I used Meadows and Moran on two occasions. In December 2001, Mr Moran did the conveyancing for me when I was buying a house. On that occasion I was very pleased with the service. I even recommended him to my neighbour when he wanted a will prepared. Again, Mr Moran did a good job and the clients were happy.
Recently though, I asked them to prepare my own will and the service was very slovenly to say the least. Tim Moran was very pleasant; I have no gripes on that score but it just seemed to be a struggle all the way through. I am a teacher and made the appointment on 17 February, the first day of half term. I explained what I wanted, and the will was very basic. It could not have been simpler. I emailed to say that I could come in and sign the following Friday if that was OK. On Friday, I called in to see if the will was ready and was told that it was "in for typing". That was just a cop out - and a flimsy one at that. Typing pools have long gone and I am sure they have standard formats on their computer. They would just have to open a document and insert my name etc. I was annoyed at this because I was back at school the following Monday, and that made getting to the office before closing times, more difficult. A draft copy of the will was emailed to me on Friday 21 February for me to check. I read through it and emailed to confirm it was fine. I said that I had another appointment the next Friday 28 Feb and could call in and have my signature witnessed then. On Tuesday, they phoned and asked me to call in at 11. My hospital appointment was in the morning so that wasn't an option. When I said that I was only wanting the will signed etc, I was told Mr Moran was in appointments all afternoon. The secretary then said she could witness my signature with someone else on Friday afternoon. To give it to her, she did try. I just asked her to post the will out and I would get people at school to witness for me. The will was posted on time and I did get it witnessed before Friday. When I called in to pay my bill, someone the secretary knew or had dealings with earlier, came walking up the stairs after me and she excused herself and said she would get rid of him first. I was only wanting to pay and cannot see why she could not have finished the transaction with me before attending to someone who came in afterwards. To me that was a breach of basic etiquette. She was polite, but all she had to do was take my payment. She was already dealing with me BEFORE he came walking up the stairs.
All in all, a basic straightforward job - writing the simplest of wills, was a needless struggle. They know my profession and that I was using half term week to sort my business. I had used the firm before and to have a simple, basic will prepared within four days was not, in my view, unreasonable. To give credit where it is due, I thought their fee was reasonable. I would not use this firm and cannot recommend them.
