Legal Ombudsman Reviews 

AFTER WAITING NEARLY 5 YEARS FOR lEGAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICE TO LOOK IN TO MY CASE FOUND THEIR VERDICT COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE. MY CONCLUSION COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME, EFFORT AND STRESS USING THIS SERVICE.

I thought it was odd, when the SRA brought a biased outcome to a serious complaint and supported a firm of solicitors which had flouted its own Code of Conduct. I saw a multitude of posts which reflected my own experience though, and one which said they felt like a ping pong ball between the SRA and the LO. Yes, I have had the same feeling. Advice, when you research, sends you towards these organisations but they really aren't there to help, not even when it's very clear that the complainant was treated badly, even unethically. The Legal Ombudsman just gave me the brush off. Would paying a new legal adviser get the right outcome? It starts to look doubtful if they are all cut from the same cloth.

The government needs to close this corrupted organisation down. Please do not bother complaining they will always support corrupted lawyers like themselves. SRA and legal Ombudsman is a scam.
criminal Defence Solicitors in London are doing illegal activities taking away peoples dignity. Beware of the unqualified legal aid Soala. She is unstable, mentally aggressive. Liar.

Complete and utter sham of an organisation.
They took 9 months to review my complaint.
The adjudicator sends me a response that a 5 year old child could have written better. Each word of the letter started with a capital letter (despite it being a standard template letter), dates in the letter were incorrect and no attempt to answer my complaint points. My new solicitor raised further issues which the original solicitors (Holden Smith Law) responded to. The complaint handler for Holden Smith Law (David Bancroft, director and founder) answered a complaint point saying no share was transferred as no stock transfer form was provided to Companies House. Anyone with half a brain knows that every time a share is sold a stock transfer form is never uploaded to Companies House as if it was the case plc companies would have 100's if not 1,000's of entries every day. Unfortunately the adjudicator (or the Ombudsman who later reviewed the compaint) does not know this. In addition the solicitors I complained about (Holden Smith Law) failed to answer other complaint points from my initial complaint. Response from the adjudicator, NOTHING. Holden Smith Law offered me £500 due to the pathetic service they had provided despite it costing my company over £8,000 and hence my referral to the Legal Ombudsman Service. What a waste of time.
As I didn't agree with the adjudicator's decision I asked for the complaint to be looked at by an Ombudsman. Again, a complete waste of time. The Ombudsman agreed with the adjudicator (no surprise there). In his response the Ombudsman says they are only staffed by 'lay-people' so they are unable to assess a case file and determine what action should have been taken by the service provider as they do not have the necessary expertise. If they don't have the expertise what the hell are they doing reviewing complaints. The Ombudsman made reference to them only being 'lay-people' numerous times in his response. It beggars belief who the Legal Ombudsman Service are setting on to review complaints referred to them when they don't know what they are doing. It is clear that referring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman Service is a complete waste of time. The adjudicators and ombudsmen have no knowledge of how to investigate a complaint (unlike the Financial Ombudsman Service who employ qualified staff and offer appropriate redress). If you make a complaint to your solicitor and they offer you any form of compensation save yourself time and effort and don't bother referring to the Legal Ombudsman Service as they will just roll over and side with the solicitor.
This organisation should be shut down as it is a complete was of tax payer's money. Independent my back side.

Would give them a big 0 DO NOT go to this company for advice they will take the side of the Solicitors/ Barristers and you will be even more stressed with the bombardment of emails and expectations to reply ASAP as if your world revolves around them only. If you complain you won't get nowhere, waste of taxpayers money and they need to shut this organisation down as it serves no purpose. Regret that I even bothered to contact them everything they state on their Website they will do the opposite. Also if you call after exactly 14 mins 28 sec on hold your call gets cut off as they cannot be bothered to deal with you. This place is run by people who have no common sense I hope these people do not get paid for their work as it is very shameful for getting a wage for running a circus by a bunch of clowns.

