Solicitors complaint

Irishpearce26

user1977 said:

Poor service is still reasonable grounds for reducing the fee, there doesn't need to be negligence involved.

How do we know its poor service, there is no detail to this post whatsoever. The OP has not given a timeline apart from they lost both their buyer and seller. Sounds like there is more to the story than the OP wants to share.

walwyn1978

Follow the firm complaints procedure. 

If you’re not happy, then escalate to the ombudsman. 

But without knowing all the facts no one on here will be able to advise whether you’ll be successful or not with what you seek. 

user1977

Irishpearce26 said:

user1977 said:

Poor service is still reasonable grounds for reducing the fee, there doesn't need to be negligence involved.

How do we know its poor service, there is no detail to this post whatsoever. 

I'm not saying there is poor service, just pointing out that there doesn't need to be "negligence" in the legal sense for a client to have reasonable cause for complaint.

Thrugelmir

GDB2222 said:

Thrugelmir said:

Consult a solicitor for advice perhaps?  

It's rare to consult a solicitor over a dispute of say £1k, surely?

If you plan to dispute a solicitors bill then you need to be on firm ground. As the solicitor knows the law rather well.  

BikingBud

@Thrugelmir Knowing the law is somewhat different from acting professionally, efficiently, competently and communicating this with the paying customer to manage expectations effectively despite sometimes over ambitious timelines.

A well considered complaint, not a whinge, when the conveyancer has gone native and not provided the level of service should be the norm in a well run practice and should be addressed by the manager/senior partner.

If they are not prepared to accept negative yet constructive feedback then they should expect to receive less than sparkling reviews. 

Irishpearce26

user1977 said:

Irishpearce26 said:

user1977 said:

Poor service is still reasonable grounds for reducing the fee, there doesn't need to be negligence involved.

How do we know its poor service, there is no detail to this post whatsoever. 

I'm not saying there is poor service, just pointing out that there doesn't need to be "negligence" in the legal sense for a client to have reasonable cause for complaint.

You kinda did. Not enough background to establish what is going on here, the OP silence tells me that its not straightforward

brianhewitt

I thought giving too much knowledge would bore people to death tbh I didn't think it would be a reason for criticism. We were recommended this solicitor by multiple people in a local group, and they seemed OK until they got our instructions. We had a cash buyer and were buying a vacant possession house so it was as simple as it gets. Our estate agent chased them up after 4 weeks and they couldn't find our sale file and discovered it on a recently retired employees desk, so they say. You allow this mistake but our survey results for purchase went missing and we had to resend those and as we could get through to them or get a response this took 5 weeks to find out. It was also taking more than 10 working days to get even a response  from them. When trying to talk to the solicitor, who is also the director of the company we could never get through she was always busy and never returned a call.  We had booth estate agents chasing them they said they have never experienced this ever before as they never got any info back or a call. In the final week before it went south we finally get a call from her and she was rather rude saying there were no communication issues?. Oh and put the final nail in the coffin by saying there was an issue as we were buying from an estate and sorting the title could take some weeks? During the process our buyers had to ask questions about the property through the estate agent as they had given up on a response. I've since looked at reviews and the recent ones are not good and state the same issues. I have started to contact people who have dealt with her and they have also had nightmares.

george4064

brianhewitt said:

I thought giving too much knowledge would bore people to death tbh I didn't think it would be a reason for criticism. 

We were recommended this solicitor by multiple people in a local group, and they seemed OK until they got our instructions. We had a cash buyer and were buying a vacant possession house so it was as simple as it gets. 

Our estate agent chased them up after 4 weeks and they couldn't find our sale file and discovered it on a recently retired employees desk, so they say. You allow this mistake but our survey results for purchase went missing and we had to resend those and as we could get through to them or get a response this took 5 weeks to find out. It was also taking more than 10 working days to get even a response  from them. 

