Arc Property Solicitors - dreadful service, awful reputation!

Bunnyrabbit

I know there are other threads here on how shocking this company are but I'm so furious and confused I need to post a new up to date one.

Please, please, please spare yourself the hassle if you are reading this before instructing a solicitor to deal with a sale / purchase. Please do as we SHOULD have done and use a 'proper' local solicitor who has a decent reputation and local knowledge and who is accountable.

you'll save a few hundred pound going with Arc...But you'll waste weeks/months, may jeopardise your sale and will have no confidence they will fully check the title of the property you are buying.

We are using them at present and about to consult the Legal Ombudsman as a last resort if we can't get something resolved today.

The details of the case are long and dull, but basically:

1.there is not just one person handling your case, it gets passed from pillar to post (recipe for errors and delays)

2. they rarely call you back

3. They MISS critical parts of the title you buy in our case. WE have had to suggest to them what to enquire about as they didn't notice important parts of the lease

4. Communication is generally awful.

I don't want anyone else to make the mistake of using them!!

To anyone knowledgeable out there, is it possible to switch to a different solicitor at a fairly late stage in the process? I don't trust them and would rather pay my local solicitor more.

DVardysShadow

You should cut your losses, prepare to pay them off and engage another solicitor. When you engage a new solicitor, see how they respond to an instruction to get papers from ARC - your biggest difficulty is that ARC may become deliberately obstructive.

sherrybaby

Yep, they are truly awful. We used them for our sale and purchase (we completed last week). They caused us added stress and they weren't that cheap in the end!! Never, ever agin.

clairebarrett

@sherrybaby:i'm so pleased to hear you've completed, that at least gives me some faint hope.

I'm currently waiting to exchange and complete on my purchase and they have been truly awful, with all the aforementioned complaints on this forum proving to be true. I've lodged an official complaint but fear the legal ombudsman is my only option. I will report back if and when i ever complete. my feeling now are that you shouldn't use them if you value your sanity and money in the long run.

woloonga

They are just terrible. We have been trying to buy a house since February, just buy, no chain the property is vacant. Our mortgage offer is about to expire they have taken so long. They rarely answer the phone,unless you are signing up with them, once you have done that there is a different number to call. Regularly the phone is disconnected when you ring. Never are promises kept to phone you back and even if they do you are told one thing, then a week later told another. For example several weeks ago we were told everything is back and they are putting the papers together for signing, will be with us in 2 days, well when they did not arrive, we rang only to be told the searches were not back, when we explained that is not what we were previously told the person said well I cant account for my colleagues.
But that is not the limit of their incompetance - if only. I have actually had to send an email explaining our mortgage because the figures did not match the asking price of the house we were buying - I dont know that many people that have 100% mortgages these days.

They are shocking, and to be honest we are at our wits end, we will have to go to the ombudsmen I fear, and we are seeking another solicitor but are so concerned that ARC could cause us problems we just dont know what to do now.

chesneyoctopus

Woolonga - please let us know how you get on with taking your transaction away from ARC. I have also had an unhappy experience with ARC.

Upsetandannoyed_2

Getting straight to the point :-

About to complete in 3 days time...
We are first time buyers, the new build has stood empty for 4 months,
it has taken over 3 months to get to this point, bad communication, only get things done with persistent emailing from myself. Just got bill through - they have managed to over bill me by nearly £1000 and seem to have forgotten that I have paid them a very sizeable deposit in April which they have also want me to pay asap.... I am totally stressed! Hence the user name on here....Upsetandannoyed.

I have mailed them and hope that they will rectify matters or else I am going to have to get a loan to pay the "over bill".

It's an absolute nightmare!!

chesneyoctopus

Upsetandannoyed wrote: »

Getting straight to the point :-

About to complete in 3 days time...
We are first time buyers, the new build has stood empty for 4 months,
it has taken over 3 months to get to this point, bad communication, only get things done with persistent emailing from myself. Just got bill through - they have managed to over bill me by nearly £1000 and seem to have forgotten that I have paid them a very sizeable deposit in April which they have also want me to pay asap.... I am totally stressed! Hence the user name on here....Upsetandannoyed.

I have mailed them and hope that they will rectify matters or else I am going to have to get a loan to pay the "over bill".

It's an absolute nightmare!![/QUOTE

What reasons have they given to justify overbilling you? £1000.00 is a huge amount to be paying extra.

Upsetandannoyed_2

It seems to be my fault for not being able to read the invoice they sent me... this is the invoice where £16,500 of my deposit money had disappeared. But that's the least of my problems, I was supposed to complete yesterday - I got a call for Arc at 1:30pm asking me to phone my lender as they will not release funds... I called Santander who told me that they had asked for site plans on the 4th March and had only just received them that day, and the surveyors were out, so they could not release funds until plan had been approved. I called back Arc who told me that I was now in breach of contract and will have to pay a fee to the sellers... more calls ensued with me having to wait the 'normal' 25 minutes for somebody to answer a phone, was promised calls back but they never came. So that's my situation...
Had a stressful day and night yesterday, and am trying to hang in there for Monday...
I cannot wait to get shot of these people and move on. I have bought and sold property with my ex 5 times and have never, ever had any issues like this.
I should add "and disgusted" to the end of my username!

Richard_Webster

Who did Santander ask for the plans - the borrower or the solicitor? if it was the solicitor then they are negligent in allowing you to exchange and any extra costs are down to them.

Upsetandannoyed_2

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Who did Santander ask for the plans - the borrower or the solicitor? if it was the solicitor then they are negligent in allowing you to exchange and any extra costs are down to them.

Arc should have submitted the plans.
Hi Richard, Santander have told me that it was in the original mortgage stuff, Arc have denied this and told me that they phoned Santander last week and they said nothing else was required. I don't know who to believe, although I am swaying on the side of Santander due to the way Arc have behaved. My sellers solicitors also asked me where I had found Arc from, they told me they were the rudest company they had ever dealt with, which is why I think they are pursuing the breach of contract. I don't want this to drag out anymore.. my mortgage offer will cease in two weeks as it has take 3 months to get to this stage, I think if nobody will pay the fee, then I will have to, then try to get it back later from the legal ombudsman.