Just as useless as the cowboy solicitors I instructed, I wouldn't bother

I was abused by a Solisitor some years back. I am still affected now. I am someone with a disability, but after instructing the solisitor i was taken advantage of and very severely emotionally abused by the solisitor and made to suffer to the extent i nearly died. After telling the crule male solisitor how he was affecting my health, he behaved even worse. Outright nasty piece of work, and very odd. He should have been struck off named and shamed, but like many victims of abuse, i at the time i did not know who to turn to, and i was not aware of all the twisted things that he was doing and causing me. I did make a complaint to the PHSO prematurley sadly before i relised that he had been abusing me over a number of years. The Legal ombudsman shower turned a total blind eye to the abuse, lied to me, fobbed me off and found little wrong when i complained. Now a few years on i know so much more about what this abuser solisitor had been doing to me for a number of years and the legal ombudsman service looked the other way when i complained, and left this abuser to do the same to other people. So i can say the Legal ombudsman service fails to hold Solistors who are abusers to account. Should that be any shock to anyone though.

Where does the Working Man or Woman find any justice in this country? As in, "working" for average or low earnings. Today we learned that Solicitors in the U.K. can behave EXACTLY in ANY way that they feel fit and, if you don't have any money, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. We waited for nearly a year for the Legal Ombudsman to throw our case out. This was against the backdrop of the Legal Firm we complained about even ADMITTING in writing that they had failed us. What is the point of the existence of the Legal Ombudsman? The logical conclusion must be that it exists only to protect/shield the Legal Profession itself. Although it is a bad joke, if you do actually have any money, find another Solicitor (with a good recommendation) to take on your problematic Solicitor. Perhaps even a "No Win/No Fee" arrangement if they don't take most of the "Win?" Whichever, please don't waste your time with the Legal Ombudsman. If you are in the same financial position as us, sadly, the question remains; where does the Working Man or Woman find any justice in this country?

(And the punchline question- is this "public service" funded by our taxes??? HA HA HA HA HA !!!)

Extremely pointless service serviced by somebody who does not care about the public at all but I'm sure earns very good money for this.

Overall much better than expected
Having read the reviews I nearly did not bother thinking it would be a waste of time and my resources.

They took two years to investigate however once my case was accepted it was a quick process. (About eight weeks)

Tracey Crosskill explained the process well and was professional and clear, without passing any opinions. I had to send evidence in as did the solicitors

10 of my 13 complaints were upheld. 2 that were not that I felt very strongly about but decided to accept, just to bring this to a close, be able to finally move on

Although I did strongly not agree with 2 of my complaints that were not upheld, she explained why she had made that decision and that I could ask for the ombudsman to review.

I got less than I think I should of which was a mixture of fees to be paid back, compensation and an adverse costs order that they ruled was not my fault. But unless you go via the courts you will get less back, as the LEO are very limited in what compensation they can offer.

I am writing this review to say to people, do contact the LEO if you have a complaint and do not be put off my the reviews. I found the process clear, generally fair, and my caseworker was supportive but remained neutral, when I had to relive a distressing time and events with this solcitor

I am most pleased that the fact the decision will be published so others can review when deciding what firm to use. That is the only way those that suffer a poor service/solicitors can hold them to account, and for others to be able to view when deciding if to use a firm or not.

It did take far too long however to get to being accepted and they are clearly stretched in resources. But my case handler was good and seemed to understand quite a complex complaint in the whole.

The legal ombudsman has no power whatsoever leaving solicitors cart blanche to run riot. It took them a whole year to handle my complaint only to tell me they had pretty much zero power to do anything at all. I wouldn't waste your time and energy on this process your better off seeking independent legal advice (if you can find a solicitor who isn't out to rob you blind that is). Terrible stressful wasteful experience. Very disappointed.

The only reason given 1 star is because there's no option to give no stars .
Not just because my complaint was unfairly denied with no explanation as to why, causing what I view as yet another injustice, but because the ombudsman had to taunt me by telling me in writing that they WERE going to give me the case.....but didnt! ignoring undeniable evidence I had recently sent them. my advice is avoid this service, they proved by that statement that they were going to give me the case , that it is run by some ego maniacs. with no compassion towards victims of legal atrocities. who just wipe the backsides of legal bungles. My advice is Go to independant complaint handlers. They only made matters more upsetting and drawn out.

