Cunningtons Solicitors - www.cunningtons.co.uk

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i HAVE had a nightmare with this firm. They were supposed to retain the money from the vendor for any pending payment and they did not which put me in a dilemma to pay for a service charge where i was not resident in that property. I would avoid it at ALL COST.

My experience with Aymer Hutton at Cunnington's has been nothing short of horrific. I only used this firm as they were recommended by my estate agents and I now know it was down to them looking after each other at the cost of the client.

I have lost count of the issues I have had during and post purchase of our property with this organisation. I am currently in a position where seven months after my purchase completed, I have been informed the previous owners have a private charge on my property which should have been removed prior to completion via application to Land Registry. I have asked Aymer Hutton (my conveyancing solicitor) to provide me with an explanation as to how this was overlooked and I haven't received one, not even an apology for the disastrous service and all the oversights and errors. We have today contacted another firm of solicitors to seek reimbursement and compensation for all the financial loss we have encountered as a result of using this highly unprofessional firm.

Five months after completion Cunningtons still held some of our sale funds on file without notifying us they had done so even after we requested they were to release all funds. Once we realised the figures didn't add up from our sale, we had to chase them to have the rest of our sale money returned to us.

We also moved into a property that had not been emptied out. Our new home also had a boiler that was not working upon moving in. Cunningtons did not request for any paperwork or confirmation from the sellers that any appliances would be in working order. They have not helped us in any way with any of the issues we have experienced as a result of their negligence and corner cutting during the conveyancing process. We honestly can't express enough how terrible an experience we have had with cunningtons. You will regret using this firm. The stress and upset they have caused is unbelievable and their way of dealing with it is to simply ignore the customer once they have been paid. We highly recommend Ward and Rider Solicitors who we had previously had a fantastic experience with during several sales and purchases. Unfortunately they were inundated and could not fit us in during our sale and purchase but we now wish we had chosen to be added to their waiting list.

I used them as I had read their flashy reviews on their website. In a hindsight I should have searched more before agreeing to use them as conveyancers. They asked the money up front for searches and their fees and as soon as they got the money I was left to complete the checks and the sale myself. They never answer the phone and when they do they tell you how wonderful they are and how many rewards they won. They do not complete the checks because they were not even able to tell me how many years lease the property had. They just made a figure in their head (99 years) and when I confronted them about the years that in fact I had been informed it had 55 years lease, I was told "either buy it or not. I was also told I can extend the lease in the future but they failed to tell me how much or when. To top it up they do not even know what the difference is between a share of freehold, freehold and leasehold. There were so many issues with them; I was left devastated and I had to pay for another conveyancer to complete the same checks again. I was not even allowed to complain and they never returned my money.

When I tried to put a bad review in their website I was told I cannot do it.

I am now in process of complaining to the ombudsman about them. I am sure they will try and use their awards and how they have been known since 1700. You do not expect someone who has been left in charge to complete a sale for you not to know anything about conveyancing; especially when they claim they are a partner in the firm!

We used Cunningtons for a part-exchange as they were recommended by Bovis, as local solicitors with knowledge of the Bovis process. We dealt with one person and all we can say - do not use them. There was no service or explanation of anythig. They sent us a 10 page letter with instructions basically saying 'read the contract and sign if it says what you want it to say'. We asked for a meeting and when the person sat down, it was clear that she had not looked at our file at all - her first question was 'so, are you buying or selling?'. On the day of completion, she forgot to phone us to confirm. Even after I left voicemails to her and her boss, they did not come back to us. Their explanation later was that they did ring us (which was not true) and that they sent us a letter instead. We complained to her boss but it was clear that once he had written a formal letter to us, he did not really want to get involved. We made a formal complaint afterwards which they dealt with - they said they don't need to review their processes as they have won awards in the past... they did agree to refund part of their fees... and they are so useless they actually refunded us more than what they agreed in the first place!!!

As with another reviewer's complaints, I too, will agree this is a firm to avoid.

