Can I claim compensation if I was made to go with a more expensive company?

[salphy]

Hi, have another thread similar but not had many responses so I might have put it in the wrong place, sorry.

 

I've had a quote from a solicitor through my bank which I accepted. The solicitor is asking for more than double.

 

The middle man who supposedly provided the quote through my banks website and allocated the solicitor has said it was a technical error and I was provided an old quote which is now more expensive and I'll either have to pay what the solicitor is asking or find my own solicitor. It's took them 3 weeks of being passed between solicitor. Bank and middle man to get this response.

 

I've submitted a formal complain which they say will take up to 4 weeks. This will mean 7 weeks of delay before any work is even started.

 

I've spoke to the financial ombudsman who said usually they'd have to honour it but may be different as its in relation to legal services so contact the legal ombudsman.

 

They said they weren't sure of anything in law but if I'm not happy with the outcome I can pass onto them.

 

I asked for advice because I didn't want to wait atleast 7 weeks before any work was even started on the remortgage. She said there's no reason why work can't be started and them if upheld can be claimed back.

I said I didnt want to pay out the £535 and she said I can go with someone cheaper but then there would be nothing to gain or claim back through a complaint.

 

The cheaper company are £435 so still £180 more expensive than the original quote.

 

Can I claim the difference back considering he was there fault I had to go elsewhere to someone more expensive than the quote they gave? On top of how much it is costing us with the delayed remortgage which the money will be used to pay off a loan and fix a leak.

 

Is anyone aware of any legislation to confirm they have to honour the quote? We have confirmation the quote was accepted and they had all the information needed to provide an accurate quote. I've read elsewhere once accepted it becomes a contract?

 

Thanks

[mariner51]

Was the quote in writing & dated?

Prob best to appoint your own Solicitor and forget claiming compensation, to save time.

Who do you think should pay your compensation?

 

 

You weren't 'forced' to go with more expensive quote. you were offered a choice.

[salphy]

Was the quote in writing & dated?

Prob best to appoint your own Solicitor and forget claiming compensation, to save time.

Who do you think should pay your compensation?

 

 

You weren't 'forced' to go with more expensive quote. you were offered a choice.

 

Yes the quote is in writing and dated. As well as confirmation that the quote was accepted, in writing and dated.

 

I wasn't offered a choice. They have refused to honour their original quote which left me with no choice.

The told me to pay the more expensive fee or find my own solicitor. So I believe they should pay the difference from the original quote to either their more expensive fee or the fee of a new solicitor.

[steampowered]

It seems to me that you have two options:

 

1) Instruct a different solicitor. Surely this should be easy for a remortgage transaction? There are lots of websites which search solicitors' quotes for you.

 

2) Pay the higher fee.

 

If you want to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, I would suggest doing that after the transaction has completed. You don't want to create friction or to find that your solicitor refuses to continue acting for you in the middle of the transaction.

[salphy]

Yes I've just been trying to decide what's best.

Wait for the outcome of their formal complaint to give them a second chance to honour the quote.

Or instruct someone else completely and try to reclaim the difference.

I definitely don't want to pay the higher fee and commence work with them as they can't even tell me how much the transfer of equity will add on to the quote.

But I don't want to make it that we can't claim the difference back by going with someone else either.

[steampowered]

I doubt that a transfer of equity would have been included in the old quote.

 

I do not think you will have much chance of claiming back the difference if you go with someone else. £535 is a pretty reasonable quote for a remortgage.

 

If it was me, I would just get my losses and go with someone else. Surely you can find another firm to do this who are offering a competitive quote?

[salphy]

So a supervisor told us to go with a new company and put a complaint in which we did

We rang back for an update a few days later but couldnt get one, the lady on the phone told me she'd get the supervisor to ring but never did and that there was no way they'd honour the quote she could guarantee it.

Went with another solicitor had to go through all the hassle of changing over which has only been finished today. Got an email on weds saying they were going to honour the original quote but not including transfer of equity and the would cover the shortfall to the solicitor.

I asked for a quote including transfer of equity but still haven't had a response.

Still feel like they should cover the shortfall with our new solicitor. It would be less for them than covering the shortfall with the solicitor they allocated us to originally...

It's now been 4 weeks 2 days of delays since we accepted their quote and still no work has been done towards the remortgage.