Simpson Millar - Leeds Reviews 234

You really should be allowed to give no stars because this crowd of unprofessional and ineffective clowns don't deserve your faith, time or instruction. Their communication skills are non-existent, they are rude and it is clear they just don't care. Avoid at all costs - you would be better employing the skills of an arctic socks salesman.

I suffered an injury whilst at work and contacted Gulderen at Simpson Millar. Gulderen and her team walked me through all my claim options and helped me every step of the way to a final settlement. All my emails with questions were replied to extremely quickly and all advice and instructions were clear and concise. I cant praise them enough.

Absolutely shocking experience from beginning to...well nearly end ...as they never even registered our change of lease - still left in limbo as I write - 35 days after completion. This is a rare company where even the CEO/Managing Partner doesn't even respond. I have emailed the four staff that worked on our case, managers who were copied in, complaints, 2 Senior level partners and the Managing Partner who I made a detailed and formal complaint, thinking actually he might care if no one else does. NOTHING! From any of them - what an incredible shower. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!

I have recently instructed Simpson Millar (July) after reading trust pilot. However, I am yet to be contacted by them! I have made a number of calls to the conveyancer, Operations Manager and as well as sent three emails and have now had one response back. I have been been informed by the buyer’s lawyer as to where we are in the process and not by who I have paid for.

I will be contacting the law society after reading all the reviews today.

I can only unfortunately echo all the other unfortunate recent conveyancing clients experiences of Simpson Millar.
Our experience started off ok but that soon went quickly down hill when we were constantly having to chase our conveyancer for updates or answers to our enquiries. She seemed unable to write a simple email to update us on progress and when we did get an email it didn't correlate to the ones we sent or were just a forwarded bunch of attachments with no explanation. I even resorted to putting 'read receipts' on my emails that I got returned to say my email had been deleted without being read! There were also mistakes made re, stamp duty figures and our conveyancer was adamant that she was correct and that it had been checked by her manager, but when we raised it with her manager direct, we were informed that we were in fact correct all along....but no apology was forthcoming!
I know that conveyancers are notoriously bad at communication but that should not be the case and
ours was particularly hard to get hold of, to the point that we were having to phone and email over 25 plus times a day! This was specifically frustrating as they had sent us a ‘Procedural Guide’ to say her direct line would be answered after 4 rings, if not then by her assistant and failing that would go to an answerphone. This never happened!!!
In the meantime, our simple house chain was at the possible stage of collapse due to their delays and incompetence. This paled into insignificance when after trying to make contact again and a bit of research online we discovered that Simpson Millar were selling the Conveyancing part of the firm to a new company.
I finally managed to speak to the conveyancer and her manager on who both informed me that they didn’t know what was going on with the firm. The manager said specifically that in her 20 years of conveyancing she had never known anything like it, she had no words and that the business had not made any contingency plans to deal with their clients. I tried continually to try and contact someone higher up in the business, but my emails were ignored, switchboard would not put me through to speak to anyone and we as clients had not had any contact or official ‘statement’ from Simpson Millar as to what was going on.
On Sept 13th I was informed by my conveyancer that her manager had left the firm along with other managers, ’they are dropping like flies’ was the phrase used, she herself had no managers and that Friday would probably be her last day! She did not know who or if anyone would take over.
I contacted the Law Society and the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) who advised me to find a new solicitor and also report Simpson Millar via their online form, both of which I did.
I urge all affected clients to do the same: report to the SRA, The Law Society, Legal Ombudsman, Watchdog, Rip Off Britain.
‘The Law Society Gazette’ is also interested to hear from any affected clients about their experiences, so please contact them to share your views.
After moving my case to a new solicitor to pick up the pieces I was contacted out of the blue by Simpson Millar (following my report to the SRA) ...funny that! He phoned to apologize for my recent experience but the only excuse he could give was that 50% of their staff left with no notice and when I asked why they as a company could not have sent a simple email to inform their paying clients what was going on he said they didn't have anyone to do that! It was really a pointless conversation and obviously only came about due to my SRA reporting of them. I wish all affected Simpson Millar clients the best of luck after this terrible experience.
Please report them to the SRA at the very least, they should not be allowed to get away with this case of total client neglect.

I would never use this company again. The whole experience is so poor it’s unreal.
Taken 5 months to sort out an exchange date and I’m now on my 3rd case handler as they can’t seem to keep staff there.
Tried to find out what’s going on and all you get from the call centre is they will send them a message. Never get a call back and now we’re possibly going to lose the house due to there unprofessional manner.

