“I’ve used several solisitors over the years but Optima Legal have been the worst.
I had a relatively straight forward remortgage in pace many months before the deadline. Firstly they ‘accidently’ closed my case, I had to call and get it reopened. They have lost paperwork of mine which I sent them in the post and have had to resend. When I call them it often takes over 40 minutes to get thorough to them and often a told I’ll have to message them in the portal anyway.
I’m now past my mortgage deadline and am paying extra because they can’t do their jobs properly, I call each day but still they can’t resolve. Please avoid using!”
“This is the worst company I had to deal
with . Extremely inefficient my mortgage process has been extremely stressful it has cost me thousands and left me in breach of contract .
Every time I called they said we will escalate internally . Their SLA is 6 to look at a simple email and they keep adding more things to the list of things required !
Really dreadful”
“The process was incredibly slow. Our mortgage broker recommended this company and I have told them to never recommend them to anyone else. It took over a month to go through ID checks after being told 10 working days. For the initial checks, the team used the whole 10 days to then ask for a confirmation of address on day 10, which they already had, this for some reason "reset" the 10 day allowance again, which actually took a further 16 working days. So what should've taken 10 working days (at maximum) took 27. The only time anything happened quickly was when I raised an official complaint.”
“Optima Legal is one of the worst firms I have ever dealt with and I’m a solicitor myself so I’ve dealt with a fair few. They were appointed by the lender to deal with my re-mortgage and I instructed them to deal with a linked property transfer. They were appallingly incompetent. They clearly didn’t know what they were doing (repeatedly queried what was a standard restriction on the title deeds and they didn’t know how to resolve it). You can never speak to a lawyer, all you can do is speak to one of the ‘robots’ who answer the phone and they promise they will get a lawyer to call you but they never do. You send messages on the portal which take a minimum of 10 days for them to respond to. When they do respond they just repeatedly ask for information you have already provided. I told them on numerous occasions I wanted to make a complaint and threatened them with the Legal Ombudsman but still never received a response. I told them numerous times that the chain was at risk of collapsing and they didn’t care. I got better advice from one phone call to the Land Registry than I did in weeks of dealing with Optima. In the end I de-instructed them and instructed my own lawyers who managed to get the transaction completed within a couple of weeks. They’re basically a ‘factory firm’ who process multiple applications on behalf of lenders but they have no concept of customer service or client care. If your lender instructs them I would seriously recommend refusing to use them and pay a bit extra to use your own solicitors. It will save you a whole load of stress and frustration.”
“will not take my provisional photo card as proof of ID they want me to obtain a passport at my cost to finalise my Halifax Mortgage completion total idiots to think that is not proof enough for ID banks except even the government gateway for my DBS is a valid ID what a joke of solicitors need to sort your company out wasting 4 weeks of my time and money in postage.”
“I find it hard to put it into words how bad my experience has been with Optima Legal. I will never again opt for a lower-cost option with my Solicitors and I would never recommend Optima Legal to anyone.
I am currently at the point of calling Optima Legal EVERY SINGLE DAY to try and receive an update and move our case forward. Every single time I call, I am put through to someone who is not empowered or authorised to provide any help whatsoever. I have had it in writing that a Senior Case Executive will call me and they failed to deliver on this. I have been promised I would receive documents, only to be put back in the queue and have had to wait a further 3 weeks.
To make matters worse, when I have finally spoken to a Senior Case Executive, I am frequently given factually incorrect numbers and misinformation. It seriously concerns me to think that this company is meant to employ legal professions.
I am utterly shocked that a company is able to operate in this way.”
“I have never dealt with a firm like this in 10 years of property transactions.
Incompetent outfit
Have had to take this issue to the law society. And I suggest everyone that has had an issue with them does the same.”
“Dealing with Optima Legal has been one of the most painful and worst experiences I have ever encountered. They are unhelpful, ignorant, incorrect, unprofessional and useless, quite frankly.
I would recommend, if you are thinking of dealing with them, or if you are told they are a “preferred” solicitor for your mortgage, walk away. Walk away now. Insist you do not want to use these complete morons. Even if it means paying more on your monthly payments, it will mean less heartache, stress and dealing with a company where every single thing will go wrong.
My complaint has gone to MD, CEO and their complaints division 10 days ago. Not once have they bothered to contact me or even apologise. They don’t give a monkeys about helping me, and they won’t about you either.
This has cost me days of work having to manage this, stress leave and lack of sleep.
Had I not been absolutely all over this, this would have cost me thousands of pounds for their consistent bad handling of my case. I have written to Barclays, also, to ask them to remove Optima Legal and do not allow their customers to work with them. They are THAT bad to deal with.
My experiences with them include:
* Having to send the mortgage deed 3 times to them as they lost the previous 2 mortgage deeds
* Failing to point out that they were moving offices until I had to send this for a 3rd time upon chasing
* Not telling me that they hadn’t recieved the mortgage deeds, despite the fact this was a matter of urgency and I had sent messages saying this had been done on numerous occasions
* With the above they are in breach of the Data Protection Act by not securely handling personal information, not acknowledging this once
* Refusing to update their portal once this finally been received despite eight (8) chases for them to do so, so completion date could be set
* Quoting time and time again incorrect shortfall balances to be sent
* Being told they will call you - they don’t. Don’t bother calling them, you can’t.
Their reviews are appalling for a reason. You deserve better than to have to use these cowboys - demand better. You deserve it. You will regret for every day whilst going through this process having to deal with Optima Legal. Do not do it.”
“Even if this is free, don't use Optima Legal. Spend your money to get out of this nightmare! It is a -1 star if there were one rating like that!
Avoid at all cost! They do not have a case handler. They do have a team responding to calls, but everyone is stating different information. They send canned messages to everyone, despite the fact that I had not received the mortgage deed from them EVER! I had to call 5 times to correct the information they gave me. Then, I sent two emails to confirm there was only one outstanding document. Yet, six weeks passed, and they only started asking the freeholder's confirmation on remortgage which caused me another delay of possibly 2 months. If you just started using them, change immediately!
BTW, the so-called ghost case handler completely ignored my complaints, and the emails they sent you are always from different people. Unprofessional!”
