"Welcoming law firm"

It was very friendly experience .
The law firms team had good communication skills
I was offered refreshments whilst I waited .

"Outstanding service from the Probate…"

Outstanding service from the Probate Dept of this solicitors. Can not fault them from beginning to end. Clear responses without delay, to all our questions - they handled us with patience and understanding. And the final costs came in way under what we initially thought they may be. Highly recommend.

"Amazing"

If probate and estate management can be amazing, my experience of Stephanie Batts, who is head of Probate at Burt Brill and Cardens, was amazing. I spent weeks looking for a solicitor I was happy with. Appointing Stephanie was a good decision. Dealing with my mother's estate was not straightforward but everything went surprisingly smoothly. Letters of administration came through much quicker than I'd expected, as did finalising the estate management. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Stephanie.

"Outstanding Conveyancing"

I recently instructed Burt Brill and Cardens to do my conveyancing for a Flat with a Freehold.

The whole team were very friendly, knowledgeable, and very responsive to emails/phone calls. The whole process was very straight forward, especially during a time when it's incredibly stressful.

All the required paperwork came through promptly and sent over search details and other enquires as and when they were received.

There was an issue from the sellers conveyancers, however Burt Brill and Cardens managed to straighten the issue out.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

"Appalling experience"

The following is my honest opinion of my experience of dealing with this company.

I approached this firm for assistance with a professional negligence claim.

I’d been told that the solicitor was an expert in this field.

For reference, I spent £1500.00 (inc. VAT) with this firm.

The hourly rate of the solicitor in question was £250.00 per hour (ex. VAT).

The experience I had was appalling.

I found the solicitor slow and unresponsive.

I was repeatedly required to chase up responses.

I received numerous apologies from the administration staff when the solicitor failed to respond in a timely manner.

The solicitor advised that “fairly time pressured matters” had “resulted in me having limited time to review this”.

At £250.00 P/H, I expect a professional to make time to respond when they say they are going to. If they are consistently unable do so, they should decline to take on the claim.

Before instructing them, I wrote an e-mail explaining which aspects of my claim I required advice on.

I did so to avoid them wasting chargeable time researching information that I already possessed.

Their first response failed to answer most of the points I’d asked them to address.

This set the tone for the relationship that followed.

I was constantly left feeling that I was not being listened to by the solicitor.

I felt that time and money was wasted going over the same ground, time and time again.

Most of this generic information was freely available on the internet.

It largely consisted of warning that the process would be difficult and costly – which I knew before I approached them for advice.

I was advised to obtain a report from an Expert Witness.

Following this advice, I approached TWO Expert Witnesses.

Between them, they had over 50 years of experience in this type of claim.

BOTH called into question, the advice of the solicitor.

BOTH advised me against following his advice.

BOTH advised that following the advice would be costly and unnecessary.

One advised that the report should not be required in such a simple case, of such low value.

The other suggested that I consider dispensing with the services of the solicitor, as he “didn’t appear to be bringing much to the table”.

There followed a further frustrating meeting, followed by an online call at which my elderly and vulnerable father (on whose behalf the claim was made) was present.

This was another painful encounter. I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall, trying to get some meaningful advice as to how to progress our claim.

The solicitor then announced that he would dis-instruct himself if we did not follow the path he advocated in pursuing the claim.

We were left in the predicament of having to start again from scratch, having spent £1500.00 with this firm, whilst being no further forward with our claim.

The solicitor stated that he was “not prepared to indulge our crusade against the bank".

I found it odd that he only expressed this objection AFTER having taken £1500.00 in fees, when he knew the nature of our claim before we instructed him.

My elderly father was left very distressed by the dismissive way we had been spoken to.

In 25+ years in the corporate workplace, I have never been spoken to in such an unprofessional, disrespectful, and dismissive manner.

I referred to this in a complaint to the Managing Director.

He was unwilling to comment.

He failed to comment on any other aspect of our bad experience.

His response to our complaint consisted of a three-line e-mail, and a form to fill out.

I was told the solicitor would send a response to my complaint.

The letter I received merely reiterated that the firm were dis-instructing themselves.

No apology was made for the appalling experience we’d been subjected to.

If I had my time again, I would not invest a single penny in the services of this firm.

I consider that every penny that was spent with them was wasted.

The whole experience was exasperating and stressful.

This was the worst customer service experience I’ve ever endured from any firm.

Our legal case was eventually referred to the Treasury Committee, with whom I remain in communication. Should I receive any threat from this firm, to deter me from exercising my consumer right to post my honest opinion of our experience at the hands of their company, I will immediately forward it to the committee and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. I will robustly defend my consumer right to review my experience.

"Property purchase"

I unfortunately was involved with a property developer who was not trustworthy, Burt brill and Cardens was our solicitor for the property Jacqueline was very good and kept us informed, when the developers remarketed the property without telling us and having paid a deposit Jacqueline put us in touch with Alex and Daisy who were absolutely 1st class to deal with, it took nearly 2 years to get my money back and a court appearance but thanks to their help and understanding we did win. I can’t speak highly enough of BBC and would strongly recommend.

"I can highly recommend Daisy Marples"

I can highly recommend Daisy Marples. She was excellent gave me sound timely advice with a very tricky situation involving joint executor difficulties. She grasped the situation and came up with a solution missed by other law firms I had consulted.
She was mindful of cost and was incredible supportive through a stress full situation. More importantly we managed to avoid a lengthy court case under her guidance.
Thank you Daisy

"Watch out for their billing practices…"

Have used burt Brill for a divorce case lasting over 2 years in that time have been switched between 3 different solicitors as they move on to other roles and each time get charged as new solicitor gets up to speed despite being promised this wouldn't happen. Spent my time trying to email each new solicitor to get them up to speed only to realise that each email briefing / chain was being charged to be reviewed at a considerable fraction of their £300-£400 hourly rate plus VAT as well as being charged again for replies. Latest bill for a months activity came in at almost £4k including almost 9 hours of general preparation which sounds a lot like getting up to speed again Their estimates for the amount of time needed to resolve situations have been way off the mark too. Planning and court prep happens at the last moment which is stressful in the extrene. Not their fault but have been cycled through 3 different councils as well which has further escalated costs to get them up to speed too. Not really impressed at all and billing appears excessive.