Conveyancing solicitors nightmare

Barnetts are the worst company I have ever dealt with. Inefficient, incompetent, inaccurate. They failed to check paperwork; allowed errors to pass through which had to be corrected in a rush at the end of the process; left things until the last moment. The fees they charged turned out to be wrong and it was only in prising a statement out of them that the errors emerged. Some simple conveyancing became a complete hassle with Barnetts. We had to chase them and make sure things were done properly. You pay a solicitor to do this clerical work, not to stand over their shoulder to see if they do it correctly. Don't go near them. As a professional I was just embarrassed by how bad they were.

Barnetts did a great job when I came to sell my property, they were so good and efficient that I used them for my purchase and will probably use them again in the future. In my experience it is not the solicitors who are doing things wrong its the estate agents who complicate things as all their after their 2% commission. This has been the case when I have used other solicitors aswell. People can be quick to point the finger at their lawyer but put yourself in their shoes, they are constantly harrassed by agents all of which are after their cut of the sale price (i might add that this can be up to 5 x normal solicitors fee's from my experience) and can be ruthless to ensure that this is guaranteed. My advice to all those who have had a "bad experience" with your lawyer is to look at the bigger picture as to who is actually to blame.

I had a very bad experience with Barnetts. They were incredibly slow at doing the basics when it mattered. Don't be fooled by 'on-line tracking'. They were always reassuring when answering the phone, but when I really pressed them as to what had and had not been done I was told lies just to get me off the phone. Then documents didn't get sent onto to me - on one search I had to ask for 4 times. The stress that I went through was unbelievable as our buyer was on the point of giving up. Then regarding our purchase, they made irrelevant enquiries of their own, but didn't follow up on the questions of significance that I asked them to raise (repeatedly) with the vendor's solicitor. When eventually, I got all the searches through, I had already had to exchange on my sale (this was my choice in order not to lose my buyer, but a very bad choice) Ultimately I didn't have any time to make an informed decision about the property I was buying. I caved in under the pressure and went ahead despite some uncertainties, and with what I learned sunsequently in interpretating the information that came from the searches, I certainly paid too much for the property. All my worst fears came true and more, and the slow conveyancing certainly played a major part in this. I wish I had chosen a (more expensive) local solicitor, rather than a mid-range overloaded conveyancing factory whose staff seem to have little interest in their reputation. In hindsight, I would have gladly paid ten times the amount in fees to a competent helpful conveyancor who provided a reasonable service and who was able to provide advice. The staff at Barnetts certainly knew the processes of conveyancing and were pleasant enough, but they were overloaded, slow and seemed unable to provide any good service on anything that was non standard - eg anything that required interpetation or any words of advice.

I have recentley used Barnetts for my house purchase and I must say how pleased I was with the service from start to finish.The staff were very polite and helpful,they went out of their way to explain everything in detail.
I think the people complaining about Barnetts should take a closer look at their estate agents and mortgage brokers because they are the people making the big money out of this not the solicitors,just take a look at the mortgage arrangement fee and estate agent fees this person paid.It is very easy to sit there and blame someone else for problems and twist things,something estate agents are expert at.The only problem I had when buying my house was when the estate agent tried to get me to arrange my mortgage through his broker friend who wanted to charge me £1200 for the privilage! Needless to say I declined his so generous offer and ended up paying a grand total of £250 by walking into my local building society,a process which took less than an hour and saved me £950.

I agree with satisfied mover, it is not very often that compliments are made but everyone is quick to complain. Why is this? I personally think it is becuase the people making the complaints like to have a rant and rave because they hope to get some form of financial compensation.

Personally, I have used barnetts and chose them due to a reccomendation from a friend. As a first time buyer I didnt have a clue what conveyancing was or why I needed a Solicitor but Barnetts helped me to understand everything.

Now that I am looking to move I will no doubt go back to Barnetts.

I think it is the Estate Agents that you all need to look out for!!

I have used Barnetts (and their Click Conveyancing web site) on nearly 10 occasions when purchasing properties for redevelopment and then to sell on at the end.