From my personal experience they are totally corrupt. They got hardly anything right in my case, protected the barrister and are prepared to be totally dishonest despite being a supposed independent public body. The case took months and months. They are not fit for purpose. Lots of evidence demonstrating their dishonesty. They need to be replaced as a matter of the utmost urgency.

I claimed against the gross negligence of my solicitor.
From day 1 it was a battle.
Even though multiple areas of failure I could only choose 3. (Referred to their previous cases for guidance.)
My solicitor delayed & failed to respond. Apparently without retribution.
I had to prove each complaint with evidence to a very high level. The Ombudsman questioning it continuously.
I eventually won all 3 complaints.
Compensation £150.
I refused to accept & went to court.
My new solicitor was livid with the conduct (continuing) of the old solicitor.

Final result? An out of court settlement of £7,000.
Even then the scales are weighted against your claim.

The Ombudsman service is there to protect solicitors & their insurers. Not clients that have been let down.

Rule 5.7 must be the go-to excuse when the Ombudsman does not want to help you.

In my rejection letter from the Ombudsman, it stated 'if the firm provided updates, it is likely the firm’s service will be of a reasonable standard’ – that is not logical and does not account for extortionate charging?

The firm did not take this case to mediation, which was the next logical step, therefore failing to progress the case, yet the Ombudsman thinks this is ok?

Because the Ombudsman thinks it is fair that the firm charged extortionate costs, did not progress the case, forced me to pay another firm to do what they didn't do, the awful and very unprofessional complaints handling from the firm was not looked into, as the Ombudsman will not look at this alone?

There is a huge backlog of complaints against unscrupulous solicitors and the Ombudsman is trying to get rid of cases so they have less to deal with. A complete joke and waste of time; the Ombudsman was totally uninterested.

After 2 years, they have replied that they think I only deserve the minimum after my useless solicitor did almost nothing.
The system is done to frustrate people and that's their business.
So, I complained using my solicitor's complaints guidance, but they ignored it completely, I told them that I will report their negligence to the ombudsman and they almost laughed at me. After 2 years waiting for their decision...2 YEARS!!! they told me that all the suffering was only worth the minimum.

Legal Ombudsman is just a tool for mediocre solicitors to get away. Total waste of time.

Do you know the fun? if you are not happy with their decision you need to hire a solicitor...WHAT A JOKE!

UK Justice Is Broken…
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Why would anyone wait two years to be lied to by an organisation that is even more dishonest that the SRA. They decided to dismiss my complaint because they could not find any evidence of something that I had not complained about. As part of the legal profession they are obliged to lie compulsively but they ought to make an effort to look like they have some intelligence.

THIS IS A ZERO STAR REVIEW:

I'm leaving a review regarding the ombudsman in England who look into building societies and banks and supposedly try and be the mediator.

I've not had access to logging in to my Halifax building society account online since December of 2021. Today is Monday 7-25-22. The Halifax are an absolute disgrace. That's a story unto itself and scores of one star or negative reviews online can explain a lot more regarding that.

I simply asked the ombudsman for help and for them to be the middleman so that I could log in to my account.

Logging in is no problem for me it's just that the Halifax have not 1, not 2, but 3 ways to log in and because I live in United States of America when the third process starts, the phone call from them go straight into my voicemail so I cannot pick up the call and of course listen to the six digit PIN that they're giving me.

This is an issue that's happened before and the simple solution was they sent me a letter to which I then got Halifax to call me and I would give them that six digit PIN and it was a very easy solution.

I suggested that to Adam Dawson via an email at the ombudsman. The whole process over a six and a half month time period got absolutely nowhere. I really thought the ombudsman could help in my situation and to put it bluntly they were absolutely useless. It seems today that customer service has gone way down the drain and organizations that are out there to help you seem to side with the very businesses that aren't there for the customer anymore! anymore.

Don't bother with the ombudsman they have no help whatsoever.

Approaching 2 years now and NOTHING HAS EVEN STARTED.
Seriously, what is the point of this office? I may as well write out the complaint and put it straight in the bin.