O'Neill Patient Solicitors - Anyone had to deal with them?

Lucas_C

I'm dealing with them now and they are rubbish. I had a failed sale with them (not their fault) and had to micro manage them the whole way through. I had to log an official complaint and talk with their director in order to find out the simplest bit of information. It's such a shame that these companies deal with so many cases that they have no room for customer service.
As of now I'm in a new purchase and badgering them so I can pay them for my searches. That's right, I'm chasing them to take my money!
If I were anyone reading this forum I would stay away unless you have no chain and don't mind dragging out your purchase for a long longer than normal.

Surrey_EA

Always makes me smile when I see their web address, and I think of a singular poorly sufferer.

Lucas_C

lol, so true. I even refer to them in my correspondance as One Ill Patient

Melmel93

Hi,

Me and my boyfriend are currently buying a house with L&C brokers and they recommended us use O'Neil Patient. I'm wondering if anyone has already done this and could let me know how it went? Because our advisor basically said they would quicken the process and I don't know if that would be a better experience than going to O'Neils directly.

Thanks a lot

Ruby789

I have just used them (also recommended by L&C) and had no issues whatsoever. Offer accepted mid August, exchanged end of October, completed late November. He contacted me when he said he would, and even at one stage chased me for paperwork I'd missed. When he had a week off another colleague was in contact with me to acknowledge the paperwork I had sent them.

My purchase was extremely straightforward, and was at a time when transactions seem to have dropped off, so perhaps they simply had a lower caseload at the time. Also my chain was short and simple.

When I told the estate agent who I was using, they cautioned against using them, said they'd lost sales because of them. However, in the same breath they were also pushing their own recommended solicitors. I decided to risk ONP because the broker said they could put pressure on them if needed. I didn't ever have to involve them thankfully. Mine seems to be a rare positive experience.

greyroofer

I'm just starting to use them and they are SO slow.

Errors on forms, don't answer the phone, still says they are out of office for Christmas, email black hole.

They are very quick to sell to you but once you're in, they slow down.

I'm tempted to walk away.

ChasingtheWelshdream

I appreciate there has been some negative feedback, but I have had a positive experience.

We used O'Neill Patient on a fixed, no completion-no fee deal. (Other than disbursements). Our first attempted purchase was average. Nothing to complain about, just ticking along. This purchase fell through at the last minute.

As everyone's plans were based around moving at the end January, we offered on a vacant property, hoping we could move fairly quickly. We then discovered the property was to be auctioned 3 weeks later, and if we hadn't exchanged beforehand we would lose it.

From this point, our case handler at O'Neill pulled out all the stops, responding to all calls and emails, updating accurately and pushing the other parties when asked.

We exchanged today - 12 working days after having our offer accepted. We are cash buyers, so could waive a lot of things, but they managed to exchange in an extremely tight timeframe.

And, other than disbursements, our legal bill won't be any higher, even with this second property.

So, a thumbs up from me.

A relative is also using them, and has had frustrations. Maybe we just shouted loudest, but very impressed with the outcome.

RateHopper

Having a truly dreadful time with them! I'm currently trying (very hard!) to buy a house, where they are the seller's solicitor. They didn't send out the initial paperwork for three weeks, despite telling the seller and the EA that they'd sent it "straight away" (if so, why not quote the exact date and then re-send having been told it' not been received). They only eventually sent it after I'd complained to the EA several times and contacted the buyer to tell them of lack of progress.

They sent out the contract with essential paperwork missing.

The hurdle now is them not answering the queries sent by my solicitor which have been with them for 21 days. My solicitor has chased several times, I've told the sellers about the delay and have got the EA involved again, but still it's a brick wall. They have finally replied to the EA saying they have answered the questions, but have now been sent more questions, which is NOT true.

21 days to answer initial queries is ridiculous. They are either extremely inefficient or completely overworked which is unfair both on their clients and those dependent upon their actions.

I see they have previously responded on this forum to a distressed customer well I wish they'd reply to me. I chose this house as a chain free speedy transaction, yet I'm now at week 7 of the process and have actually got no further than the end of week 1. It's stressful, upsetting, taints the house you were happy to have found and costs additional money due to having to pay extra rental and storage costs, let alone not being able to schedule buying furniture and carpets etc.

If I could ever help anyone with anything it would be to tell them to avoid O'Neil Patient.

always_sunny

RateHopper wrote: »

If I could ever help anyone with anything it would be to tell them to avoid O'Neil Patient.

Not everyone will go through your experience, some may some may not;
I used them (as buyer) and they were fine, yes sometimes I wished they were quicker but always available. Realistically for me the bottleneck was often my seller solicitors and they were local to them!

If you're unhappy with their service you can ask for someone new to be appointed but if the problems are not with them, not much you can do.

Would I use them again? Sure, if the price is good why not!
Until the UK embraces digitalisation, these sort of services will always bit hit and miss I am afraid!

RateHopper

Of course I'm unhappy with their service, thought I'd made that blatantly clear.

I'm now at week 8 of my purchase process and technically have got no further than week 1 due to O'Neill Patient not replying to any correspondence, emails or phone call my solicitor makes to them. The EA is afraid to get involved ("we don't like to be seen to be interfering"). I'm completely stymied!

Far too many people here have negative experience of dealing with them.