20 reviews (1/5) and information for Forster Dean Limited, First Floor, Old Town Hall, Victoria Square, Widnes

28/08/19 - Reviewed by Debra

These solicitors are representing the first time buyers purchasing my ‘no chain, no probate, empty house’ and, now coming to the end of week 15 we’re still no closer to exchanging contracts.
This level of service is a disgrace and is causing unnecessary emotional and financial stress which, given my solicitor and estate agent are doing their upmost to prevent, is down to you and your inability to communicate with either the agent, solicitor or your own clients.
This is conveyancing at its worst with zero professionalism and beyond appalling communication skills.

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18/02/19 - Reviewed by Anonymous

If I could i would give them 0 Stars. Would recommend avoid this company at all costs. Don't get back to you, ignore phone calls, no-one knows what is going on. Had to fill in forms several times as they 'got lost' and they would even lie to me and my partner about where the process was up to- as if we wouldn't speak? Don't waste your time or money, pay a bit extra for a company that will do the job properly and within a timely manor.

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07/12/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

Do not give these your money. Rude staff, they do not explain anything until you interrogate them for answers. 3 months to move into an empty house as a first time buyer. I personally think they just can’t be bothered. I’m telling my bank not to recommend these to anyone else.

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16/11/18 - Reviewed by Steve

Omg should have read these reviews before we accepted to use them which was offered by claire at Lloyds Bank Manchester Market Street. Lloyds are as much of a joke then these solicitors. Why would you use them if you read these reviews. Has taken us 3 months plus for a house with no chain and its a new build. Not over yet. You cant get through to solicitors they wont even call back when left a message. This has been the most stressful time in our life dealing with these solicitors. We are actually ill with it. And everyone is right they are very rude the few times we have spoken to them. We cant even speak to the person whos dealing with our case. We've asked Lloyds bank to intervene but theyre not bothered either that there customers are having a very distressful time. Please people do not use these solicitors these reviews are all true. Im gna put it on social media. what a joke.

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29/10/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

Avoid using this solicitor at all costs. Poor communication it's impossible to get hold of anyone, rude staff when you finally get through to them and just a general rubbish service. No urgency or care and as a result our house sale dragged on for months, far longer than necessary.

We only used them because we had an offer through the bank but I will never be using them again and I would strongly advise anybody else to avoid unless they are happy to wait months and experience poor communication and service.

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02/08/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

I would strongly recommend anybody not to use Forster Dean for a conveyancing service. Firstly, it all started once our lender had issued Forster Dean to act on our behalf for purchasing our first property

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15/07/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

I would never recommend this firm if this was the last company on earth. Talking from my unfortunate experience. It's all about money once they have the money you can Not contact them dispite how many times you leave a message with their receptionist. I made an complaint and thinking it would get dealt professionally but that was NOT the case! I had very bad experience with this firm dispite the amount of stress they caused. Am under psychologist cos the stress they have given me. If you do by mistake come a cross this firm make sure Mr Paul Sumner don't deal with your case. After a official complaint one of the chief exc almost blamed me or made me look like I was lying when I explain with the evidence that service I received wasn't up the normal standards soo out of 5 I would not even give 1 star if I didn't have to cos there is no other choice. Stay away from this firm. Make sure you you find out and get it write it down if you won the case they will fight your corner to get the cost accured due for your case! Never again not for ever !
Thanks hope this absolutely helps people don't get the same mistake as I have made by going with them in the first place.

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07/03/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

** DO NOT USE ** If I could give them 0 stars I would. It has been a complete mess from start to finish (even though it is still going through!!)
- They do not answer the phones EVER, you leave a voicemail message and they never come back to you.
- The only time they will call is to ask for more money
- We were due to complete today and this has been pushed back due to them "not receiving our e-mail confirming" even though they e-mailed back saying they would contact the sellers solicitor to confirm this completion date.
- They then ask for more documents to be signed and more money to be transferred to them on the day of completion.
- Completion statement wrong
- They seem to rush any kind of paperwork, comes with spelling mistakes, poorly written and doesn't make sense.
- It has taken over 3 months for a ONE PROPERTY transaction.
- They do not explain anything
- They are rude on the phone when they call and make it sound like you are wasting their time with all the sarcasm and huffing and puffing down the phone.
How they are still in business is beyond me.

