Overcharged and disappointed.
Instead of putting their clients’ interests first, our solicitors main aim seemed to be to extract the maximum fees possible. This was done by a combination of delays, mistakes, further mistakes, extra work created as a result of mistakes and delays, doing “work” that had not been requested, and repeating themselves, apparently just for the sake of it. When asked for an itemised bill, I found an item charged with other clients names (nothing to do with us) and a number of unnecessary charges.
The initial agreement issued is not satisfactory to understand how one will be charged. If using, request monthly bills and ask for more details about precisely what they are going to charge. I cannot ever imagine being in a situation where I receive a bill for several thousands of pounds with no idea why! How wrong of me to presume that lawyers would operate their businesses with transparency on costs. If they believe you have money, they just try to get their hands on it one way or another!