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

pops5588

[Deleted User] wrote:

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.

I just looked and no, it doesn't set anything out in regards to our solicitor being absent.

Tried to speak to his secretary yesterday afternoon after waiting until 3pm to hear from our solicitor and still getting nothing. Was told by the receptionist that he has been/is ill. Then received an email from the secretary saying "not that it's any of your business or even relevant, but he had to attend a funeral for a family member on Thursday. I didn't know he wouldn't be in today, I will let him know to contact you on Monday".

I really resent this. I have never asked/demanded to know where he is. I know that things happens in life that we have absolutely no control over. The issue that I have is that we have been sent document after document this week, accompanied by letters apparently signed by him, inviting us to contact him if we had any questions or problems. Why was this sent to us if he wasn't there? I can only presume that it was known there was a funeral on Thursday and that he would not be around. I would have had NO problem with them sending us the documents with a covering letter saying "here are some papers for you to look over, just to let you know that Nick isn't contactable this week but feel free to make a note of anything you would like to know and we will regroup on Monday."

I also don't understand the fact that despite knowing we were waiting to hear from him, his secretary didn't even think to email us on Friday just as a matter of courtesy when she realised he wouldn't be in, just to let us know we wouldn't be hearing from him until Monday. Just so I know!

Lord_Baltimore

pops5588 wrote: »

....he had to attend a funeral for a family member on Thursday.

Dear Lord have a heart will you?

pops5588

I do have a heart, i have already said my issue is NOT that he isn't there, i understand that these things happen. My issue is that someone at the firm has been sending out information accompanied with letters informing us that we should contact him, all the while knowing that we wouldn't be able to!

Lord_Baltimore

Reading between the lines, it seems to me he has been attempting to balance his professional responsibilities with the anguish of losing a family member. Not easy to achieve.

It's not as if he can write to clients and tell them he's off the pace because his mum/dad or whoever was dying and is now dead.

lessonlearned

pops5588 wrote: »

. Then received an email from the secretary saying "not that it's any of your business or even relevant, but he had to attend a funeral for a family member on Thursday. I didn't know he wouldn't be in today, I will let him know to contact you on Monday".

The general tone of that email, especially the bit highlighted in bold is totally unacceptable - irrespective of what else has happened prior to that.

Generally it does happen that some solicitors are not good at returning calls etc. However it appears that there are some personal issues that your Solicitor is having to deal with and allowances do have to made.

However the main fault here seems to be the Secretary who simply is rude, obnoxious and has no idea of how to speak or write to Clients and has no concept of either customer care or business etiquette.

I would definitely make a formal complaint. You have hard evidence in the form of that email to corroborate your grievance.

pops5588

Absolutely, our solicitor shouldn't be there under these circumstances, and rightly so. I don't expect the impossible. I can't respond accordingly to the situation if nobody in his office communicates with me properly. Why have they sent out their bog standard template of "please contact me" when he isn't there? I couldn't get a straight answer out of anyone, and it has added to the stress and confusion. I fear it is his secretary who has, for some reason completely beyond me, decided to pretend he is still in the office doing the work and has merely been changing his out of office message every few days.

She does appear to have a slight attitude problem. I don't feel she has handled the situation properly but is now trying to dump responsibility on me by choosing friday to reveal he hasn't been there because of a death in the family. I can't know or appreciate that unless somebody tells me!!

Lord_Baltimore

pops5588 wrote: »

I can't know or appreciate that unless somebody tells me!!

Well you know now.

You seem a reasonable person; might you not cut him a little slack in the circs?

Ciderarmy1987

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Well you know now.

You seem a reasonable person; might you not cut him a little slack in the circs?

When we brought our house our solicitor was out of the office for about 10 days (admittedly for holiday) but our case was picked up buy somebody else within in the office who was helpful out answering our questions and chasing things up etc.

I don't think it is that unreasonable for you to be provided with some kind of message about what is going on in an already stressful situation for everybody.

harrup

It sounds to me that the real culprit here may be a well-intended but socially, and perhaps even professionally, inept secretary/Personal assistant who wants to help out her boss during a difficult time. So she muddles through, likely handling and involving herself in things she shouldn't, and making matters much worse for everybody in the process.

You are fully justified to feel frustrated and exasperated.

All I can advise is to drink much vino and relax as much as you can regardlessly. As long as it doesn't nix the proceedings, I think you should be the decent human being you sound to be and just let it go...and just offer the chap your condolences upon his return.

olly300

harrup wrote: »

All I can advise is to drink much vino and relax as much as you can regardlessly. As long as it doesn't nix the proceedings, I think you should be the decent human being you sound to be and just let it go...and just offer the chap your condolences upon his return.

The secretary's manner needs to be brought up.

If a client instead of her boss had a bereavement during the house buying process I dread to think how badly she would act.

Though getting the letter through to the boss now or in future is going to be difficult as the secretary opens them.