No reply from Solicitor in a week

ccfc1972

We are ready to exchange on the sale of our house, I am getting almost daily updates from our solicitors regarding progress etc, they are great.
We had to use different solicitors for our new purchase, one that was on Lloyds' panel. They seemed fine at first and things were moving along nicely, however, they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth in the last week.
We are due to exchange any time now, with a view to completing in the middle of Jan. Our buyers mortgage offer runs out in the 3rd week of Jan and they cannot extend. If we cannot complete on our purchase at the same time, we will have to break the chain and put everything in storage for what could be just a week or two, which would be a massive headache.
I have left numerous voice mails and sent quite a few emails, none of which have been answered. All I want to know is a quick update of where we are and whether or not they feel we will be in a position to complete at the same time, but I am getting nothing back. I can see from the online portal that the conveyancer in charge of our case is online all the time, it is so frustrating that he can't take 2 minutes to send a simple email. I realise they are probably busy pushing through completions, but it's causing all manner of stress.
Is this normal behavior? Anyone encountering similar?

Alter_ego

Yes, normal behavior

ccfc1972

Good job I don't run my business in a similar fashion. If I ignored phone calls and emails for weeks I'd have no business left.

ccfc1972

Yeah I understand they are busy, we're not asking for them to drop everything and shove us to the front of the queue...just looking for a brief update so we can stop panicking...shouldn't be too much to ask.

youth_leader

I hadn't realised Friday was the deadline for completions.  Thanks for bringing this up,  I'll wait until Monday to contact my solicitor. 

ccfc1972

Friday is the deadline for completions before Christmas? You think this is why I'm not getting a reply?

youth_leader

I know from here that lots of completions are on a Friday - and next Friday is the last Friday of the month as well as being Christmas Day.  

Salemicus

ccfc1972 said:

Good job I don't run my business in a similar fashion. If I ignored phone calls and emails for weeks I'd have no business left.

Yes, it's terrible. But there's a reason they behave like this.

The rise of online conveyancing mills means solicitors get very little return from this kind of work, and they provide quotes for the entirety of the work, rather than charging you by the hour. So they tend to:

• Stick you at the "back of the queue" and only work on your file when there's nothing more lucrative to work on.
• Spend as little time as possible on it - so no keeping you up to date, responding to your calls, etc.

If this leads to them not getting as much conveyancing work as if they provided good customer service, they don't care - it's not work they're particularly keen to do in the first place. But they would probably give you great conveyancing service if you are a valuable client for other reasons, because then they do care about their reputation.

Obviously this isn't universal, but it's to be expected. In many ways it's not the solicitors fault - if more people were prepared to pay extra for conveyancing with good customer service, things would be better. But as it is, it's a big shock to a lot of people because they think of solicitors as professionals and expect the same kind of behaviour you get from an accountant, architect, etc - or indeed a solicitor doing non-conveyancing work. Instead, try to think of it more like trying to get customer service out of Vodafone, and your expectations will be more in-line, and you won't feel so much stress.

davidmcn

ccfc1972 said:

Friday is the deadline for completions before Christmas? You think this is why I'm not getting a reply?

There is no such general deadline (completions can be on any working day, so in theory up to and including the 24th) but in practice there are going to be lots of people off next week.

ccfc1972

Salemicus said:

ccfc1972 said:

Good job I don't run my business in a similar fashion. If I ignored phone calls and emails for weeks I'd have no business left.

Yes, it's terrible. But there's a reason they behave like this.

The rise of online conveyancing mills means solicitors get very little return from this kind of work, and they provide quotes for the entirety of the work, rather than charging you by the hour. So they tend to:

• Stick you at the "back of the queue" and only work on your file when there's nothing more lucrative to work on.
• Spend as little time as possible on it - so no keeping you up to date, responding to your calls, etc.

If this leads to them not getting as much conveyancing work as if they provided good customer service, they don't care - it's not work they're particularly keen to do in the first place. But they would probably give you great conveyancing service if you are a valuable client for other reasons, because then they do care about their reputation.

Obviously this isn't universal, but it's to be expected. In many ways it's not the solicitors fault - if more people were prepared to pay extra for conveyancing with good customer service, things would be better. But as it is, it's a big shock to a lot of people because they think of solicitors as professionals and expect the same kind of behaviour you get from an accountant, architect, etc - or indeed a solicitor doing non-conveyancing work. Instead, try to think of it more like trying to get customer service out of Vodafone, and your expectations will be more in-line, and you won't feel so much stress.

I would have been happy to pay more for a more professional service, had that been am option. I just went with what the mortgage advisor advised, and assumed I would be getting a good service. If I ever move again (doubtful), it will be something I seriously consider.

orangecrush

Try the estate agent, they can often find stuff out!