I have recently just brought a house and Claire Burns was my 'solicitor'. I use that word lightly as
I have recently just brought a house and Claire Burns was my 'solicitor'. I use that word lightly as I think throughout the whole process we spoke a handful of time. There was no best way of communicating! I would send an email and wait weeks for a response and when I called the office I was very rarely put through. There was little/no communication and when I did get through on the telephone I could honestly feel them roll their eyes at me and actually SIGH down the phone. I had to remind myself that I was the customer and I was paying them to complete this job! I was asked by the housing association to chase Claire on a number of occasions but she would tell me 'I dont understand why they are making you chase we have a deadline and we are working towards it'. However the deadline came and went and still no completion date was even mentioned!! Claire hadn't even started the searches on the property. Literally nothing had been done. When this came to light I felt the searches were rushed and I would get a random emails with some attachments which had no explanation as to what I was meant to do (as a first time buyer this is extremely confusing). It took 4 long months to complete and I felt there was no communication, I was left feeling guilty when needing to contact Claire and I had no idea what was holding up the process as nothing was ever discussed with me!! To top it off I was overcharged by £750.00 an error which I had to pay as they gave me a days notice to pay!! However I was promised a refund, when the refund sheet came through I had to wait 3 days for it to clear or pay £33.00 for a same day transaction!! I couldn't believe it but by this point I was so frustrated I just let it go. Overall, I certainly would not recommend Claire Burns to anyone! Pick your solicitor wisely. I really think process would have gone much quicker and smoothly if I appointed someone else.