First Time Buyers: Weeks of no communication from solicitors! :(

LAWRAAHA

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

smub99

Sounds a lot like my first experience with Conveyancers. We are also FTBs - tried buying a property last year, which fell through - the solicitors we used were also atrocious at communicating. It got to the point where the sellers solicitors were struggling to communicate with them. With our current purchase we changed solicitors and the communication has been significantly better, so I do believe you can get a better experience, unfortunately you are pretty far along, so I think putting in a complaint and seeing if things improve maybe the best way forward. 

Thrugelmir

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

kingstreet

LAWRAAHA said:

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office  

Recommended by whom? Are we talking proper solicitors here, or a conveyancing warehouse in the middle of an industrial estate?

LAWRAAHA

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

Hi! Yes I meant yesterday, I just wasn't sure when people would be replying. I'm also not suggesting I wanted an update on the mortgage by today, I only emailed about the mortgage offer to see if I would get a response at all 😂

LAWRAAHA

kingstreet said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office  

Recommended by whom? Are we talking proper solicitors here, or a conveyancing warehouse in the middle of an industrial estate?

Yes they are an official solicitor with multiple locations and the one we are in touch with specialises with conveyancing. They were recommended by an financial advisor and family friends. Plus their reviews were annoyingly positive so I feel frustrated we are having this experience 😕

Thrugelmir

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

Hi! Yes I meant yesterday, I just wasn't sure when people would be replying. I'm also not suggesting I wanted an update on the mortgage by today, I only emailed about the mortgage offer to see if I would get a response at all 😂

In a professional office time costs money.  People aren't paid to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what emails arrive on a minute by minute basis. If your broker said that the offer was forwarded across. What were you hoping to achieve by wasting somebody's time to answer your question?  
Solicitor will get back to you once there is something to report. No doubt they are still awaiting return of the searches before submitting the enquiries. 

LAWRAAHA

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

Hi! Yes I meant yesterday, I just wasn't sure when people would be replying. I'm also not suggesting I wanted an update on the mortgage by today, I only emailed about the mortgage offer to see if I would get a response at all 😂

In a professional office time costs money.  People aren't paid to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what emails arrive on a minute by minute basis. If your broker said that the offer was forwarded across. What were you hoping to achieve by wasting somebody's time to answer your question?  

I completely appreciate this, however after we signed up we were told we would have regular updates and quite frankly two weeks isn't regular. Nor is phones being off constantly and no means of contact. 
The broker has contacted us to say there has been no communication or confirmation from the solicitor either on receipt of the mortgage offer. The case handler for the mortgage has been trying to contact them also since yesterday afternoon to confirm they received it. 
Like I said prior, I was just wanting any acknowledgement of our case as we haven't had any word since the 10th from our actual solicitor. 

Thrugelmir

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

Hi! Yes I meant yesterday, I just wasn't sure when people would be replying. I'm also not suggesting I wanted an update on the mortgage by today, I only emailed about the mortgage offer to see if I would get a response at all 😂

In a professional office time costs money.  People aren't paid to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what emails arrive on a minute by minute basis. If your broker said that the offer was forwarded across. What were you hoping to achieve by wasting somebody's time to answer your question?  

I completely appreciate this, however after we signed up we were told we would have regular updates and quite frankly two weeks isn't regular. Nor is phones being off constantly and no means of contact. 

When you instructed the solicitor did you ask to be talked through the process and timescales involved?  

hotnoise

Thrugelmir said:

In a professional office time costs money.  People aren't paid to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what emails arrive on a minute by minute basis. If your broker said that the offer was forwarded across. What were you hoping to achieve by wasting somebody's time to answer your question?  
Solicitor will get back to you once there is something to report. No doubt they are still awaiting return of the searches before submitting the enquiries. 

Telling someone they shouldn't expect a reasonable degree of service and communication because it's a "professional office", and everyone is busy, literally made me laugh out loud!

The OP has every right to expect more communication from the solicitor, especially when they've been told they'll be contacted by a certain time and that doesn't happen. They're also getting mixed messages from different people at the company. If the solicitor doesn't have an update to give until something happens, they can very easily inform the OP of that - it's two minutes of common courtesy at a stressful time.

LAWRAAHA

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Thrugelmir said:

LAWRAAHA said:

Hi,
My boyfriend and I are currently buying a house, we are both first-time buyers and purchasing a new build. We are having a nightmare with our solicitor and I was hoping for some advice on the matter as we are both new to this and unsure whether complaining will be more of a hindrance than a help. *Please note this is also a bit of a rant!*

Basically, we signed up to a recommended solicitors office three weeks ago after checking reviews (4.2*) and proceeded with providing all of the details we needed to and paid £300 for them to begin their searches. In the first couple of days, our solicitor did get in touch (after two missed-call requests) and said they were waiting on the developer's solicitor to send the paperwork across. Over the two weeks, we heard nothing, despite us emailing to find out if they had received anything and if not, if we could help chase the developer. We received no response. 

On Friday, my boyfriend managed to get through to a receptionist who was shocked we hadn't heard anything and said that they were still waiting on the developer's end. I ended up personally chasing it that afternoon and they sent it over. I then called the receptionist who said our solicitor and her assistants had left for the weekend - SHOCK. But the receptionist checked the system and assured me the documents had arrived. I followed this call with an email to our solicitor and her assistant to let them know the documents show have arrived.

On Monday, we received our mortgage offer and it was forwarded to our solicitor by our financial advisor (who has been amazing). I then emailed, later on, to confirm that they have received everything and obviously that our mortgage offer was sent over. This wasn't replied to either.

This now brings me to today, where both my boyfriend and I have become increasingly frustrated and tried to call multiple times. All four points of contact we have at the office have their phones turned off, so I called receptionist who assured a callback in an hour. This didn't happen so three hours later, I called again and got through to one of the assistants who seemed to have no idea. She said didn't think they had received anything from the developers and were only just setting up our client profile which should have been done weeks ago. There was no real apology for ignoring us for two weeks or actual information.

It's been left that they will give us an update either later today or first thing tomorrow, however, at this point I genuinely do not trust them to do what they say and I don't know what to do from here. 

I'm not asking for phone calls every day, I just want responses to emails and maybe a weekly update. We are supposed to exchange in 20 days and I just cannot see that happening.

If anyone has any idea of where to go from here, I would really appreciate it.
I also apologise for the massive rant! 

By Monday do you mean yesterday? 

Hi! Yes I meant yesterday, I just wasn't sure when people would be replying. I'm also not suggesting I wanted an update on the mortgage by today, I only emailed about the mortgage offer to see if I would get a response at all 😂

In a professional office time costs money.  People aren't paid to sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to see what emails arrive on a minute by minute basis. If your broker said that the offer was forwarded across. What were you hoping to achieve by wasting somebody's time to answer your question?  

I completely appreciate this, however after we signed up we were told we would have regular updates and quite frankly two weeks isn't regular. Nor is phones being off constantly and no means of contact. 

When you instructed the solicitor did you ask to be talked through the process and timescales involved?  

Yes, in that initial chat on the 10th we did. We were told the searches would commence once we paid for them, which we had done, and it would take between 4-6 weeks from then. Today when I spoke to the assistant she said it would be 4-6 weeks from when they start with the documents which doesn't think they've received (but I chased on Friday and their receptionost said they had arrived). I appreciate delays will always happen but it is frustrating not to have been told and have to chase documentation personally after no response 😕