than likely be charged more than the quote and you will need to check all the paperwork to makes sure there are no mistakes!

Good luck!

timmyt

catloverbex wrote: »

I moved into my house last Friday (Wahoo!). I used an online conveyancer (Premier Property Lawyers) because the EA pushed them hard and promised me they'd be the quickest as they had dealt with a previous sale that had only just fallen through so they knew all the details already (I knew the real reason was because they wanted their commision lol!). We wanted to go quick so decided to go with them (despite having major reservations given all of the doom & gloom mongering on these forums!)

In all honesty - they were ok. Super quick service which was excellent as we were keen to complete asap. We put our offer in on 12th September, exchanged on 21st October and moved in on 12th November. I'm pretty impressed with that speed!

Now for the negatives - they were not open and honest about their fees. We ended up getting charged about £300 more than the quote. This was fine though as we had 'budgeted' for this based on everyones feedback on these forums and we had also read the small print of the quote for excluded fees (so were expecting these).

Also - they did make a mistake on the stamp duty form (spelt the vendors name wrong) but corrected this as soon as we called them.

I'm not against using local firms. To be honest I would have preferred to use a local firm of solicitors BUT we both work Mon-Fri 9-5pm and can't deal with our solicitors during work hours. just email as most conveyancing is done like that, PPL are not lawyers so they don't have the answers when you phone. For that reason we were thrilled with our online conveyancers as we could call them at 7pm on arrival home from work and get our stuff sorted. We didnt need to take any time off work conveyancers rarely if eve meet their clients face to face, it is all by email or be unprofessional and make personal calls in work time.

I'd say if you do decide to use an online conveyancer you need to be aware that you will more than likely be charged more PPL are one of the worst in the Country for reputation among conveyancers than the quote and you will need to check all the paperwork to makes sure there are no mistakes!

Good luck!

never use PPL

charles_b_2

The world is changing, yet solicitors are still in the dark ages generally.

Online Conveyancing appears to be fledgling service at the moment, but just like lots of services, you get good and bad service.

I've read lots of bad press about Beaumont Legal, but I'm using them for my purchase and sale, and I've not had a problem with them

On the other hand, I got a quote from a local firm who not only managed to get my name completely wrong on the quote on the first page, but a completely different name on the second page, and it wasn't a transcription error, I'd sent them an email with my full contact details.

The Solicitor on offer from the EA was a national chain, double the price of beaumont and around 60% more than local.

The feedback I saw for Beaumont was around 60% positive to 20% Neg and 20% neutral.

I don't think it's unreasonable to use an online conveyancer, I think it's a sign of the times that traditional Solicitors are threatened by both internet based services AND cheaper prices in a time of austerity where everyone is tightening their belts.

As with ALL things on the internet, people shout far more about bad service than good service, and it's easy for companies to be tarred with the brush of useless or poor, when it's a few complainants

As the old saying goes, get good service and you tell 1-2 people. Get bad service and you tell the world.

timmyt is a Vested Interest here, as he is obviously a solicitor. In any area of work, would you be impartial in your approach if the outcome was not in your favour?

I would not recommend any solicitor, it is up to the individual to make an informed choice re: Local versus Internet and to do their research. Local does NOT always mean better, and Cheaper does NOT always mean poorer.

timmyt

bemusedman wrote: »

Not quite sure how timmyt can get away with saying they've got one of the worst reputations??? Where's your evidence for that sweeping generalisation?

He's quite obviously got some sort of beef with online conveyancers (I'm guessing he have had a bad experience tell me about it...I groan, and the selling agent groans whenever we face certian online/high volume bucket shops - though once you get a quote from some of them they are far higher than an actual 'solicitor' ...go figure! with one, once...or maybe he's just p****d off that most of them are much better oh you kill me, ha ha - spotty 18 year old headset wearing person with no qualifications at conveyancing than his antiquated "solicitors firm" - after all, he suggested in one of his posts that he'd charge clients extra if they phoned for updates on their case too much or put their case to the bottom of the pile if they nagged him! which conveyancer wouldn't, we are not paid to be nagged or harrassed) so all he does is sit on here all day slagging them off.

And before you start, no I don't work for them. Course you do, or someone like them Just fed up with people coming on here seeking a bit of advice only to be patronised by a miserable old git who's bitter at losing business to more successful companies. High volume companies are in my opinion the reason why indemnity insurance came out...before it did, educated and experienced lawyers would take views....but faced with dumbed down counterparts in such organisations who had no experience too, the solicitor was stuck and so insurance came out to let the dummies move forward. Such companies have bad forum reputations and yet they are not solicitors and so damage the reputation of actual solicitors who by and large do the better job by far...they also raise our PII cover due to their mistakes...but hey....give them a try as I will be happy to post a reply to your moaning forum post

Oh bemusedman.....

Problem with people hunting out legal service on the internet is that they want cheap...and yet they forget they are not buying a 'good' like a pack of Kelloggs Shreddies which can compete on price as it is what it is, a good, whatever shop you buy it from. The service of a conveyancer is just that, a 'service', and you simply cannot compare like for like. Each firm is different.

So internet trawlers tend to have price as a very high criteria, and so are heading for disaster as that will invariaably get them an outfit who will charge cheap (meaning unqualified staff, bad communication if any, mistakes, and what other corners they can cut to make their cheap fee work), and the trawling 'cheap' motivated customer may also be after 'somethign for nothing' and so be a difficult client for the lawyer to deal with. Constant emails -yet conveyancing doesn't move on a daily basis - 'I saw this on google isn't this the correct way of doing...' sort of person....etc.

Nearly all lawyers use the internet, so there is no fear of it, but the good conveyancing firms stay off price comparison sites. Why? Because they don't feel that shouting 'we are cheap' sends any kind of decent message.