And these are supposed to be professionals?

[Darkforge]

So I think this is the right forum for this as this is about the solicitors of a customer, if not then please feel free to move it mods.

Background: at my work we occasionally have to chase customers for proof that they have moved into a property, we normally ask for either a full copy of the customers lease agreement/tenancy agreement or for a stamped solicitors letter on headed paper confirming the change of ownership. Normally this is faxed over, occasionally the customer or the solicitor's will scan the document and send it over in a secured, uneditable pdf format. either is perfectly acceptable

All names are changed to protect the innocent (guilty)

So a customer today asked me to call their solicitors, Jones and Sons as they only had a proof copy of their documents (one without signatures that you recieve before the final one to make surte the clauses are all correct.) I called the solicitors and spoke to a secretary, Julie. She was helpful and said that Mr Jones was away until Monday so could not get a solicitors letter sent to us, she would have a look in the file and send us the completed, signed and stamped copy of the Tenancy Agreement. I gave her my email address and thanked her for her help.

about an hour later I recieved the following email with the subject "as requested - Lease details" (the only thing I have changed are names, the rest, including spelling and grammar are untouched)

Dear Darkforge

Plz find attached lease details,
hope this suffice,
if not call be back and i will ask Mr Jones to to a side letter for you.

Regards
Julie
Jones and Sons

there was also no attachment...

I called Julie back and she apologised and said she'd send the attachment again. I then recieved a blank email, no title with an attachement. The attachment was a .doc which contained what amounted to a filled in template of a tenancy agreement. Please note that as a standard .doc file it was completely editable and also contained no signatures or stamps.

So now I'm waiting till monday when Mr Jones will be back and able to write me a (fingers crossed) valid solicitors letter.

I am forever losing faith in humanity piece by piece.

[EvilEmpryss]

Does "Jones and Sons" actually exists, and did you verify their phone number? When my father was a slum lord (I mean, when he rented out some houses), we would occasionally get people giving the phone numbers and email addresses of friends or family to play the part of some third-party verifier.

This one looks to me like someone is trying to trick you into thinking that they're the people you need to get confirmation from, but is actually a confederate.

[Barefootgirl]

i know there are good legal secretaries around. My friend is a lawyer and her secretary is phenomenal. However, that's corporate, and like anything else, they cream off the best seccies. Down at the lower end of the market, where they do mostly conveyancing and family stuff...the solicitors are often pretty poor stuff and the seccies are even worse. Sounds like you got a particuarly high-class specimen.

I used to run a contact centre, where parents could visit their children in neutral surroundings. Not much fun for anyone, but in acrimonious separations, or where there have been allegations of abuse, such places are necessary. People coming to us had to get a referral from their solicitor to the centre, and the standard of written English from the solicitors themselves was absolutely appalling. So, I'm not surprised that "Julie" was such a dim bulb. Fingers crossed that when "Mr Jones" comes back on Monday, he'll be a bit more on the ball.

[Darkforge]

Update:

I've now spoken to "Tracy" at the solicitors who has made an official stamped copy of the tenancy agreement with signatures, and a cover letter (on letterheaded paper with their stamp on) which is being sent to me via recorded delivery tonight so should be with us on monday.

Does "Jones and Sons" actually exists, and did you verify their phone number? When my father was a slum lord (I mean, when he rented out some houses), we would occasionally get people giving the phone numbers and email addresses of friends or family to play the part of some third-party verifier..

Yeah, they are real, we checked they are registered and I got the phone number off their website.

at least it looks like one of their staff is competent, (though I'll withold full judgement for the moment)

[Andara Bledin]

Something tells me that Julie wasn't hired for her brains.

The only question remaining is whether she's a pet relative or a pet something-else.... >_>

^-.-^

[EvilEmpryss]

The only question remaining is whether she's a pet relative or a pet something-else.... >_>

Ding ding ding ding ding! I think we have a winner!