Please feel free to let me know if I am being unreasonable...

pops5588

Just need a bit of a rant. Our solicitor is really starting to P me off.

At first (before we instructed him) he was great, answered any questions, provided lots of info on the process of purchasing a house. But the last couple of weeks have just been....bleurgh.

He has just disappeared!!! Out of office message is permanently switched on but is always changing! Saying "won't be back until ...." and when I have tried again on that date another one has come back saying "nope, won't be back until this date now ....."

We received all the search results bits in the post this week so obviously stuff is still getting done (probably by some poor lakky who does all the work and gets none of the credit) but all the letters that accompanied them said "if you have any questions or any problems, please just call/email me. We did have questions, plenty of them particularly because there is a solar panel lease involved in the property purchase. But the only person I've been able to speak to is his secretary, and she sent me a narky message yesterday basically saying look, you know he's not here why are you bothering to email?

The last letter we had was saying "we can get the draft contracts done for exchange now, please phone me to arrange an appointment for next week" but this is despite we have had none of our questions answered, his secretary can't/won't tell us if we can even have an appointment outside of standard 9-5 hours when we're at work, and she won't let us know his availability next week.

Am I being ridiculous?? I just feel a bit riled because we got 3 different quotes for solicitors, this one was by far the most expensive but they placed such an onus on customer service that we decided paying a bit extra was worth it if it meant the experience was less stressful/complicated. We might as well have saved us a couple of hundred quid...

richardw

How much are you going to knock off their bill for poor service?

pops5588

But the thing is, can I argue it's poor service? This is why I'm asking on here if I am being ridiculous. We've still had stuff through the post so obviously stuff is still being done, just clearly not by our solicitor...

I'm really not unreasonable person, and I understand this process is lengthy. But what is the point in sending us packs of paper and saying just call/email if you need anything, and then not being there for 2 weeks?

If he is ill/on holiday then whatever, as long as its being done. But just make sure someone will speak to us about it!

Guest101

complain to one of the senior partners now, today. explain and say you will not proceed, nor pay, until your questions are answered.

My solicitor is excellent, we used him twice now, so service pays off , they should know this

pops5588

theartfullodger wrote: »

Did you choose him because he was a good salesman or because he was cheap or both??

Definitely not cheap (already said in the OP that he was the most expensive quote we received, and trust me no solicitor in Winchester is cheap). I chose him because he seemed the most thorough and his company has a whole charter on customer service and what we could expect from them. He sent us a flow chart showing each stage of the procees, what would happen when, timescales etc. which I found, and still find, useful. It's just the last two weeks he appears to have vanished and left us with a lot of unanswered questions.

pops5588

Guest101 wrote: »

complain to one of the senior partners now, today. explain and say you will not proceed, nor pay, until your questions are answered.

My solicitor is excellent, we used him twice now, so service pays off , they should know this

I think I definitely will if I haven't heard from him by the close of business today. I'm trying to hold off taking it down that route

ognum

pops5588 wrote: »

Definitely not cheap (already said in the OP that he was the most expensive quote we received, and trust me no solicitor in Winchester is cheap). I chose him because he seemed the most thorough and his company has a whole charter on customer service and what we could expect from them. He sent us a flow chart showing each stage of the procees, what would happen when, timescales etc. which I found, and still find, useful. It's just the last two weeks he appears to have vanished and left us with a lot of unanswered questions.

just because you are buying in Winchester doesn't mean you have to use a solicitor there, I have bought a house in Winchester and used a great company who were fast and efficient in Havant.

The majority of the work is done through thier messaging service on the net but they were always available. maybe a new conveyancer?

pops5588

ognum wrote: »

just because you are buying in Winchester doesn't mean you have to use a solicitor there, I have bought a house in Winchester and used a great company who were fast and efficient in Havant.

The majority of the work is done through thier messaging service on the net but they were always available. maybe a new conveyancer?

Well we currently live in Winchester and are moving to Chandler's Ford. I asked around and a lot of people gave me the advice that it was best to get a solicitor who is local to you so you can access them easily.

Can we get a new conveyancer at this stage?

missy12345

I completed last week, my solicitor was totally crap, I kept asking questions and he didn't explain anything. Did nt bother to call me to tell me that everything had completed. The ea told me I can collect the key. I really would like to let everyone know what a git he was!

pops5588

I ended up having a bit of an arjee barjee with his secretary yesterday. Dreading going in next week. Knackered by it all!

[Deleted User]

Was there anything in their agreement with you that specifies what they'll do if your solicitor is away/unavailable? I'm pretty sure when mine set out the T&Cs with me they explained that if my solicitor is going to be away they will arrange for another solicitor to do the work while they're gone.