My personal experience seems to be completely different to what seems to be listed here. I found all of the teams I dealt with to be extremely helpful and they were always keeping me informed of where the sales or purchases were up to.

I think most people fall into the trap of instantly putting the blame on their solicitors when something goes wrong when it may not be down to them. My experience is that it is the Estate Agents who are usually to blame and when they recommend a firm ask them how much of a back hand they get for the introduction! My experience is that it can be around £300 per introduction. Does this mean the estate agents are recommending a Firm because their service is excellent or because they receive a healthy kick back?

As for the comment size isn't everything.. may be not but surely they must be doing something good to get to that size in the first place?

If anyone has any doubts about Barnetts then all I can say is that I have used them countless times and will continue to use them. You just need to open your eyes and look at the other parties involved in your sale or purchase if a problem arises.

I have used Barnetts (and their Click Conveyancing web site) on nearly 10 occasions when purchasing properties for redevelopment and then to sell on at the end.

My personal experience seems to be completely different to what seems to be listed here. I found all of the teams I dealt with to be extremely helpful and they were always keeping me informed of where the sales or purchases were up to.

I think most people fall into the trap of instantly putting the blame on their solicitors when something goes wrong when it may not be down to them. My experience is that it is the Estate Agents who are usually to blame and when they recommend a firm ask them how much of a back hand they get for the introduction! My experience is that it can be around £300 per introduction. Does this mean the estate agents are recommending a Firm because their service is excellent or because they receive a healthy kick back?

As for the comment size isn't everything.. may be not but surely they must be doing something good to get to that size in the first place?

If anyone has any doubts about Barnetts then all I can say is that I have used them countless times and will continue to use them. You just need to open your eyes and look at the other parties involved in your sale or purchase if a problem arises.

I recently used Barnetts Solicitors for my purchase. After some research I found their fees to be reasonable and so instructed them to act on my behalf via their online website 'click conveyancing'. I can only say that I was very impressed with their service. Not only was I kept regularly up to date as to the progress of my purchase but also found their staff to be down to earth and easy to talk to if I had any worries during the purchase.

It is so easy for people to complain these days but not so easy to compliment and praise. I thank Barnetts for making my purchase as stress free as it could possibly have been.

Barnetts are a complete waste of space when it comes to conveyance work. Steer clear of them like the plague. Their customer service is appaulling. Their "realtime" online tracking system is days if not weeks out of date. When you call them for an update, they dont have a clue and in somecases downright lie to you about the status of your sale or purchase. after 10 weeks of trying to exchange contracts I finally lost it and told them where to stick it. I walked away from the purchase and the sale because of the stress. My buyers solicitors said they had never encountered such an underwhelming sence of urgency and were going to write a letter of complaint to their director. They may be big, but size is definately not everything when it comes to conveyancing work. My advice, STEER WELL CLEAR OF BARNETTS and their CLICKCONVEYANCE website!

The answer to your problems lies with always chosing a sole practioner . This can be a solicitor or a licensed Conveyancer. The Licensed Conveyancer deals only with residential conveyancing and so devotes all his or her time to this. Because they usually work alone, perhaps with a secretary, you will always speak to them direct and wont be left on hold onto singing and dancing voicemails for 15 minutes.

Bear this in mind for your next move.

Actually I work in the 'glamarous' world of retail. Just wanted to add my two cents to the debate. Sorry chaps.

Quote: "I am sure that the hard working folks who work at the conveyancing firms named below are also sick to death of the attitudes of their clients!"

In most instances, the "hard working folks", are so, because these firms are so greedy and take on too much work that they can't handle.

We can now understand why clients have to chase, cajole and beg before anything gets done, by the staff who are "sick to death of the attitude of their clients". This is a revealing comment, because it betrays the true underlying contempt for their clients, who ironically pays good money to these "professional" firms to treat them thus.

Perhaps Thwwwp should reveal which firm is "sick to death" of their clients, so that the clients can lessen the workload for the firm, by taking their business elsewhere.