inflated Solicitors Fees? - they have issued a claim form - help!!

[bigphil61]

Hi All,Yesterday I received a letter from a firm of solicitors that had acted on my behalf earlier this year. The letter states that I have a balance outstanding of £5855.22 and that if I did not pay this amount by return they will be taking me to court.

 

Ok a little bit of background to this is required I think. At the begining of the year I started procedings against my partner to stop her from removing our child from the country and to get full custody.

 

The firm of Solicitors assured me at the time that they could do this and that the total cost would not exceed £3000.00. They also told me that these matters can take up to 15 months to resolve.

 

Whilst waiting for them to get an arrangement for me to see my child, as they had got an order to stop my child from being removed from the country, I went to court on my own to seek the courts help in stopping the harrasement I was getting from my partner and to ask them to help me to see my daughter. The courts gave me both orders and asked me to attend court earlier than had orginally been arranged. At this point I returned to the solicitors and asked them to represent me, they said they would, but it might cost a little bit more. No mention of how much more was made at the time.

 

Cut a long story short my partner and I managed to get ourselves reconciled, after informing the Solicitors of this they told me that I would now have to close the case myself and then sent me a list of charges that amounted to £6165.00. A meeting was arranged where I was asked if I could pay a lump sum payment to which I said no I could not.

 

I was then told that they were not prepared to take my intial offer of £100 per month. I explained to them that I had not been informed that the £800 I had paid out in order to get the case started was not part of the initial agreed charge for their services.

 

They told me that they would be passing the matter on to another memeber of there team who would get in touch with me soon. The whole case lasted a little under a month from start to finish but it has taken them 4 months to come back with there final demand.I can not afford to pay them even the £100 per month at the moment and have since got in touch with PAYPLAN to help me sort out a DMP.My issue is that

 

I do not think there charges are fair and the paperwork concerning the charges did not appear until two weeks after the second hearing, so I had no idea of what I would end up being charged.Can anyone please advise me on how to get this looked at and to get a figure that is closer to a fair charge for the work done? Once I have a sensible figure to work with I can then set up the DMP correctly.Thanks in advance Phil

Edited May 17, 2012 by andydd
Added paragraphs

[andydd]

Have you got any paperwork detailing the cost/expected costs ? Have they given you a detailed breakdown ?

[bigphil61]

Hi andydd, Yes the latest paperwork gives a detailed breakdown listing their charges of £5855.22 and yes the orginal paperwork stated £3000.00 but did not have a detailed breakdown!

[bigphil61]

Hi All, Can someone please advise on what I can do to sort this situation out? Thanks in advance Phil

[andydd]

I would of thought it's contractual..When I had stuff ferom solicitor, costs were explained in lengthy sheet and then they said they'd inform you along the way if it was increased.

 

Perhaps you could scan up all the paperwork with addresses removed so we can see what it says.

 

Andy

[bigphil61]

Hi Andy,I will post them up over the weekend as I'm at work at the moment, thanks for looking into this for me its very much appreciated.Phil

[rebel11]

Hi big

 

Heres some information:-

 

http://www.elc.org.uk/pages/lawsolicitorcoms.htm

 

http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

[bigphil61]

Hi Rebel11,

 

I have written to the solicitors to ask them for there complaints procedure as I believe that I should do this first.

 

During my last meeting with them they asked me to take out a loan or borrow money from my family before they were prepared to give an indication on how much they would settle for.

 

I'm not sure if this is normal practice when charges are disputed,

 

I had told them at our first meeting that I would have to pay them on a monthly basis, so I was a bit surprised.

 

Thanks for the links, seems that in most of the Family Matters examples the Legal Ombudsman leaves the complaints 'unresolved'..

 

. I will post up the letters I recieved from the solicitors over the weekend, but I'm getting the feeling that I'm stuck with whatever they want to charge...

[honeybee13]

Hello there. It's been reported that names are still readable on your pdfs. I've hidden the posts to protect your security, would you be able to check and adjust the pdfs please?

