James Ede
Update: Gaby Hardwicke contacted me following this review and given their response I accept that my experience may not be representative of all clients. They were very concerned about my experience and showed keen interest in clarifying things. I was impressed with this and have amended my review from 3 stars to 4. Original Review: Make sure you get a fixed fee. The solicitors are knowledgeable and responsive, and we did ultimately achieve the outcome we needed. However, we were disappointed by the lack of transparency around pricing throughout the process. The initial estimate we were given was around £1,200. Compared to other solicitors offering fixed fees of £1500, this seemed very reasonable. This estimate was later revised to a range of £1,500 - £2,500 as a maximum. After instruction, we received an email advising that the cost was now closer to £3,000. In the end we were charged approx £3,170 - well over double the original estimate. As the scope of the work had not changed from our first enquiry, this was very disappointing. To their credit, the firm does provide a detailed breakdown of costs, and it is easy to see from this how the total escalates. You are charged heavily for any contact whatsoever, however small. We sent an email of two sentences confirming receipt, this incurred a £42 charge. We sent another email simply saying that we would reply later in the week - another £42 charge. That charge is not to reply. Not to take any action. Merely to receive your email. When we raised this, these charges were removed, which we appreciated. However, it creates an uncomfortable dynamic where you feel reluctant to communicate or provide updates because even the smallest contact will incur a significant charge. Extremely outdated and bad practice in my view. The firm also advertises a free introductory call. It’s worth noting that if you go on to instruct them, this call becomes chargeable retrospectively. In our case, the free introductory call ultimately cost £546. Had this been clearer from the outset, we would have just sent the relevant information by email instead. The final document we received was largely acceptable, but it was clearly based on a template and contained many spelling and grammatical errors. As pointing these out would have incurred additional charges, we ended up correcting them ourselves. When paying over £3,000 for a document, you would reasonably expect basic details such as spelling and date of birth to be correct. Overall, we did receive the document we needed and I appreciate the expertise involved. However, the pricing structure feels very outdated and bordering on sharp practice. Therefore if you do choose to instruct this firm, make sure that you agree a fixed fee in advance.