1st Property Lawyers - not honouring quote

Ambersuccubus

I contacted this firm re: conveyancing through the multiquote system recommended on this site just before Xmas. I received a quote from them (in addition to the one through the multiquote site) that categorically stated at the bottom that it was valid for 28 days, and that the price quoted would be honoured if we began the process within that time.
Roll round to this week, well within the 28 days, and they say they cannot find the quote (I sent them a copy), it was a computer error (there is no EOE note on the quote), and that they cannot and will not honour it. They have also produced a (much more expensive) quote that has the same dates as my original, as though to override it.

Given their own statement that the quote will be honoured within a specific timeframe, I am curious as to the legal implications of them refusing to do so. I've checked the small print, and there's nothing in there about exceptions for computer errors, etc., and the only difference is actually the fee level and associated VAT, so calling it a "computer error" seems a bit disingenuous.

Has anyone else had issues with this firm not fulfilling its commitments?

DaftyDuck

Mind you, even if you can get them to honour that quotation, would you wish to use them for a legal matter, if they are that inefficient?

Ambersuccubus

Well, that's exactly what my husband said, and we are likely to look elsewhere for purely practical reasons. But I am curious about the legal implications, given that they must have at least a couple of lawyers on staff...

sgthartman

I ended up with Premier Property lawyers ( 1st property lawyers and 1stpropertylawyers.com) after being forwarded thru an agent. After knocking the price down, they again tried to bump the price at quotation.

Aside from this the service is incredibly poor, from the lack of response to emails or endless on-hold sessions on a premium rate 0845 number that nobody answers.

sgthartman

We ended up with Premier Property lawyers ( 1st property lawyers and 1stpropertylawyers.com) after being forwarded thru an agent. After knocking the price down, they again tried to bump the price at quotation.

Aside from this the service is incredibly poor, from the lack of response to emails or endless on-hold sessions on a premium rate 0845 number that nobody answers. They may actually succesfully cause my purchase to fall thru.

sgthartman

I ended up with Premier Property lawyers ( 1st property lawyers and 1stpropertylawyers.com) after being forwarded thru an agent. After knocking the price down, they again tried to bump the price at quotation.

Aside from this the service is incredibly poor, from the lack of response to emails or endless on-hold sessions on a premium rate 0845 number that nobody answers.

Phone-a-Friend

Premier Property Lawyers are the same as 1st Property Lawyers!

(CaseRef: 289212) I got roped into using this online company because of the promise of late working hours and availability on Saturdays. In addition, my mortgage adviser, London & Country, also referred them. The truth was quite different though - forget late working hours or weekends, the conveyancer is usually incredibly hard to get hold of even during weekday normal working hours over phone, or through e-mail. Keep e-mailing them or leaving voicemail messages, and they call back at only when they fancy. You constantly need to chase them up for them to make any progress in the case, which is a pain when it is so hard to reach them in the first place. During a month and a half of my purchase, they changed my conveyancer thrice - thus introducing more lack of continuity into the equation. Also, to most of my questions (which were as straightforward as reading the title deed and explaining to me what the covenants meant in plain English), their response was that I needed a legal specialist to address that question! News-flash: I did pay these idiots to act in my best interest as my lawyers! My opinion is that with all this project micro-management and lack of any legal expertise, I could have carried the process out myself without having to pay anyone to carry out unintelligent, merely administrative tasks.

samara

I had used these conveyancers before,and they were brilliant.

Now i can 100% say do not ever,ever ,ever use thiese incompetant idiots.
10 weeks in to a very simple sale transaction with no chain,and i did cannot get any sense out of them.They just do not care.

I have read that you can write a letter,and involve the legal ombudsmen.Anyone ever done this and been sucessful? I am inclined to think (based on their current performance)that if i do that they will do absoloutley nothing more.
Can I de - instruct them?

heidi_s

we are just about to complete on a sale only transaction with them that was agreed on 22 April. Our purchasers are 1st time buyers therefore there is no explanation as to why it has taken so long.
We were recommended through the estate agent and we thought would be a good deal a we were moving out of the country that all would be online.
The fee of £599 + VAT seemed reasonable until you read all the extras that are inevitable.
£125 for mortgage fee - if your peoperty has a mortgage to deal with redemption. I am not sure why this is not included in the original £599 - what is that they are doing for this fee which means charging another £125. We also had to take out title indemnity insurance which is acceptable. However, we were charged a further £50 for 'arranging' it.
Charges for ID verification.
They are slow to deal with any correspondence either simply forwarding on what the purchasers solicitors have sent or dealing with yoru response to any questions back to them.
They have an 0845 number which no one ever picks up. You are asked to leave a message to which no one ever replies. I only spoke to our 'case hander' once when I actually managed to get through on the phone and lost my temper about the poor service.
they are all unqualified, bulk 'service' conveyancers who dont know anything about customer service. Afterall you proabbly wont be suing them again for a while (if at all) with it being relatively one off deal.
Dont be misguided that they are solicitors - they ar enot . they ,ay have 1 or 2 in the whole place overseeing things and signing off the necessary forms but the leg work is being done by unqualified staff - which is in theory supposed to make things cheaper.
althogther a very unsatisfactory experience.
I would use your local solicitors firm who would be grateful of the work.

Hippo

I've used this crowd and they were great. Quote was given and stuck to. If there was any additional items then there was a fixed price menu. Yes, they are bulk conveyancers.

heidi_s wrote: »

I would use your local solicitors firm who would be grateful of the work.

On a previous transaction mine weren't. They charged more than quoted saying there was extra work involved. They backed out of other work that they had obviously under quoted on. Also, do not believe for one minute that if you use your local solicitor to do conveyancing that you will get a solicitor to do the work. They won't, you will end up with a conveyancer