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17/02/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

After having a nightmare trying to keep contact with the conveyancing team during our purchase the post-completion department surprised us. He was very patient and helped us deal with our issues with our management company efficiently and commendably. If only there were people like him helping us to buy our house then we would be much happier to recommend.

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29/01/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

I would strongly recommend anybody not to use Forster Dean for a conveyancing service. Firstly, it all started once our lender had issued Forster Dean to act on our behalf for purchasing our first property. We attempted to make contact with them to enquire when we would receive our welcome pack but we got no answer so left them a voicemail asking them to reply to us via email due to work commitments. After a while they contacted us via phone (even though we had requested for them to contact us via email), they left a voicemail but with no contact name, just a number for us to return their call. We attempted to call them back on the number provided however, they had given us the wrong number...... it took us to a tattoo parlour!!

We made several attempts to contact them via phone however, they never seemed to answer their phones. We even took time off work to make these calls and on the odd occasion when someone did answer the phone, we could never speak to the correct person.

We began communicating with them via email however, when we would email them with an enquiry, they never seemed to answer our questions, they would just reword what we had previously stated in an email or would signpost us to their FAQ's. On some occasions when we sent them an email, even though we had told them on many occasions not to call us Monday - Friday between the hours of 9am - 5pm as we couldn't answer our phones due to being in work, they insisted on calling us, Monday - Friday between 9am - 5pm.

Weeks went by and we were no closer to obtaining a date for the completion of purchasing our property. We made it known to Forster Dean that we felt frustrated with the lack of information being provided however, their response was "we have noted your frustration with the lack of information......". We decided to contact the estate agents that we were purchasing the property from and it was a lady there that did all of the running around, contacting our solicitor, the sellers solicitor and the sellers themselves in order to obtain information as to why everything had come to a standstill. She was able to inform us that there had been a delay with the sellers property that they were buying and provided us with further information (more than what our own solicitor could tell us). From then on, we liaised with the estate agents and we were able to obtain more information. We received more support from the estate agents than what we did from Forster Dean.

After 3-4 months we decided to pull out of the purchase as we had lost all hope of ever having a date of completion to work towards. Luckily we had viewed another property, placed an offer and it was accepted. We then informed Forster Dean of our decision and asked them to close our case. It took them 2-3 days to even respond and even when they responded they had the audacity to send us forms to complete for them to act on our behalf for the purchasing of our alternative property!! We then had to ask them for a second time to close our case as it still hadn't been done.

Our overall experience has been truly awful. Forster Dean have wasted our time, they have no customer service skills whatsoever, they have poor communication with their customers and provide very little information. However, there is one thing we would like to point out for Forster Dean and that is, we found them to be exceptionally quick on deducting the money we owed them for the searches they had completed for us from our account.... very swift and efficient!!

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27/01/18 - Reviewed by Anonymous

Just don’t bother! Where do I start?
You can’t get hold of them on the phone. Replies to enquiries take at least 2 weeks. Solicitors are rude and don’t take any blame for delays. Signed contracts where lost delaying the completion further. A simple sale of a flat with no chain has taken over 6 months! I had to give one Star but would give zero if I could.

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26/01/18 - Reviewed by Rikki

Make sure you take copies of everything. I signed for a £100 few to cover court costs. This was later rejected. Not acted on my behalf what so ever. Told me I had a solid claim then spun it round and said it was 50/50 and if have to pay them if I lose. Even though I was hit well being overtaken. A load a s**t! DON'T USE THEY ARE LAZY. never even chased up with my insurance for damage of the car. They want me to do everything for them. 👎

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24/11/17 - Reviewed by John Smith

Stay away from these as they never pick the phone and never get back to you with any enquires. Its took us 5 months to move and still lots of cock ups.

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08/11/17 - Reviewed by Anonymous

Poor service. Arrogant throughout and many mistakes with paperwork. Just rude with poor quality service.

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01/08/17 - Reviewed by Jamie Wright

Very happy.

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