Appalling experience
The following is my honest opinion of my experience of dealing with this company.
I approached this firm for assistance with a professional negligence claim.
I’d been told that the solicitor was an expert in this field.
For reference, I spent £1500.00 (inc. VAT) with this firm.
The hourly rate of the solicitor in question was £250.00 per hour (ex. VAT).
The experience I had was appalling.
I found the solicitor slow and unresponsive.
I was repeatedly required to chase up responses.
I received numerous apologies from the administration staff when the solicitor failed to respond in a timely manner.
The solicitor advised that “fairly time pressured matters” had “resulted in me having limited time to review this”.
At £250.00 P/H, I expect a professional to make time to respond when they say they are going to. If they are consistently unable do so, they should decline to take on the claim.
Before instructing them, I wrote an e-mail explaining which aspects of my claim I required advice on.
I did so to avoid them wasting chargeable time researching information that I already possessed.
Their first response failed to answer most of the points I’d asked them to address.
This set the tone for the relationship that followed.
I was constantly left feeling that I was not being listened to by the solicitor.
I felt that time and money was wasted going over the same ground, time and time again.
Most of this generic information was freely available on the internet.
It largely consisted of warning that the process would be difficult and costly – which I knew before I approached them for advice.
I was advised to obtain a report from an Expert Witness.
Following this advice, I approached TWO Expert Witnesses.
Between them, they had over 50 years of experience in this type of claim.
BOTH called into question, the advice of the solicitor.
BOTH advised me against following his advice.
BOTH advised that following the advice would be costly and unnecessary.
One advised that the report should not be required in such a simple case, of such low value.
The other suggested that I consider dispensing with the services of the solicitor, as he “didn’t appear to be bringing much to the table”.
There followed a further frustrating meeting, followed by an online call at which my elderly and vulnerable father (on whose behalf the claim was made) was present.
This was another painful encounter. I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall, trying to get some meaningful advice as to how to progress our claim.
The solicitor then announced that he would dis-instruct himself if we did not follow the path he advocated in pursuing the claim.
We were left in the predicament of having to start again from scratch, having spent £1500.00 with this firm, whilst being no further forward with our claim.
The solicitor stated that he was “not prepared to indulge our crusade against the bank".
I found it odd that he only expressed this objection AFTER having taken £1500.00 in fees, when he knew the nature of our claim before we instructed him.
My elderly father was left very distressed by the dismissive way we had been spoken to.
In 25+ years in the corporate workplace, I have never been spoken to in such an unprofessional, disrespectful, and dismissive manner.
I referred to this in a complaint to the Managing Director.
He was unwilling to comment.
He failed to comment on any other aspect of our bad experience.
His response to our complaint consisted of a three-line e-mail, and a form to fill out.
I was told the solicitor would send a response to my complaint.
The letter I received merely reiterated that the firm were dis-instructing themselves.
No apology was made for the appalling experience we’d been subjected to.
If I had my time again, I would not invest a single penny in the services of this firm.
I consider that every penny that was spent with them was wasted.
The whole experience was exasperating and stressful.
This was the worst customer service experience I’ve ever endured from any firm.
Our legal case was eventually referred to the Treasury Committee, with whom I remain in communication. Should I receive any threat from this firm, to deter me from exercising my consumer right to post my honest opinion of our experience at the hands of their company, I will immediately forward it to the committee and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. I will robustly defend my consumer right to review my experience.
22. Dezember 2022
Bewertung ohne vorherige Einladung