“Stay away from them, ZERO star value ! They come across price competitive but there are hidden costs and once engaged never respond, not via emails nor phone calls. My file was closed after 24 hours from engagement and I have been promised and confirmed in writing, full refund of the deposit as result of no work being done their side - still chasing for it since May, with none responding to the multiple emails or phone calls ! I`d mentioned names if I can ! WATCH OUT: You may come across Joseph & Joseph via online websites for conveyancing / solicitors quotes :RUN AWAY !!! TOTAL SCAM !”
“WORST place and service ever, do not use by any costs. Will not refund my money within the 14 day period and despite owing me a refund for my file opening fee, I have been emailing them several times since July and we are October and they still are avoiding paying me back. do NOT use them at ANY COSTS.”
“Had a very similar experience to others on here. Accepted their quote thinking they were solicitors they then passed me off to the shocking PCS legal. Who don't respond to any emails ever or pick up the phone. I cancelled my instructions within the 2 week cooling off period and approached them for a refund. A month later they are still dodging my requests. What's more they are now invoicing me for work that wasn't in the initial quote and which was started after I cancelled my service.”
“AWFUL COMPANY
I instructed this company as they seemed the most helpful at the time to deal with our first time home we were purchasing - How wrong was I!
From the very start, I made them aware of who our mortgage lenders were and no issues were raised during this process. They took a deposit of £289 for searches and then passed me on to PCS Legal, again PCS legal were made aware of our mortgage lenders (no issues raised). PCS Legal again are horrendous, no introduction, no idea who I was actually dealing with or what it was I actually needed to do.
Nearly 3 weeks go by and my mortgage lender asks for the solicitors name, I was then told by my lender that Joseph and Joseph or PCS Legal were not on their panel. J&J and PCS Legal would of known this.
I contacted J&J (again took 5 emails, 3 phone calls and treat to be transferred to the complaints department to actually receive a response) and made it clear I had gone to a new solicitor and would like a refund. I was told my money had been used for searches and I would not be refunded. They stated they could transfer the searches to my new solicitor and this should save me money with the new company.
I just wanted this over and agreed for them to do this to prevent further delays. Over a week later, I'm back to receiving no response and still no searches have been transferred over.
DO NOT USE THIS SHAMBLES OF A COMPANY!! IF ONLY I'D HAVE READ THE REVIEWS FIRST.”
“Poor communication, did not inform me of additional fees required for ID checks and expects me to pay it upfront.
Would not recommend, they are cheap for a reason but end up adding more to your fees.”
“Beware!
First of all, look at the 5* reviews and then ask yourself why the majority of the 5* reviews for a UK-based conveyancing company are from people outside of the UK.
Second, when you receive emails from Joseph and Joseph Legal Group, why do the emails contain quotes from reviews on this review site that don’t exist here, appear to be fake, or are an amalgamation of several reviews taken out of context?
Third, Joseph and Joseph Legal Group are not conveyancers. Despite their name, which is just a trading name, they do not do conveyancing, they subcontract the work without explicitly informing you before you pay the deposit. The conveyancer I was paired with wrote to me specifically stating “Please note Joseph and Joseph are not your Lawyers.”
Fourth, in the small print, Joseph and Joseph Legal Group will state they will carry out searches immediately after you pay the deposit and then refuse to refund your deposit when you’ve checked out who is really carrying out your conveyancing.
This is what happened to me.
Joseph and Joseph Legal Group refused to refund my full deposit of £269 despite there being a legally defined 14-day cooling-off period for goods and services purchased online.
According to the Citizens Advice Bureaux:
“If you want to cancel a service you’ve arranged online, over the phone or by mail-order, you get a 14-day cooling-off period - for example, if you've booked airport parking, hired a cleaner or gardener or asked a solicitor to sell your house or a plumber to service your boiler. During the 14 days, you can cancel for any reason and get your money back.”
Joseph and Joseph argue the following:
"Your right to cancel You have 14 days from entering into a service contract in which you can cancel it. The trader shouldn’t start providing the service before the 14-day cancellation period has ended, unless you have requested this. If you request a service starts straightaway.”
The important bit is: “If you request a service starts straightaway”, and their Ts & Cs which state “We will start working on your instruction instantly and part of your file opening fee and any other disbursements spent on your behalf will not be refundable”.
“The trader shouldn’t start providing the service before the 14-day cancellation period has ended, unless you have requested this.”
I didn’t request this work start immediately. I didn’t explicitly ask them to start immediately, they determine in their Ts & Cs that I asked them to start right away, so won’t refund your deposit.
Of course, the big question is why did Joseph and Joseph Legal Group order my searches when they were not my conveyancer? I think we all know the answer to that question, don’t we?
You should also note Joseph and Joseph Legal Group are the same people behind compareconveyancingquotesonline.co.uk, other comparison sites, and Really Moving (London) Ltd.
The trick here is to convince a user their comparison is legit even though Joseph and Joseph Legal Group will always be at the top of every comparison.
Really Moving (London) Ltd which appears to be a shell company run by Diane Abbot (79 years old) with debts of £160,000.”
“Avoid at all costs as soon as you instruct the company communication stops - no answer to emails -no communication - long delays - don’t know what’s going on but the service is shocking - we were told the process would be quick but it’s awful and will have taken 4 months to go through instead of the promised 10 weeks frustrated and annoyed is an understatement”
“Avoid ! As soon as I instructed this company I was asked to pay a random amount (not itemised) towards total bill.
Before doing so I asked if this would be refunded should they sale fall through, aa dies sadly happen. I was assured , in writing that it would. Had I not been told this I’d have delayed the payment.
The sale did sadly fall through and now i’m told it’s non refundable. My emails have been ignored and no ability to complain . The worst service in what was already a stressful experience. Would not recommend at all.”
“Absolutely brilliant! I never thought I would be happy with a firm during the stressful moving process but the team were absolutely brilliant. The efficiency of their work and quick responses to emails made the transactions so much easier and reduced stress levels a great deal. The team were very polite, efficient and effective, he explained everything clearly and concisely, and copied me into all email conversations so I knew what stage we were at all the time. I would 100% use them again, and have been recommending them to everyone I meet!”
“You get what you pay for...
Shocking service, slow response to email, don't answer the phone...
I will never use these jokers again, save yourself grief and get a better solicitor.”