And as with the other reviewer, I also requested their complaints procedure document: reading it, I lost any remaining respect I might've had for this firm of solicitors that administered an estate through probate. When the complaints policy is specifically oriented towards conveyancing and contains glaring, egregious grammatical errors unacceptable from a primary school student, it tells me a lot about their inner workings and how they see and conduct their business. For example "If after this, there is any outstanding issues ...". Come on! It's not even a PDF but an old 2004 MS Word document they send? This, with my experience of the other forms I've had to fill out, show they are old, often containing otherwise irrelevant or redundant language, some of which I found necessary to strike out as it was not in my interest there to cover themselves in the event of error on their part.

That said, probate took far too long due, in part, to the excruciating process of the protracted communications with the solicitor handling probate, Bryony Wilmshurst, and her assistant. Why, for one example, did it take six emails and several phone calls just to confirm the original and correct bank routing code I provided for disbursement? That, of course, delayed the process (again) because the "cut off" time for wire transfers had passed.

On the subject of disbursement, why weren't all options explained and detailed, concisely, at the beginning of this horrible process? Obviously a cheque was one of the options and another was electronic transfer. On requesting the latter option after the first option was explored and found unworkable, why did it take well over a week to execute?

On this disbursement issue, asking why disbursement of MY funds couldn't be made with my explicit authorization to a third party (my sister), why did I have to ask five times for an explanation before I was told "rules governing solicitors" forbade this? Any particular reason for this? Who knows? I wasn't in the clique so heaven forbid I might know their secret sauce.

Why, when the process had been decided and executed, was I forced to demand an itemised invoice as the funds had already transferred into my account -- the previous morning? Why did that invoice, once received, not tally with the disbursement and bank figures I had in front of me? Why do they balk (refuse) to offer to explain the still missing amount and dismiss it with a curt "Any other charges deducted from this amount will be bank charges."? No further help is being offered on their process and work that I paid them to implement.

Why when I asked about VAT (I am non-resident) it was made clear they were not in a position to help (nor advise) me?

In short, everything was protracted, byzantine and hampered by arcane and anachronistic tradition that have little bearing on modern business (I know since I am in business in another country which tends to bend over backwards to lubricate the gears of commerce: in the legal, banking, insurance and general service industries, there is a lot the UK could learn -- especially Cunningtons.)

The bottom line is that lawyers are the butt of many jokes and these people epitomize some of the traits leading to such ridicule and contempt. They are supposed to represent the individual in legal matters but instead would appear to represent only their own best interests in the course of sloppy and archaic business practices. Whilst lawyers are a necessity in life, it is best to read reviews and perform your own due diligence before committing to a specific firm. In this case, the choice was not mine but were it to have been, rest assured I'd have chosen someone else for probate. Lawyers often try to play their cards close to their chest and some seem to know the game better than others.

So, once again, although only a £22 loss, the damned lawyers win again. It is hardly in my interest to pursue this through their arcane complaints procedures when I know forehand that it will take weeks and weeks and enormous hurdles of bureaucratic obfuscation for me to eventually find I have little or no recourse, since I am not a lawyer and those against whom I might rail can, will and do use the law to protect themselves and their interests more often, in my opinion, than to protect you and yours. I've not recourse then than to halt any further communication or processing.

My advice is to always ask around, read web reviews (NOT testimonials on their own site), talk to competitors and always, always ask their charges: tie them down to the details. It is not unreasonable to expect costs to change but they should be within the region of their first estimate.

Regardless, if it were me I'd find another firm.

I used them in Chelmsford being closest to my home. Their solicitors will speak like they are doing any favors to you . IN fact they lack sensitivity also and will make personal comments also Like "You should not go on holiday after buying a house"

I'm currently using cunningtons for the sale of my flat. They are rubbish. I read reviews and all was mixed so I thought I would try them but I wish I didn't honestly the worst service ever. Never could I talk to the solicitor on the phone and the 1 times out of about 50 that I called and did actually talk to her she said email me it's much better to email me and I have never had a reply from email either. Never got call backs never got an update on the service. Complete waste of time. I honestly would change solicitors of it was not for the fact that I'm in the middle of the sale of the flat. DONT USE CUNNINGTONS

Staff very friendly and apologetic while on the phone trying to find out what was happening. However actually chasing to find out what was happening was done 90% by me, staff did not return calls when promised had to speak to the building society numerous times chasing what should have been done by solicitor. Kept being fobbed off we needed to give permission to the building society to talk to the solicitor, the whole process was from July 2013- Feb 2014. It was through further persistence to the building society that Ii eventually sorted the problem out. I felt that Cunningtons basically wrote me off as a client. WILL NEVER GO THESE SOLICITORS AGAIN.

