Solicitors fees are a bit steep

For 'steel' read 'steal' and for 'cart blanch' read 'carte blanche'. That'll be £100 plus VAT, thanks.

Have you spoken to an independant costs assessor, Try Hateley's of Liverpool 0151 236 6600, they helped me reduce mySolicitots Bill by 25%

I found this thread whilst trying to confirm the increase in solicitors fees over the last 5 years, (i believe a partner from £175 plus vat to £350 plus vat). I spent 5 years dealing with the Law Society and the Ombudsman trying to complain about my solicitors charges compared to estimate, (triple), and the appalling service I received, never even valued the case going before a tribunal). He was eventually made to pay £400 for his digressions, but I never got back the thousands he overcharged me.
Always think carefully before going to a solicitor, and shop around. My web site gives some tips if you must go to one, www.roughjustice.org.uk . I get emails from people who have lost everything to greedy solicitors, but whilst the the Law Society, which is basically their union, are allowed to investigate complaints against their members, it will only get worse.
Write to your MP!

When my friend visited her Mothers Solicitor in order to retrieve her Mums Will she was very brusquely told to take all the paperwork she had to the said Solicitor as she would need a Solicitor to deal with the Probate. Although my friend agreed to return with everything I was sure that in this instance we could deal with the Probate ourselves. I telephoned our nearest Probate Office to check. We could, in fact I was advised that we ought to, as it would be expensive getting a Solicitor to do it for us. I filled out the Probate forms and had no problems with them, though if I had, I could have telephoned the Probate Office for help. I'm not saying that one doesn't always need a Solicitor but what I AM saying is that you should always double-check everything you're told especially if someone/anyone is trying to get you to part with your hard earned cash!!!!
As for excessive charges, John Snow has the right answer. And if more of us followed through in that way maybe there would be less inclination by others to 'overcharge' us in the first place!!

A friend of mine went to a solicitor abouta case, and during all the interviews they had with them the solictor demanded to know whether they had the funds to cover his fees, four times in half-an-hour on one occasion. The time spent ascertaining whether his customer, my friend, had the money was actually added to the final bill.

On each occasion the amount of legal business actually covered was minimal, half-an-hour spent where 5 minutes would have done.

Who actually protects customers from being overcharged by solicitors. No one!

My friends case cost him £15,000 in the end, half of which went to the solicitor who did very little indeed.

Sheer greeed that's all it is.

Don;t get me started on solicitors

Particularly DIVORCE ones

They seem to be able to generate income at will, sending unecessary letters back and forth at £40 - £50 a time !!!!!

I get letters asking me on progress, then another if I don't respond quick enough

ANOTHER £100 bites the dust

What gets me is a solicitor wrote, on behalf of one of his clients, to the business I work for complaining about a mistake we had made. No problem with that and we were happy to put the error right. But the solicitor also had the damned cheek to comment about our high charges,(some of which we refunded as it happens.)

Well Mr Solicitor, I've got news for you, people can't stand solicitors at the best of times, but people just cannot stand a hypocrite - ever! In other words don't ever, ever, have the goddammed cheek to complain about other business charges, when your own rates are just an extortion racket!!!

Clarissa - you should make a complaint directly to the firm and ask for a copy of their complaints procedure.

Legally they should provide interim bills throughout the case so the shock of an unexpected bill should not have happened.

Once you have followed the Firms complaints procedure if you are still not satisfied report them to the Solicitors Regulation Authority - formerly the Law Society.

Hi, I would like to gripe about solicitors and what they charge. My father died 7 months ago, and I let the solicitors handle probate. I sorted a lot of his estate myself so there was not much to do. I asked at the time what would it cost to wrap it all up and was told £700. Seven months later and after chasing them up several times was landed with a bill 5 times that amount.

What has angered me, the person dealing with it never mentioned any other cost at all to me. I feel that I was not informed properly of the cost. Had I'd known I would have tried to do it myself or shopped around. I was told why it had taken a long time to sort out - [ staff shortage ] not my problem. The person dealing with it is a probate executive, so not a qualified solicitor. I feel that I've been cheated and is very angry about this. Not sure what to do next?.

Completely agree with Eyes Open Wide in that it isn't just solicitors fees that are hiked.

All so-called professional staff charges are a "bit steep". Note how none of them really provide you with a proper up-front price list.

Dentists
Solicitors
Valuers
Chartered Surveyors
Private medical consultants
Private medical services

and so on. They are all completely greedy. Most of them have discovered that people living in London are a milch-cow to be taken for a ride as far as they can go.

Campaign for open pricing. Its got to be the way forward. Hoebnsty in business is good honest trading. These guys are just covering up for their incompetence.