I can't believe the banks are still using this firm of complete Muppets,they are an absolute joke. Similar thread, they had my mortgage deeds signed 58days later, the day before so called completion, they decide to tell me its completedincorrectly, my witness has the same surname (my mother), why o why couldn’t theyhave said that when they first received it.

You generally can't use a relative, let alone a parent, to sign a deed, they tell you that in the pack.

Irrespective of their timing you should have read the literature.

Perhaps they would expect people to read the instructions given. So the final check was just that.

Have been dealing with them since June. (Case was opened 170 days ago to be precise) My re-mortgage forms part of an agreed court order which was due to be settled on 17th October. This is still ongoing which leave me at risk of being "in contempt". They are top of my list of one of the most difficult and slow companies to deal with.

Every correspondence take 2-3 days to "go through the system". They have repeatedly asked for the same things which have already been sent. They say they haven't got things that I know they have as my solicitor has a copy. Deadlines have been missed time and time again

Next time I re-mortgage if they are involved I won't bother !!

They are a pain in the backside from a broker's POV too, they will seldom speak to us, however as various people have pointed out above - they are free so you get what you pay for.

I had a remortgage case recently where they completed when the client didn't want to! The property was downvalued by £50k and that effected the borrowing that he could obtain (he was raising equity for some home improvement works), so there was a challenge to the valuation (which, of course, was unsuccessful) and it just stagnated. Both us and the client told them no further action was to be taken, however they reached the date when completion was originally set for, and went ahead anyway, only trying to call the client to confirm. As they couldn't get hold of him, they transferred the funds anyway.

Shocking. Thankfully they managed to properly correct the transaction and get the previous mortgage reinstated but still.

Optima Legal has got to be the worst legal company i have ever come across, you get allocated a case handler but you can never get to speak to her no matter how many times you call and you WILL NOT get an email reply, every time you ring you get fobbed off and they always say "i'll call you back" (because they don't know the answer) but never do.

a simple re-mortgage should take 3-4 weeks max but my case has been opened for 68 days now and still no end in sight with 3 redemption figures later.

Optima Legal employ a load of donkeys who lack passion, sense and drive.

Holy thread revival, Batman!

Same goes for me, they are a joke. I'm currently 90 days in and both myself and my ex are very stressed out. I'm constantly asking for updates and despite me chasing them repeatedly I have not once spoken to my case adviser! Still no end in sight. They did nothing on the case for over a month, I called to pay the transfer of equity and it then took another month for them to send the forms! Been charged £13/day interest by existing lender and the early repayment charge is also creeping up as a result! Made three payments since they requested the 1st redemption statement but am now £1,000 worse off! Will never be tempted by 'free legals' ever, ever, ever again. Will defo be lodging a complaint. Pah.

Yes, they are still extremely bad. You do not have a case handler as these people are basically a conveyance factory and can only really operate because there may be 1 qualified person amongst a workforce of loads. When having any dealings with Optima under any circumstances make sure that every phone call received or made to/from them - time, name and conversation content is diarised. This also goes for anyone else in connection with your application as it's all provides the full picture of events. Do not ever send them original documents even if they insist. After they've messed up which they inevitably will, write a lengthy complaint letter to the Managing Director (who will probably laugh which proves how arrogant they are) including the diary details. A copy should also go to the Managing Director of whichever finance company your using together with copies going the Financial Ombudsman even for their records. I did all of this and got a very good response (and compensation) via the finance company I was using but its obvious not a lot of notice was taken long term. Optima MD secretary called me trying to get me not take the complaint as far as it can go, even admitting they had employed people off the street who had no experience whatsoever. This company thoroughly disgusted me which only fuelled my enthusiasm not to be bullied. The biggest moral of the story is use your own solicitor/conveyance even if you have to pay.

I feel your pain, they are absolutely useless. They held up my application as there was a restriction on the deeds (although we have remortgaged 3 times in 11 years with no issues). Only after bitterly complaining and insisting on speaking to a legally trained person or a Mangers under threat that i would instruct the lender i was going use my own solicitor's did I get anything useful in the way of advise.