My conveyancing solicitor at Simspon and Millar has left the company, without telling me. There has been no contact from the company and I’m unable to get in contact with them. This is a truly terrible and shocking customer service.
Leaving this review in the hope someone will contact me, and also to review others of the issues they may face with this company.

Avoid at all costs.

I instructed this firm to provide conveyancing services for the sale of my property and purchase of another. The sale seemed to proceed fairly smoothly to begin with, with my only bug bear being that it was hardly ever the solicitor that contacted me just her assistant who didn’t ever advise me and asked me to make a decision she just went ahead and I don’t feel this was them acting in the best of their clients interests. The sale was pretty much done but I had some problems with property chains and had to find a property 3 times over the course of the year due to vendors pulling out etc. Simpson Millar dealt with these changes well up until about 5 weeks ago when I instructed them to look after the purchase of what I hoped would be the final property I would get to move into after all these months.

In the last 5 weeks I have barely been able to contact them via email and definitely not by phone. The phone is never answered. Then last night after I had been ignored by all the contacts I had emailed, I decided to go looking back at reviews of this company and found out that they are no longer offering conveyancing services and this includes to existing cases!

I called the Leeds office telephone number this morning and it was actually answered for a change and I was clearly fobbed off by the poor woman on the phone who had been left to deal with a number of angry clients as she advised me to send an email to an address they have set up to deal with this and the issue would be dealt with. So far I’ve heard nothing. Simpson Millar still have my money and I need that to pay a new solicitor. Until then I am in limbo.

The way this has been handled is appalling. If they were going to do something like this they should have stopped taking on new clients and finished existing ones. Very unprofessional. I haven’t actually been officially told that my case is no longer being dealt with but because I need to get moving, I have had to organise a new solicitor

Appalling conduct of conveyancing solicitor and her assistant over the course of an unnecessary elongated 6-month period:

- Language in emails was basic, lacking grammar, and child-like. I wouldn’t think to use this in my own business emails and does not exert confidence into the person paying for this service.

- Sloppy mistakes, including an erroneous final bill out of the blue which proposed I would have to pay an additional £3430 (which made me feel sick to my stomach). There were two glaring errors within this, including erroneously duplicating an additional £180 in the costs and adding on a stamp duty charge of £3250 despite being a first-time buyer purchasing a property for under £300k, and Rishi Sunak’s extended waiver being in place at the time. When questioned I was met with no apology and received an email simply saying that 'IT was making a few adjustments to the system'. (Note the word 'was' as opposed to 'were').

- My request for my file to be followed up with another solicitor was not acted on. I received no reply.

- I sent the mortgage deed, a document crucial to the sale of my property, to Simpson Millar’s Head Offices. I received a Royal Mail notification saying it had arrived with other documents however it was then lost by someone in the office and I had to resend it. I received no apology.

- After paying my deposit (admittedly the biggest sum of money I will ever transfer), I was then told I was still £1000 short due to their poor calculations on my mortgage fees. They asked that I would pay that day. I objected and in total with these various incidents and poor conduct had to have my legal fees reduced by £782.

Simpson and Millar have ceased their conveyancing service. I have a recorded statement read out over the phone concerning this. They have not yet informed their clients of which I am one. There has been a blanket silence for over 2 weeks and no one, and I've tried many, will answer phone calls or respond to emails. My amazing estate agents eventually got through to the CEOs office where the statement was read. All the conveyancing was completed, we were just waiting for exchange of contract. I have withdrawn my consent to the exchange of contract as I can no longer trust them with receipt of monies from a house sale. We have had to start again. I will be taking matters further with the Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman. Be warned!

If i could give these 0 stars i would. AVIO AVIOD AVIOD. I never usally leave a review but need to waen others. If your thinkimg of using this comoany for conveyancing dont! I see that others are having the same problem as me. A simple cash sale for a house that should take 12 week has now turned into 12 month. The completion day was 5th swptwmber wich has passses so i need to start the process agian. Ive been passed to 3 different solictors seems there staff leave alot. Can never get through to them and when i do its lie after lie and the wrong paper work they do. Dont get a reply from complaints department i doubt ill even het my money back. Ill be takimg this alot more further

We decided to use Simpson Millar for our conveyancing while purchasing a no chain property, having read decent reviews and been impressed with their initial communication.

The onboarding process was very smooth and quick, and our case handler was initially responsive by email, friendly and helpful.

This all suddenly changed once we approached the closing stages of the transaction. The last of our local searches came back almost four weeks ago, and since then we have found it absolutely impossible to contact the conveyancing team for an update.