When trying to talk to the solicitor, who is also the director of the company we could never get through she was always busy and never returned a call.  We had booth estate agents chasing them they said they have never experienced this ever before as they never got any info back or a call. 

In the final week before it went south we finally get a call from her and she was rather rude saying there were no communication issues?. Oh and put the final nail in the coffin by saying there was an issue as we were buying from an estate and sorting the title could take some weeks? During the process our buyers had to ask questions about the property through the estate agent as they had given up on a response. 

I've since looked at reviews and the recent ones are not good and state the same issues. I have started to contact people who have dealt with her and they have also had nightmares.

That was painful to read, here’s a slightly more digestible version.

GDB2222

brianhewitt said:

I thought giving too much knowledge would bore people to death tbh I didn't think it would be a reason for criticism. We were recommended this solicitor by multiple people in a local group, and they seemed OK until they got our instructions. We had a cash buyer and were buying a vacant possession house so it was as simple as it gets. Our estate agent chased them up after 4 weeks and they couldn't find our sale file and discovered it on a recently retired employees desk, so they say. You allow this mistake but our survey results for purchase went missing and we had to resend those and as we could get through to them or get a response this took 5 weeks to find out. It was also taking more than 10 working days to get even a response  from them. When trying to talk to the solicitor, who is also the director of the company we could never get through she was always busy and never returned a call.  We had booth estate agents chasing them they said they have never experienced this ever before as they never got any info back or a call. In the final week before it went south we finally get a call from her and she was rather rude saying there were no communication issues?. Oh and put the final nail in the coffin by saying there was an issue as we were buying from an estate and sorting the title could take some weeks? During the process our buyers had to ask questions about the property through the estate agent as they had given up on a response. I've since looked at reviews and the recent ones are not good and state the same issues. I have started to contact people who have dealt with her and they have also had nightmares.

I don’t know the background, but the entire conveyancing industry was really creaking under the strain of everyone rushing to complete before the sdlt window closed. Transactions were taking far longer than usual.

This firm seems to have lost a key staff member, as well, although that ought not to have been your problem.

With executor sales, there can be hold ups as the executors have very limited powers until they have obtained probate. So, I think your solicitor may have a point there.

It seems that you have had fairly poor service, but not quite so dire that you can avoid paying the bill entirely.

 The sensible solution is to talk to the solicitor and reach a compromise. 

user1977

GDB2222 said:

brianhewitt said:

I thought giving too much knowledge would bore people to death tbh I didn't think it would be a reason for criticism. We were recommended this solicitor by multiple people in a local group, and they seemed OK until they got our instructions. We had a cash buyer and were buying a vacant possession house so it was as simple as it gets. Our estate agent chased them up after 4 weeks and they couldn't find our sale file and discovered it on a recently retired employees desk, so they say. You allow this mistake but our survey results for purchase went missing and we had to resend those and as we could get through to them or get a response this took 5 weeks to find out. It was also taking more than 10 working days to get even a response  from them. When trying to talk to the solicitor, who is also the director of the company we could never get through she was always busy and never returned a call.  We had booth estate agents chasing them they said they have never experienced this ever before as they never got any info back or a call. In the final week before it went south we finally get a call from her and she was rather rude saying there were no communication issues?. Oh and put the final nail in the coffin by saying there was an issue as we were buying from an estate and sorting the title could take some weeks? During the process our buyers had to ask questions about the property through the estate agent as they had given up on a response. I've since looked at reviews and the recent ones are not good and state the same issues. I have started to contact people who have dealt with her and they have also had nightmares.

It seems that you have had fairly poor service, but not quite so dire that you can avoid paying the bill entirely.

The sensible solution is to talk to the solicitor and reach a compromise. 

I would agree with that. Abortive transactions ought to attract a discount anyway (there's no responsibility element if the transaction doesn't complete i.e. you're not going to be suing them about their advice about a property you didn't buy). If they've admitted elements which are objectively poor service then I would expect them not to argue about a suitable chunk being taken off the fee in order to encourage you to pay anything.