I have edited this review because on 23rd September 2016 I

was contacted by the Review Centre as Cunningtons complained to Review

Centre to remove my review originally posted in 2013. Rather than

withdraw my complaint I have now updated this review to include a lot of

additional information on the poor experience I had with this firm. I

have fact and date checked everything to ensure accuracy and ran this

past a lawyer in my office to ensure that I am not making any defamatory

or untrue statements.

This was my second property purchase with Cunningtons Solicitors and it was my last. I will never use this firm again.

I am a qualified accountant and my wife a teacher. We are a

polite and friendly professional couple who like most people just want a

relatively straightforward life free from any unnecessary stress. We

never go out of our way to create an argument or uncomfortable situation

and when someone is rude to us are usually so shocked and taken aback

that we are stunned in to silence and it is only later when the dust

settles that we wish we had said x or y or expressed our unhappiness

with how we were treated.

Treatment of Customers

The PA for our assigned solicitor requested my wife and I

attend Cunningtons offices to provide original documentation to verify

our identity and there was also one deed related to the mortgage that we

had to sign in front of the solicitor and she also needed to explain to

us what we were agreeing to by signing it. All to be expected and very

reasonable.

I travelled on the train from London, leaving work early

to reach their Braintree office. My wife drove from Upminster with our

one year old son. I informed the PA when I reached Braintree Station I

was just a few minutes away and we would be there soon.

On arrival at Cunningtons Office the receptionist took our

documents to make certified copies. I was then told by the receptionist

that our solicitor was too busy, would not see us and we needed to take

the mortgage document to a local solicitor and pay about £50 and it

signed there.

I felt this was not acceptable when I had made an

appointment with her PA and we had travelled a considerable distance to

make this appointment. It is my opinion that the receptionist also felt

this was grossly unfair. After I asked if there was any other solicitor

available at this solicitor’s office the receptionist again went in to

our solicitors office. The receptionist informed us our solicitor would

try and see us but couldn't guarantee it.

My wife, our one year old son and myself waited for an hour.

It is the opinion of my wife and I that when we did

finally get seen by our solicitor she was extremely rude, especially to

my wife who is of Indian origin. To the best of my recollection she said

“I have just returned from holiday, have a lot to do and do not have

time for this”. I felt her general demeanour and attitude was rude and

sulky and not what I would expect from a qualified solicitor.

Not wanting to upset the solicitor and give her have any

reason to delay the purchase of our home we bit our tongue and remained

polite and courteous until we left the office. It was only once we left

my wife and I discussed how shocked we were by the solicitors’ demeanour

and lack of professionalism.

Delays Processing my Property Sale and Purchase

My property chain had a deadline and it must have

completed by the 15th November 2013 due to holidays, validity of

mortgage offers and wanting to move in good time before Christmas. Due

to some other issues earlier on in the process, which were not the fault

of Cunningtons, the entire chain was at risk of falling apart and

everyone was aware things needed to move quickly and I felt most people

were doing their best to ensure things did move quickly.

The contract pack was received by Cunningtons on Wednesday 30th October 2013.

As at 6th November 2013, an entire week later. Cunningtons had not responded to the sellers’ solicitor.

The purchase was delayed as a result and it was very

fortunate that the other people in the chain were patient and I did not

lose out on the purchase.

I am not sure if the delays were due to inefficiencies or

taking on more work than they had the staff for and I feel the firm

should look in to the causes in an attempt to improve the experience for

customers at what is often a very stressful time.

Due to what I felt were unacceptable delays I requested

from Cunningtons a copy of their complaints procedure on 6th November

2013. I contacted the partner named in the complaint procedure and

expressed my concerns with how things were being handled.

The pace of work then picked up and the transaction did then complete in December 2013.

Handling of Customer Finances

Upon completion of the transaction Cunningtons retained

£1,000 of my money for “mortgage redemption”. I did not have a mortgage

on the property I sold and so Cunningtons withheld this money from me by

mistake. I had to raise this as another issue to get this money back

and ensure I was not charged their usual transfer fees for sending me

back my own money.