Ward Gethin Archer Reviews 68

We had to use WGA swaffham as executors for my mother's will as they are who she chose.
We had to wait THREE weeks just to get an initial meeting with the solicitor who was to take on the work. She then went on maternity leave and work was handed over to another more senior person who charged more per hour if we had needed her to take on anything extra....not acceptable that we should have been expected to pay an inflated hourly rate in these circumstances!
This "senior" solicitor, we called "the silent solicitor", we just didn't hear from her unless we chased it up!
Once property was sold etc. she made an initial payment to us and kept back a sum to pay final bills once they were all in. The sum held back was £1000s more than was ever going to be necessary to pay these final balances, no doubt WGA get interest payments for everyone's money they keep back!! call me cynical!
The estate was not a complex one by any means, we disputed the final cost (which came in right at the top end of the original estimate.... funny that) as it seemed excessive.
We had to chase up (again) regarding the final release of funds to us, found they were waiting on the council for final council tax bill. They chased this up and found there was nothing to pay, account closed but hadn't heard from the council to this effect. How long would WGA have waited before contacting the council if we hadn't chased for it??
They refused to release any further funds (OUR MONEY) to us until we had "approved" their final bill. basically holding it for ransom.
Do yourself a favour, DO NOT USE this dreadful company. They fleece you, do as little as possible for the money and don't contact you to keep you updated.
Absolutely disgusted with their service. No doubt I'll get the standard "sorry to hear this, contact our customer service director...... etc." which seems to be the reply to any bad reviews they receive.

Everything that Ward Gethin Archer did and in particular the solicitor and her secretary who dealt with our case were friendly and professional.
They were very prompt in carrying out their duties and kept us informed at all times and constantly checked with us for instructions. They were immediately available whenever we needed to speak to them. We are very thankful that they acted on our behalf.

Debbie Pearce provided an excellent service throughout the purchase of our residential property via auction. She remained professional at all times, kept in regular contact, and ensured we were fully informed at every stage of the process.

All completion deadlines were met as agreed, which made the transaction smooth and stress-free. I would highly recommend her services and would not hesitate to use her again in the future.

Alex and her team made the whole process stress free.
Replying promptly and keeping us updated on progress when necessary. Very thorough and professional and a real pleasure to work with.

Friendly staff who listened and took note of what we required and very efficient . We are very satisfied with Ward Gethin Archer at Swaffham

Debbie Pearce, Swaffham, was excellent during our house purchase. Efficent, proactive, great communications and patience when dealing with some less collaborative external agencies.
I can only say THANK YOU Debbie, and the staff around you. Gold Star!

WGA at Swaffham we had Debbie Pearce to sell my late mums property couldn’t fault her was always friendly and nothing was to much trouble.Kept us informed all the way through would not hesitate to recommend Debbie thank you very much .

I honestly can’t recommend WGA highly enough. Richard Welton handled my late mum’s probate for us and he was absolutely fantastic throughout the whole process. From the very beginning, he explained everything clearly and in a way we could actually understand, which made a really difficult time much easier to deal with. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and professional, but also approachable and patient — no question ever felt like a silly one, and he always took the time to respond properly and promptly.
Because of the way he’s supported us, I’ll definitely be going back to Richard soon to sort out my our will.

Lauren and Jess have also been brilliant while helping us with the sale of the property. They’ve been efficient, organised, and proactive from start to finish. Communication has been excellent — they’ve kept us updated every step of the way and have always been quick to respond if we needed anything. The whole process felt much smoother thanks to them.
A genuinely professional, supportive, and friendly team. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend WGA to anyone

If you want a commercial lease that’s full of mistakes and a solicitor that speaks to you like you’re a piece of dirt go and see Simin Hough at the Ely office. I honestly don’t know how this lady is allowed to practice. Multiple trips to their office to have her amend the mistakes by pen. Not what you’d expect for 3 grands worth of work. To be fair, once we escalated to her manager the lease was finally made good and the work taken away from her. And they apologised on her behalf. But seriously, take my advice, keep well away from this firm.

Dealt with my brother’s Estate. Solicitor dealing with it changed half way through. The new one was fine and seemed to be dealing with it quite quickly. However, when ‘closing’ it all emails were sent which indicated money was owed to some, no explanation, and basically we were told to ‘sort it amongst ourselves’. Nothing was explained, even when asked for explanation. I ended up paying a lot of money to beneficiaries by deed of variation, but I didn’t have to and now I am left with little.
A mess for me.

I used ward Gethin archer to do the conveyancing on my property I had Samantha Manning from the Chatteris office. All I can say is thank you for the excellent very quick service. Sam kept me informed on what was happening very professional

Couldn’t recommend them highly enough. All staff are extremely compassionate and so helpful. They always an answer calls and always ring back as promised. Definitely recommend them!

The service my husband I received from Bethany Buendia,(solicitor) who was dealing on my late mum’s property ,was just amazing. Nothing was too much trouble , and though she is a very busy lady , would always keep me updated on things and would always prompt reply’s when I had left a messages.
Bethany was efficient, calm , patient and extremely helpful and just a really lovely lady. I would without a doubt recommend her , I cannot fault the service we received. Thank you , you are a top solicitor and I would come back and use you again. I shall miss our conversations , but it’s all a relief that we now have closure , once again thank you.

Rude. Unapologetic. Clueless.
An “associate” dealt with the case and unfortunately didn’t know the law … rather unfortunate for a legal practice.

I made an enquiry on a Saturday and had a reply by Monday referring me to Kings Lynn Office. They were equally on the ball and responded the next day. Very polite and efficient a rare combination these days thank you.

James Macwhirter has been an enormous help after my wife passed away . He put me at ease and sorted out any problems I had . I would like to thank him very much .

Lauren Dilworth has been efficient, timely and pleasant throughout our transaction, which, from my experience, is not always the case with solicitors.
I highly recommend the company.

I recently had the misfortune to have to deal with the Ely branch of this company, if you’ve got the time, inclination or ability; do yourself a massive favour and take your business elsewhere.
If you choose to retain their services, be fully prepared to experience customer service levels and communication more akin to the dark ages. I am all for “old fashioned” and “traditional” BUT totally ignoring telephone messages (left with a person that would be far more suited to working in a doctor’s surgery as a receptionist: dismissive, obtuse, and answers the question they wanted you to ask rather than the one you actually did ask, 2 ears, 1 mouth, maybe try using them in that order?) reply to queries with the speed that would make a giant tortoise look like Usain Bolt, take twice as long to complete the process as originally estimated and then charge “world class rates” and greater than originally estimated whilst providing a distinctly third class service is disappointing to say the least. If I could score less than one star; I would!

Jackie Murfett is super woman, gets the job done, efficiently and goes beyond your expectations. Completion of my property went through smoothly, even after I had a melt down with the questionnaires. She dealt with it all fantastically. I highly recommend her and her staff, who made you feel at ease as you walked in the door of the office. Doing all this locally and face to face made the sale of the house go well. Thank you to all the staff.