Mike Wilkinson
I am co administrator on an Estate entrusted for probate to Penningtons Manche Cooper (’PMC’) in September2024. Their original quote for the work was £10,000 which we considered reasonable in appointing an expert London based firm. However, PMC failed me and my co-administrator, the widow of the deceased in every possible way. From failing to submit the initial application correctly ( losing us months), to being unable to carry out work they were hired for, to giving poor advice, to involving highly expensive colleagues without prior consultation and even failing to correctly pass our account to new solicitors following a complete break down in trust (again losing us several months). We were billed around £40,000 for a failed service. We recovered only a quarter of this on repeated complaint but this experience almost cost the widow involved a mental breakdown on which no price can be attributed. Our initial complaint was handled by the very solicitor who had made fundamental errors, seemingly normal practice and who declared the complaints were unfounded. It was then taken up by the head of complaints who had failed to report even to this date. And this despite assurance from the CEO Helen Drayton who wrote in October 2025 ’This is being prioritised by our Complaints Team who will reply with a substantive response addressing all the issues you have raised.‘ Its now August 2026 and we have long since given up waiting or expecting a fair settlement. I consider Penningtons to be a disgrace to the legal profession. They incompetent and fail to deliver what they promise (including a response to our complaint). I recommend all who consider using them to carefully read this and all other reviews until you locate a more suitable firm who can be relied upon. Probate is a most challenging exercise in the UK and the last thing you need is to be let down as we were by the very people you appointed and trusted to navigate you through the process. The best thing we did was to turn to a local firm who were not only less expensive but were also highly competent, responsive and efficient and who concluded matters for us in short order to our fullest satisfaction.