I have still never had a conversation with our case handler as she has not once picked up the phone or responded to the voicemails we have left. She also does not respond by email. My partner got through to a receptionist today who said 'some people here just don't take calls'. This is an enormous red flag.

I have managed to get through to her assistant on a couple of occasions. He has promised updates and said documents will be received by certain deadlines, which have inevitably come and passed with no contact. When we chase for these documents we are ignored.

We have had it confirmed that there are no outstanding enquiries on our case, which makes the lack of progress especially confusing.

We have now had to move into a hotel due to the unforeseen (and uncommunicated) delays, at great cost and inconvenience.

I have made it clear to Simpson Millar how much stress this is causing and the toll it is taking on us mentally. It is apparent that they don't care.

I appreciate solicitors are busy and I have never expected immediate responses, but to never actually receive a response at all is completely unacceptable. If they are too busy to acknowledge a basic email, they need to take on fewer cases.

I am wishing I had seen more reviews like this prior to choosing Simpson Millar, so I hope this will help you avoid being in my current position if you are considering them yourself.

We decided to use Simpson Millar for conveyancing on our no chain property. The initial communication and team were excellent (which I now believe they do to draw you in) and we were quickly set up on their online portal.

In the beginning, we were receiving weekly/bi-weekly emails from our conveyancer and felt content with this due to the searches being done and enquiries that needed to be made with the vendors solicitor.

In July we explained that our current living situation was due to change and come the end of August, we would have nowhere to live. We were reassured that this would be possible once we received our final search back, which was due back a few weeks later.

Avoidable errors and mistakes have been made throughout this entire process that has added weeks onto the property completing. We have been promised emails, documents and phone calls that do not materialise and we then get palmed off with excuses. I have had to contact the Solicitors on the sellers side myself to chase things and they have confirmed with evidence that they have completed the tasks we have been told are still outstanding.

Please be aware that Simpson Millar DO NOT answer the phone. If you are considering using them for conveyancing my advice to you would be not to bother and save yourself exceptional stress.

On the rare occasion that I have been able to get through to an actual person, it has been painfully obvious that they are at home and not paying attention to what I am saying. Yesterday my phone call connected (I believe in error) and I could hear the television playing in the background. This was around 3/4pm and I have video evidence of this, which I cannot unfortunately attach to this review.

I contracted with this firm for conveyance on a property purchase. My solicitor rarely replied to my emails and it was next to impossible to get her on a phone call. I even emailed about not responding to emails and phone calls and a week later it was back to no communications. In the end and with no fault of Simpson Millar, I had to withdraw my offer. I found a different property and have chosen a different solicitor even though I am losing several thousand pounds. Do not use this firm for conveyance.

It has taken Simpson Millar (Leeds) seven months to write a simple Will and it still hasn’t been completed. They have lost private documents, don’t reply to emails and when I complained I was ignored.
Worst Solicitors I have ever had to deal with.

My name Stanley Hibbitt living in Malta aged 77 years old. It was September 2021 when i was diagnosed with mesothelioma,it was here that i contacted Mr Anthony Waddington senior partner and his team from the Leeds office of Simpson Millar. they immediately reviewed my case and advised that they where happy to take me as a client. Fortunately it did not matter i was living in Malta and the case could be handled via their Leeds office,in the UK. (a note here was the fact i have a hearing problem which made calls difficult to understand so we agreed to conduct everything via e-mail, and this turned out 100% success.)I was never put under pressure to hand over Documentation and information, Mr Waddington team constantly kept me briefed as to the negotiations with the defending company. My case was won and in August 2022 and compensation was awarded and paid into my account.I can now use this compensation to ease financial pressures that arise. I can never praise Mr Waddington and team of their total professional approach to my case.

Super helpful prior to engagement. Once engaged, guided me through the process and was always professional, timely and available. Great service ! Thanks

Avoid this company
Can't put into words how disappointed i am
Lost my case due to their inability to get the right information and then think (unapologetic) apologies will make it all ok

I had an excelled experience with Simpson Millar, they quickly got back to all my my questions despite resourcing challenged in the July holiday season. Thank you very much.

Two years ago I had a accident , I phoned Simpson Millar for advice . I spoke to a lovely lady who explained everything to me . After careful consideration, I decided to go ahead with a No win no fee claim . Throughout the whole process I have been so impressed. My solicitor has been so informative and professional . My case has now been resolved . I would definitely recommend Simpson Millar .