Action Conveyancing Snail Pace

NBOATER

I accepted an offer on my house at beginning of March 2013, my Solicitors sent all the paperwork to my buyers Conveyancers Action Conveyancing on 16th March. Unfortunately the buyers have been naive enough to think you don't need to chase your Solicitors , and at the beginning of May there was still no communication from the buyers side.

The next thing I hear from my EA is that the buyers think we are exchanging on May 17th and completing on May 24th! strange as my solicitors still not received any paperwork from Action Conveyancing. We finally received the paperwork and 3 queries re searches of which 2 they had already paperwork. Signed paperwork and answer to searches returned Monday 20th my solicitor say to AC shall we exchange , silence ensued , AC do not answer phones, reply to emails, and are open less it seems then on the high street solicitors.

Finally buyers claim we will exchange by Friday 24th May and complete on 31st May , guess what nothing happened and senior members of staff at AC had a POETS day.

So still in limbo, it's so frustrating , I sold my house with no chain as I wanted a sale without complications.

I am so fed up even the EA who has chased everyone as much as humanely possible is at a loss of what to say.

What really gets my goat is Action Conveyancing website claiming so many satisfied clients etc etc, yet google them and there are complaints re lack of communication and slowness, followed by mealy mouth AC replies. Also they claim to beat any quote which should be a warning to potential clients that you will pay practically nothing and in return get practically nothing.

Hopefully someone will make me feel better by saying that AC will eventually exchange.

Ironically the buyers booked Virgin Media to connect their services in my house on Sat 24th May! Priorities really!!!:mad:

ValHaller

That's 3 months - when did you receive the paperwork? In your position, I would be politely telling the buyer that you will be putting the house back on the market very soon unless they exchange

NBOATER

Believe it or not my solicitors finally received the transfer docs and the 3 enquiries on 20th May , incredible isn't it?
I finally asked my solicitors to telephone the buyers Conveyancers on fri 17th May and believe it or not she tried all afternoon getting through once and having the phone put down when someone finally answered.
I had anticipated being out of my house by now, so had begun to look at houses myself. Have actually had an offer accepted on a property. My plan was to exchange the day after I complete on my sale. As it happens I am only at survey stage, but this property is a no chain the owner is going travelling. So now getting pressured by her EA , my head may explode very soon.
I however take your point and I will now start playing hard ball.

Goodness knows what the other 2 people in chain are feeling they have been waiting a month longer than me, surprised it hasn't collapsed.

I bought my current house in 1982 as a first time buyer so not really up to speed with what should happen and when. Strikes me it has been a slower experience than in 1982!

Thrugelmir

NBOATER wrote: »

Hopefully someone will make me feel better by saying that AC will eventually exchange.

AC does not implement exchange your purchaser does. Conveyancer works under their instructions.

NBOATER

They think they have, best they check on Tuesday what's holding things up other than incompetence, or them misunderstanding the situation

NBOATER

Still waiting ! Action conveyancing have no shame buyers have complained and told them to get on with exchange, that's when they have eventually got through on phone . Giving them 5 more days to exchange or change solicitors.

ValHaller

NBOATER wrote: »

Giving them 5 more days to exchange or change solicitors.

While I can understand where you are coming from, at this stage, changing solicitors will probably put exchange another 4 weeks away at least and may take longer than Action.

If your buyers do not wish to restart and pay for the legal process from scratch, they will have to get their file transferred from Action. Who will probably do it at the speed they reserve for doing things reluctantly, rather than at normal speed. If the buyers start with a new solicitor from scratch, this will not be much faster than a normal purchase and you will have to pay your solicitor to do his bit all over again.

Either way, the buyer's new solicitor will take their time because they will be fully responsible for their part in the conveyancing and will probably not outpace Action, given their headstart.

As I said, about the only thing you can do is put your property back on the market to give your buyers something to beat Action over the head with. This would not necessarily mean not selling to your buyers unless they take offence - but they should know that their conveyancer is not pulling their weight. Unless your buyers are actually instructing Action to stall for some reason - eg school holiday move?

NBOATER

No I don't think they are delaying, they expected to move in on 24th May, even arranged for Virgin Media to set up their tv etc. We also have their mail from LB Richmond so I take it they are serious. They don't have school age children.
I have worked out they look at a file once a month, updates so far have been 24 th April, 20th May, so maybe middle of June for next look!

Buyers have complained and the Training Director has admitted the service has not been up to their usual standard, maybe news on Monday?

Think my main issue is having no control over progress and living in limbo land, we have packed up ready to go and it's very unsettling for our family.

NBOATER

Finally exchanged today, completion Friday 14th, yippee

auberjen

Avoid this company like the plague, they will NEVER answer emails or the telephone. They are disastrous to deal with. Our story....sold our house to a first time buyer, agents sent off the sales memo by post and fax on 29th March. On 7th April, our solicitors sent off the contracts to them.

One month later, after repeated efforts by the buyer, the agents and our solicitors, to contact them, they say they have not received a sales memo or the contracts from our solicitors. Read on....

In desperation we, as sellers contacted them direct by email twice - none of these was replied to, even to tell us to take a running jump.

So we picked up the telephone.....nothing, except an answerphone message to tell us we were 5th in the queue!! In anger we sent a message to them to complain, saying we didn't even have to wait that long when phoning our bank!

Still nothing.

So we offered an incentive to the buyer to change solicitors. The buyer then phones Action Conveyancing to tell them he's changing solicitors, and....miraculously they FOUND the contract and sales memo. That was 3 weeks ago.

So then the first bit of action from Action Conveyancing occurred ....they sent 2 queries to our solicitor who replied the same day.

Two weeks later he has heard nothing, we have heard nothing, the buyer can't contact them by phone or email, the agent cant get hold of them.

So we wait. This sale should have completed by easily by now. First time buyer and no chain.

Forget Action Conveyancing unless you want a thrombosis. Look elsewhere PLEASE.

swaledaleslots

I had the misfortune to chose this company, based mainly on price, but also on some rather suspicious glowing references. To hedge my bets, I thought that because they were fairly local to me, I could visit the shiny glass and chrome office if things went wrong. Nothing could have prepared me for the gross inefficiency that was to follow on a straightforward probate purchase with a low % mortgage. Their small print offers a 'premium' service, for a large hike in fees, which presumably is what they are after. Forget trying to phone, call handling software is all you will get. Emails are not replied to, complaints are not logged and nothing will happen unless you make a big fuss. The final insult was to get a £100+ VAT bill 3 days before completion for 'reading the title and associated papers' I thought this is what I had already paid them for. I refused to pay.
The result of this extra charge was 1 line of text to say that ' I need to comply with the terms of the Covenants' duh!!! .
On the day of moving, I received an email at 11.30 asking if my name was on a list of declared bankrupts, and could I print off, sign and scan the completed document back to them so we could complete. I replied that as I was sat in a van outside the estate agents, this was not likely to happen any time soon. At 1658 on the day ( friday) I received a call from ARC asking 'if I had managed to get the keys'. !!!!!.
If you have already started with these people, STOP NOW, write off whatever you have spent and find a high street solicitor, or one recommended. There will be another change of name any time soon, so beware of similar outfits offering deals that seem too good to be true.