 

My best, HB

[dx100uk]

follow this guide to ensure you blank out pers info

 

the method you have used is not working

 

 

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets - as a picture[jpg] file

don't forget you can use a mobile phone or a digital camera too!!

.

ENSURE: remove all pers info inc barcodes etc using paint program

but leave all figures and dates.

.

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites

it would be better to upload a multipage pdf if

you have many images too rather than many single pdfs

.

or if you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

or use word and save as pdf

.

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

.

.

dx

[dx100uk]

are you saying too

 

that these people are offering a 'discount'

to the bill?

 

dx

[bigphil61]

Hi DX,Thanks for the guidance, I will use your method to re-post later on. Yes, they indicated that were prepared to give a discount if I was prepared to give them a lump sum. Is that not normal? Phil

[dx100uk]

normal for a debt that does not 99% of the time need ever paying!

 

dx

[dx100uk]

in this case i'm unsure

 

something 'smells'

 

dx

[renegadeimp]

During my last meeting with them they asked me to take out a loan or borrow money from my family before they were prepared to give an indication on how much they would settle for.

 

in this case i'm unsure

 

something 'smells'

 

dx

 

[assisted blonde]

This is very strange, I cant see a solicitor asking how much you can borrow etc before saying how much he would settle for, normally the bill is itemised and thats it, there may be a little leeway in some cases where the sol is prepared to lower his fees, but this just dosnt sound right to me.Dont offer anything at the moment and wait and see if anyone here thinks his breakdown of costs needs looking at again

[bigphil61]

Hi All, Thanks for your responses! Sorry for the delay in getting back to this post, I have so many things going on at the moment. I've made an official complaint to the solicitors and I'm awaiting there decision, I will update with there response if I get one...lol

[bigphil61]

Hi All,

 

After making complaint and seeking to arrange a sencible rate of payments,

all of which they have in one way or another ignored,

 

the Solicitors have decided to take me to court and have started proccedings against me!

 

I could do with some advice on how to respond to their claim, please?

 

In a nut shell I don't believe I owe them anywhere near the amounts they are claiming and would like to try to get the courts to see this!

 

I have attached a copy of the claim form!

 

I have all the letters sent to me, so if you require further info just let me know

(My printer has just stopped scanning, so would have to do any further scans during the week from work)

and I'll try and scan them up to the thread.

 

Thanks in advance BP

[dx100uk]

ok phil

 

i've move the thread to the legal forum & slightly re-titled it

 

dx

[steampowered]

Why do you think the charges are unfair? Why do you think you do not owe the full amount?

 

What, exactly, was the £3000 quote for? This is absolutely key, if there is an email or letter setting this out please reproduce the exact words used. It may be possible to defend part of the claim on the basis that work coming within the scope of the initial quote should be kept to £3000 depending on how the quote is worded.

 

Do you have an engagement letter setting out the rates?

[bigphil61]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41876[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41875[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41874[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41873[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41872[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Steampowered, In answer to your questions, I think that the charges do not reflect the work done and I was never given a full breakdown of the fees until the case was almost concluded! I believe that I do not owe the full amount as they failed to inform me of what I was being charged for and after making my official complaint they agreed that they had not followed correct procedure!

[bigphil61]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41880[/ATTACH]

 

One more file to add to the above first letter. BP

[bigphil61]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41882[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41881[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Steampowered, there are another 2 letters to post up regarding their fees, this is the second letter. BP

[bigphil61]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41887[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41886[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41885[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41884[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]41883[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Steampowered, I'm only allowed to attach 5 files at a time and unfortunately, I was only able to do them one at a time so here is the the third letter (first five files), this one actually gives a breakdown. BP

[bigphil61]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41891[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41890[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41889[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]41888[/ATTACH]

 

Hi Steampowered,

 

The last few files to the above third letter...Thanks in advance...BP