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Hi any advice would be welcome really stressed and worried. I used a solicitor for a settlement agreement. At the start, he said the employer contribution (£600) was low but he could cap fees at that “with a little room for negotiation.” I assumed that meant the fees would be covered.
They did send me a customer care letter, but I didn’t view it as that at the time — and because he’d said about the £600 cap, I genuinely thought everything was included. I was under a lot of stress and struggling with my mental health at the time, which made it even harder to process all the documents and back-and-forth.
What I didn’t realise was that he was charging me for every call and email. I only found out later the fees had gone up to nearly £2,000. I raised concerns straight away (before signing the settlement), but he became hostile and unhelpful.
After settlement, I heard nothing for weeks. Then the firm reduced the bill from £2,600 to £1,500, and later sent a six-page letter justifying everything, saying I must pay £1,200+VAT or they’ll recover it.
I feel misled and pressured. I’ve not made a formal complaint yet, but it seems like they’re pre-empting one. In reality, they gave me very little value — I did most of the work myself.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? What are my options? Should I go straight to the Legal Ombudsman?
They did send me a customer care letter, but I didn’t view it as that at the time — and because he’d said about the £600 cap, I genuinely thought everything was included. I was under a lot of stress and struggling with my mental health at the time, which made it even harder to process all the documents and back-and-forth.
What I didn’t realise was that he was charging me for every call and email. I only found out later the fees had gone up to nearly £2,000. I raised concerns straight away (before signing the settlement), but he became hostile and unhelpful.
After settlement, I heard nothing for weeks. Then the firm reduced the bill from £2,600 to £1,500, and later sent a six-page letter justifying everything, saying I must pay £1,200+VAT or they’ll recover it.
I feel misled and pressured. I’ve not made a formal complaint yet, but it seems like they’re pre-empting one. In reality, they gave me very little value — I did most of the work myself.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? What are my options? Should I go straight to the Legal Ombudsman?