Conveyancing Direct Property Lawyers
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Jekyl and Hyde - Awful, until we formally complained, then a magical change
We instructed conveyancing direct as a result of a referral from Burchell Edwards to use Connells, and in turn CDL. We never chose them, and had I known the level of service we would receive I wouldn't have and my advice for anyone using large firms is to be aware of that subcontracting of your case to other firms. Our instruction originally took place mid November 2021, with a very simple chain (no onward chain for our seller, first time buyer for us). We didn't expect much activity until Christmas had come and gone and so things preceded as we expected. However in the new year, once searches were returned (early January) the case just seemed glued in place and didn't move. Communication throughout most of our time with CDL has been non existent, when we wanted any answers we have had to call and chase. I will say that often we spoke to people who weren't our case handler and they always tried to advise us as best they could. Most of the time they needed our case handler to step in, but our actual case handler was NEVER available. In fact we didn't speak to her from instruction November 21 until the end of February 2022, her callback requests went unanswered and no update emails were forthcoming. Much of our stress and worry came from basic queries not being answered, or any attempt to respond to our questions. Our paperwork was lost, and contradictory guidance was given on how to provide ID verification - originally being able to get a verified copy from our estate agent, when this was sent it wasn't received at the right inbox, then it wasnt acceptable anyway, and when it was posted and received we still got asked on calls why my wife's married name hadn't been verified and asked to do so again. The Credas app verified my ID and was straightforward, but my wife was not sent a link to complete this - even when chased it took weeks for this to be issued, and when it was the result wasn't registered properly and had to be repeated. Our case handler was on family leave and it took us calling and chasing a response to find this out, and her cases were not passed to anyone else and made no progress in her three week absence. This kind of poor planning and customer service I'd never expect from any of my own staff and I certainly didn't from a service we were paying so much for and over such an important life decision. We constantly asked for updates when it seemed there were no outstanding issues remaining in the way of draft contracts being issued, provisional dates of exchange and contract were not even discussed until we had been underway for nearly three months. Our work pressures meant planning for a move was just not possible from April, and we had no faith or updates on a prospective date even when we directly asked to discuss potential dates, we were told this couldn't be discussed yet each time. When I eventually spoke to our case handler, I tried to express our frustrations and yet felt dismissed, with the same statement repeated louder over me even as I tried to remain calm and professional even though by this point I was ready to throw the whole chain out of the window. The connells portal, a selling point for which we actually chose to use them - was rarley updated and in fact some elements were not checked off the "sales jigsaw" such as I'd verification, or even "our requirements confirmed" were not checked off until the week we exchanged contracts. As a reassuring tracker for progress we paid £32 for, next to useless. It took a very long complaint email copied to the case manager and the complaints team to actually seemingly gain any traction, and tellingly, we receive updates readily and calls confirming new steps - from then on things moved quickly and we exchanged and completed within a fortnight, moving a full month after we had originally discussed proposing a date. We appreciated the late flurry in customer service and activity, but it did seem that I had to complain formally to prompt it. From being treated as an inconvenience, to different experience immediately following. I do feel that customer service training for solicitors in conveyancing practice is a sadly lacking development need, and understanding your audiences concerns and pressures and anticipating them - for the sake of a reassuring call or email - could save them a great deal of workload once customers like us get so frustrated they chase for an update and eventually complain. We felt like just another number, and considering the chain was so ridiculously simple, and all with CDL, it should have been completed MUCH sooner. Whilst I'm glad we eventually did complete, I would avoid using Conveyancing Direct ever again.