They can request the full deeds from your lender for free, but refused. I had to pay £22.50 to get a copy of my deeds to understand the restriction (which clearly states doesn't apply to residential dwellings if they had done any work they would have seen yes straight away). I am now waiting for them to confirm what happens next and agree a date.

Any one remortgaging offered the free conveyance service by your Lender (Mine is Nat West) it's worth doing a quick cost benefit analysis and get a qoute from an independent solicitor. In our case the delay has cost us £280 in savings so far (month delay in switching lenders) I could have instructed my own solicitor for that and benefiting from my new rate by now.

I realise not everyone savings will be as significant, but if they are get qoutes for your own conveyance, it's quicker, simpler and much less hassle than these call centre 'computer says no!' Clowns.

It matters not one bit is they offer a free or reduced cost service, if a serivice is offered and a time scale agreed they should abide by that commitment. This bunch of cowboys have taken over five months for a simple transfer of deeds for which I was quoted four to six weeks.

I am 84 days into my remortgage with Coventry, who use Optima for free legals. For the past few weeks, there has been no progress. Every piece of paperwork has been supplied and there is nothing else needed according to the Dashboard........ and yet no completion date set and no response to my many emails over the last few days. I'm left wondering if everyone's abandoned ship.

Terrible. I am only remortgaging so thought whats the worst that can happen if I use the free legal service? They have an online portal, that should be good I thought.

I've emailed three times and sent 27 messages on the online portal. The portal says all messages are responded to within 48 hours. It's now been two weeks and I've had no reply. Not a single reply.

I've just sent them notification that I will be charging for each time I have to call them. It seems calling is the only way to get an answer! Even then they're useless. When I asked for clarification on a fee they said it would be "around £40 to £70". Well which is it, I asked. 4 minutes on hold and they still didn't know what it would be. "the fee depends on the bank you're using". Ok, so my bank is xxx what's the fee? Still no reply.

This firm is dreadful. They represented my mortgage company, so i had no choice about using them.
They charged me £300, messed up my mortgage, so that the offer ran out and I lost the mortgage. I haven't had any money back from them. When I rang to ask what was going on (and for a change they actually answered the phone) they charged me £50 for the call with no warning that it was a premium rate line. They lost papers, continually spelt my name wrong, the name of the property wrong, they lost papers I had sent them .......No one I dealt with was even a legal exec, let alone a lawyer, and they didn't have a clue what they were talking about.
Unbelievable. I used to be a solicitor so I really do know an incompetent service when I see it

Im thinking probably the best thing to do would be to get in contact with the mortgage company who use them and get them to complain.

They get there eventually, my remortgage took a while, they are owned by Capita, says it all really!!

I used entact for a btl again with cbs and they were very quick, 10 day and two text messages and all done.

The service supplied was first class we had a trouble free remortgage through HSBC who use Optima as their legal agent.

They use an online Portal where you can upload any required documents and the telephone help is again first class.
Im posting because the last post is several years old and companies do read their own feed back and can change.

I presume they have as I would recommend

...ask their staff (again) to post positive reviews?

It is not about patience! Optima are offering a service and they are paid; does the fact that the borrower is not paying make it OK for them to ignore comms and deny the existence of documents just because 1 letter of the postcode is incorrect? I have never known an organisation so flagrantly appalling. My remortgage took over 3 months and FIVE offers from Halifax to complete. After I complained their response was 'I feel we have reprocessed your mortgage effectively and efficiently'. Well I do not, and neither will they once I have enlightened them to certain facts they've conveniently left out of their investigation. I am so angry. Patience?! This company doesn't DO anything unless they're hounded daily from all directions!! If you look up employee reviews for this company you may even start to feel sorry for the poor souls answering their phones; they are clearly suffering even worse than the borrowers. Thank heavens I didn't pay directly for their 'service' since it is worth less than nothing.
You may think I'm done ranting but if anyone else tries to say 'well it' s free so what do you expect' you'll find I haven't even started.