I chose McFadden & Perry Solicitors to do the conveyancing on a house sale in April 2015, as their quote was the lowest obtained at the time. After depositing the property deeds with their secretary and receiving a distinctly frosty reception, I was subsequently informed by associate solicitor Rachel Sinclair that the "letters of administration" which I had included in the deeds envelope was missing. Ms Sinclair requested that I re-send this document, which I did. On completion day it was discovered that Rachel had this document in her possession all the time, but had misplaced it.
The same associate solicitor failed to respond to a number of emails after I made a request for clarification on Co-ownership's requirement's pertaining to repair works, which was made on 29 May 2015, and only responded on 3 June when I rang their office and threatened to make a complaint.
Regrettably, Ms Sinclair failed to respond to another email sent on 1 July containing an important message from a Building Control surveyor, which I asked her to forward to the purchaser's solicitor and/or Co-ownership. When I rang to inquire about this consistent pattern of failure to respond to emails I was treated in a flippant manner by a female member of staff, who chose not to disclose her identity.
On day of completion Ms Sinclair directed me to a Mr "Bryan Law" of Law Quinn Solicitors, Bangor, whose task was to witness me sign a sale related statutory declaration. I experienced a domineering man who possessed an interrogative manner which was obviously contrived to intimidate, and who impatiently snapped the pen out of my hand when I politely handed it back to him after providing my signature. Thankfully, the encounter with this individual was brief, and I was not subjected to his overbearing behaviour for a long period.
An unsolicited recommendation would be for McFadden & Perry to consider using an alternative solicitor for their subsidiary client services, as completion day should not be an unpleasant experience for any property vendor. If solicitor clientele fail to highlight and object to the gratuitous and unnecessary bullying behaviour of certain law professionals, they shall continue to behave in this manner, and with impunity. If I'm the only McFadden & Perry client to have experienced this mode of behaviour from Mr Law, that does not make it any less inexcusable.
Despite aforementioned shortcomings, none of which are calamitous, but salient enough to warrant attention, McFadden & Perry accomplished the conveyancing of my house sale within a reasonable time-frame considering Co-ownership involvement, their initial quotation was competitive (despite my final bill being higher than their initial quotation), and associate solicitor Rachel Sinclair was on aggregate generally professional, proficient and communicative, and when asked a number of pertinent questions on completion day, responded with satisfactory answers.
However, I trust this accurate and candid review shall provide Perry & McFadden with sufficient constructive feedback to facilitate a consideration of some minor enhancements to the provision of their services, and in the interest of service quality and customer satisfaction.
Star rating: a generous 3 out of 5. read more
