This review is for a different branch.
Some 10 years ago my husband and I wrote our Wills and LPAs and deposited them with the Dorking office of Downs Solicitors. We were provided with great personal service by a patrician solicitor who retired soon afterward. When I needed to contact Down Solicitors recently to retrieve my late husband's Will I was "served" by an assistant solicitor, Mrs. Joanna Pashley. Mrs. Pashley communicated with me mainly through her personal assistants who were quick to send me forms to fill out without trying to understand first what I actually needed. I spent a month trying to complete an "Estate Questionnaire" just to find out that Downs required another form to be filled out to release the Will. Cue filling out a Document Release form, with more documents and scans attached. Many of my questions were answered along the lines of "We don't do that" never bothering to explain nor trying to be at least a little bit helpful given the circumstances (bereavement). The experience was made even more cumbersome by the varying working schedules of Mrs. Pashley and her PAs ("I don't work on Mondays"; "I only come to the office on Tuesdays" etc.). The overall impression was one of a complete lack of customer service and a "not my problem" attitude... where is the old Downs culture.