Andrew Kingston & Co

I am sorry to read your comments. You will note from our other reviews that you are the only client to express such sentiments. Very many of those clients were first time buyers. However, to deal with some specific points:- 1. We have no problem receiving emails from Gmail accounts. There is an issue sending to such accounts, but we have a work-around for that as you will have seen from the emails we in fact sent you. 2. No staff have left in the course of your matter. 3. We did not "forget" about the mortgage cashback - the lender said it would be paid "after" completion, although in the event it was sent with the advance. 4. Our invoice and completion statement were correct, and as quoted at the outset. 5. The need to arrange insurance was flagged in a letter sent weeks prior to completion. The need for it to start before exchange of Contracts was stated in our report letter, but it seems you must have overlooked that as you arranged it for the day of completion and then had to amend the start date. 6. You were invited to collect the report letter to avoid a risk of delay or even loss in the post. At the same time, you were offered an appointment to go through any issues, but obviously you needed to have seen the letter and documents first in order to know if there were any points that you needed to ask about. The letter itself invited you to arrange a telephone appointment to go through any such queries. 7. The last paragraph of the report letter listed, by description and number, the documents you needed to return. Unfortunately you brought them all back, and in the course of extracting the items needed, one was missed. Please accept my apologies for that. You were asked to let us have it by the end of the week, but chose to return immediately and were frustrated at being "stuck in traffic". 8. You felt you should have a discount because the person dealing with your matter was "a trainee". He is not. In fact, and as was made clear throughout, he is a second year Trainee Solicitor. He has 4.5 years of experience in dealing with conveyancing at a national firm, then a regional firm, and now with us. Trainee Solicitors are (in firms such as this) experienced staff who have a degree (usually in Law, and in this case a 1st class degree), have taken or are in the course of taking the rigorous required additional Law Society academic courses, and will be fully qualified solicitors at the end of their two year contract. 9. Immediately after you returned the outstanding document and made some of the comments addressed above, I telephoned and left a message inviting you to contact me to discuss them. You chose not to return my call. Had you done so, the points explained above could have been addressed immediately, and privately. 10. Your file was opened on 17.1.2024, and completed on 19.4.2024. That is exactly in line with the average of 8 to 12 weeks, particularly taking into account the two funding issues that had to be addressed. Please feel free to arrange an appointment with me if you wish to discuss the matter further. Andrew Kingston-Splatt Principal, Andrew Kingston & Co.