Poor experience L&C /Beaumont Legal

Tumble_35 · 17 August 2014 at 9:16PM

I completed on a remortgage this week, having used the Money Saving Expert recommended London & Country Mortgage guide/advice line and wanted to let people know it has been a truly painful experience, with some very poor customer service.

For the record, I would preferred to have made a few points direct to MSE but it seems these forums are the only way to get in touch.

To be fair, the actual L&C mortgage adviser did a decent job of finding me a new deal. My complaint is about the administration and legal service which followed. Processes were unclear, unexplained and I had to ask questions at every step to find out what was happening. I count myself as about as financially savvy and switched on as they come and I have found the whole experience massively frustrating, when it didn't need to be!

Money Saving Expert, - you need to be aware that your brand is being associated with customer service that is unsatisficatory. As a result of this experience I think less of your site and would think twice about using a company or partner that you recommend.

1) L&C managed to get the address of the property I was applying for the mortgage on wrong on the application to the mortgage company…! Not a good start.
2)They also designated the wrong telephone number to contact me (ie home number isn’t much good if I’m at work all day) and got a couple of other details on the application form wrong too.
3) I tried ringing the designated admin contact by phone and couldn’t reach anyone. Phone calls were not returned. I got the emails L&C wanted to send when they felt like it.
4) It was only when I refused point blank to send in my orginal passport to L&C (would you send a passport to a company that could’t get a basic application right?) that an alternative option of proving my identity was offered.
5) The L&C online application tracking service is useless, - they didn’t update it so it gave me no extra info that I hadn’t had from their emails.
6) I used the lawyers that L&C suggested, Beaumont Legal. They sent me a very large package of documents to complete, along with requests for various extra documents buried in the small print. It took me several readings to understand so not the most user friendly document.
7) I waited for my mortgage offer to come in before sending anything in, - the documents were not acknowledged at any point and no questions were ever asked about the information I had provided.
8) I only found out about i) general remortgage process and ii) approximate timescales from calling the Beaumont 0345 number, or rather the ‘say no to 0870 number’ which is free from mobile phones.
9) I originally waited to send in the blank unsigned mortgage deed because I was told verbally that someone would be in touch about setting a completion date, and funnily enough I wanted to speak to someone before entrusting my property (ie a large proportion on my net worth) to a random company to complete per my wishes. The only answer was an email along the lines of ‘computer says no’ - can’t set a completion date without the deed in their possession. So I reluctantly sent in the document.
10) I was asked by email if I agreed to a completion date: I agreed on the condition I was told what monies would be transferring on the completion date beforehand. Less than 24 hours beforehand I was emailed a provisional statement of the remortgage monies less various legal/other fees. Hardly enough time to challenge any fees I felt were unjustified! And yes, had I had more time I would have questioned quite a few. 'Professional Services' is not descriptive, - at least include the hourly rate!

In short, L&C offer a service which is cheap (ie you don’t pay a fee up front) and as a result is pretty minimal. Beaumont customer service is just shocking, if not absent entirely. Next time I’ll be finding a deal via a broker and using a legal adviser that I pay for, if only so that I have a direct line as a customer and can complain directly about the service that I receive.

Elfbert · 17 August 2014 at 10:07PM

I also recently re-mortgaged, and whilst L&C were very good, and helpful, it got to the point where I had to phone L&C to get any responses from Beaumont at all.

Beaumont are completely useless, and next time I will most definitely use my own sols, if I use L&C again.

I agree it reflects badly on both L&C and MoneySavingExpert that a firm they recommend then uses such a shockingly bad legal firm.

ethank · 17 August 2014 at 10:34PM

I think it is a tad unfair to tarnish MSE - they stated that L&C were good because they are fee free. Whilst MSE have always been honest about the level of service of some providers - it is not Which!

Beaumont Legal dealt with them twice, much better to email them than phone. Not amazing at calling people back! Not being funny but Beaumont Legal chase the cheap end of the market - you get what you pay for!

Zoology_Dragon · 18 August 2014 at 11:06AM

We're also using L&C and Beaumont Legal, not had any problems with either so far.

JPB123 · 18 August 2014 at 11:18AM

Fees free broker? well, you get what you pay for

honey_badger_3 · 20 August 2014 at 10:16PM

I used Beaumont Legal and they were brilliant - very professional, provided an excellent service with good communication and dealt with a very difficult sale very well.

For every bad experience there will be a lot of very good experiences - people just like to moan about negatives though

qcconnie · 17 September 2014 at 11:24AM

I registered an MSE account just to say that Beaumont Legal is !!!!!

Zoology_Dragon · 18 September 2014 at 11:10AM

Just to update on my last comment in this thread, we complete next Tuesday and have still had no problems whatsoever with L&C or Beaumont Legal. I completely recommend both.

Tortoisepepper · 28 February 2015 at 10:21AM

I also have had terrible problems with L&C and Beaumont Legal. I have to say it is mostly Beaumont legal where the problems lay but L&C after spending a lot of time getting my custom have done very little to help with my legal problems.
Beaumont legal have misplaced documents got names wrong all costing me a lot of money. I started the remortgage process in November and it is only finally going through this week! I always sent my documents in a timely fashion via recorded and next day delivery. Chased them up but found their incompetence second to none. it must have cost me over £600 as I went on my mortgage companies base rate while waiting. Also what is the L&C referral fee and other costs that Beaumont legal have added on? I have remortgaged several times with L&C and not had any problems so I think Beaumont legal is really giving them a bad name as I would never recommend them again and have had the whole process this time to be a nightmare!!!

Tortoisepepper · 28 February 2015 at 10:22AM

I think you must have been lucky as my remortgage has been a very costly catalogue of disasters! I volunteer for CAB do see a lot of bad stuff but this takes the biscuit! &#55357;&#56880;