Battens Solicitors Reviews 

My experience of Battens, Yeovil, Somerset.

Battens conduct has been one of errors, denials, and failure to make good. Their internal complaints procedure is a waste of time. With total disinterest by the director and failure of the complaints manager to investigate the complaint properly, merely continuing three years of denials and cover ups.

Batten’s initial error caused an escalation of ongoing litigation and costs which had to be completed by another firm of solicitors.

Only when sued for negligence have Battens admitted to errors that occurred from the start of proceedings. In my case it took seven years for full reimbursement of my costs to be repaid by Battens.

We used Cate Barnes for our house purchase during the first covid lockdown. Couldn't fault her. She was very communicative, efficient and extremely helpful, during a difficult time. It was not a straightforward purchase but things progressed quickly and seamlessly and I genuinely believe this was solely down to Cate.

Absolutely appalling experience with this company whilst dealing with my late fathers estate. They made a very difficult time so much worse due to sheer incompetence and we feel, purely ‘spinning out’ the process to gain more for themselves.

We initially made an ‘informal’ complaint whilst still dealing with the firm to try to move things on, but all this resulted in was a letter back to us weeks later with a timeline of events (as if I wasn’t aware of them!) and a thoroughly detailed defence of their actions.

We had no option but to continue as we were on a deadline and requested a more senior member of the firm to deal with our case. Nothing changed, if anything it worsened. We had to chase him every step of the way. He missed deadlines set by the opposing solicitors, continually requested extensions to these deadlines, drafted letters totally ignoring our express wishes and yet again span things out to an extreme, causing more and more totally unnecessary stress each time.

Bear in mind every letter a solicitor writes will be charged for at approx £400, wether or not they get your information/wishes correct. If they have to rewrite due to their mistakes, you will still be charged.

We made a formal complaint following Battens complaints procedure, but yet again did not receive even the slightest recognition that deadlines had been missed, letters unanswered, emails and phone calls not followed up on and that client care had completely failed.

To sum up, we did not feel as if Battens were acting in our best interests. They were acting in their best interests financially.

They made an awful situation even more stressful. We appointed them to deal professionally and to quickly resolve an issue, but they succeeded in igniting the situation to further their own gains. What should have taken 6 months took 18 months. And of course... a lot more money. Their initial estimate was £750. Our final bill is around £7250. Whilst we appreciate there was a small issue that would have increased the costs, their own actions, dragging out the back and forth process and not providing us with the clarity this situation needed has ultimately resulted in this tenfold increase.

We appointed Battens to deal with this swiftly and effectively saving us more trauma at an already truly difficult time. We feel totally let down and misled by Battens.

I would never use Battens again or recommend to anyone, in particular the wills and probate team, Deborah Watson and Ralph Wheeler.

Unfortunately we had a very poor experience with this company. They made a fundamental but ultimately catastrophic error on the conveyancing of our house purchase, regarding common land. We only discovered the error a year after moving and when we contacted them they denied any responsibility, blaming everything on a search company they'd subcontracted the job to. They offered to help to correct the error for a fee of £200 per hour! We followed their process for complaint but were sent a very high handed 'Go away little person' letter. We spent 2.5 years plus in excess of 200 hours research to correct the error. Thankfully the search company showed great integrity and helped with fees. Our priority was to resolve the common land issue and then take issue with Battens. However, we were too exhausted emotionally and physically by the conclusion that we didn't pursue it. I suspect that's what companies like Battens rely on in order to get away with these errors.

BEWARE hidden costs. The advice we received was ok - nothing to compare it to - but we were not told we would be charged for the initial call or follow up work that we did not request (ie solicitor writing up their own notes and sending us a summary, proof reading that etc). They withdrew the second invoice when we contested it, so grateful for that but didnt need that hasstle. Make sure you are clear on what the charges are before you use this company if you want to use them!

Messed up my mothers est. Ageed to fix their mistakes. Then went back on agreement. Worst firm in the world. Left with many sleeess nights due to their incompetence.