WBW Solicitors Reviews 100

I was in the unfortunate position of being in the 'care' of WBW solicitors, Exeter after my Father passed away in October 2023, as they were executors of his will. Where do I start? Communication is abysmal, and unless I chased up Ms.Miriam Saxl, long periods went by when I heard nothing, or it took 6 weeks to respond! After contracts were exchanged in April 2025 and funds from the house sale were with WBW in early May, and I had heard nothing by August, I chased her up. I finally had no option other than to email Jane Couch, who, after 3 weeks, still hadn't responded, so I had to email again. This time, I got a swift response and oddly enough, money was put into my account within a few short hours in October. I then wonder why it took Jane only a couple of hours to get this sorted, when I had waited 5 months for news. Very strange! A shareholding had also been 'overlooked'. It's now mid November and the final payment to me has just been made.

Worse than this, my Father's will stated that everything in the house and garage was left to me, and in keeping with his wishes, I requested permission to clear the house; he expressly wanted his direct family to do this. Ms. Saxl agreed via email, and I informed her I had quotes. Within days, she had discussed and agreed for my Father's stepdaughter to clear the entire house and garage – this was without my knowledge or written agreement. I agreed for the stepdaughter to take items belonging to her Mother, but not the whole house. Amongst the items (legally mine), were Dad's framed army medals and a painting by his cousin – he was adamant that these were to be kept in our family, so they were going to relatives. Everything was gone! Dad's expressed wishes were not adhered to. I have everything in writing.
I have filed a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman regarding this situation, and await my case to be reviewed.

Recently used WBW solicitors for undertaking the eviction of a tenant and the sale of a property, both areas of the business where amazing demonstrating excellent knowledge in their field, everything was explained fully with costs shared at the beginning of the instruction which ensured there was not any hidden surprises. I used two of the offices Launceston Louise Crockford and Karen Pearce, thank you both and The Newton Abbot office Jenny Kemp, again thank you I didn’t realise selling a house could be so complicated, however with your excellent experience it was completed without any major issues.

★☆☆☆☆ Extremely Disappointing Experience Over Nearly 5 Years

WBW Solicitors have been responsible for managing my grandfather’s will for just under five years now, and our experience has been deeply frustrating throughout.

From the start, communication has been minimal unless they’ve made a mistake — which, unfortunately, has happened in a significant way. They failed to sell shares within the required timeframe, resulting in a considerable financial loss to the estate. When questioned about this, their responses have been vague at best, with excuses such as “the companies aren’t responding” — yet we’ve seen no evidence of meaningful follow-up over the course of an entire year.

The prolonged handling of the will has caused unnecessary stress, and the only way we’ve managed to get any information has been by chasing them ourselves. Each time we call or email for an update, we are met with a cold response: essentially, stop contacting us, or expect to be charged for each interaction — even when it's a simple request for basic transparency or progress. These charges, as most will know, are extortionate for the service (or lack thereof) provided.

After years of waiting, being kept in the dark, and bearing the financial consequences of their errors, I would strongly advise others to look elsewhere. This firm has not acted with diligence, accountability, or basic decency.

Terrible experience with WBW in Newton Abbot and, in particular, with Kay Faulkner.

We instructed WBW in good faith to handle the sale of our late Mother’s property. Our case was passed between several staff members with no prior notification to ourselves. This was before we even got started!

The most significant failing was not informing us the buyers had withdrawn from the sale. Despite us sending three emails requesting updates, it took Ms Faulkner four weeks to inform us the buyers had withdrawn. Citing one of the reasons they withdrew was because of a query over the freehold/leasehold. We had been told by WBW initially this would have been a simple matter to resolve when in fact, it was anything but. There was a lacklustre apology for her delay.

The lack of communication and accountability from WBW was beyond disappointing. I would go so far as to say there was an air of arrogance with correspondence we did receive. On that note, emails received from WBW were full of spelling and grammar mistakes, hardly professional.

There was a complete lack of care and our whole experience with WBW caused us a lot of additional stress and extra financial outlays during a very emotive time in our lives. Shame on you WBW. I have already spread the word to friends and colleagues how I wouldn't touch your company with a barge pole.

On a final note, please don’t insult us by suggesting we contact Jane Couch. She had to be chased for a response to our complaint admitting she had overlooked it due to being on holiday! I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a bottleneck of complaints on her desk.

WBW Exmouth were responsible for holding my mother's will along with supporting documents in their safe room. Upon initial contact they took well over a week to contact me back and when they did they called me at 5.45pm on a Friday evening which I found extremely unprofessional. I requested that the the legal sec could write to other beneficiaries with a copy of it and was made assurances that this was fine and all part of the service and would be done the next day, but two weeks later I asked WBW if they had done so and the legal sec responded no as after further discussion took place and she was asked not to by a solicitor as it was outside their remit. I don't have a problem with this at all but the fact they didn't think that they needed to communicate this to me and just left it really does it speak volumes about their level of proffessionality and the service they afford to their clients. 3 weeks of my time they wasted. Lastly they lost the supporting documents that were to be kept with the will and denied their existence on 4 occasions, it took another 2 further weeks of insisting that they existed to get them to unseal the original file and discover that they had incorrectly filed them with the workfile instead of with the will in the saferoom. If I hadn't then those documents would've simply been lost because they hadn't filed them correctly. Shocking how unprofessional they were to deal with. Never again.

We used Louise Crockford at WBW solicitors for conveyancing for the sale & purchase of Bungalows in Devon.We were always kept well informed, and was ahead of the other solicitors involved, and pushing them to get their part of the process completed. This resulted in a speedy outcome ( as far as that is possible these days ) and we would certainly use her again.

Louise Crockford and her assistant Karen were efficient and professional. The speed that Louise dealt with things was excellent making the sale of our property and purchase of our new property a pleasurable and speedy process.

Louise Crockford and her assistants have acted for us on several properties. Louise is proactive, prompt and always keen not to be the party holding up the process. We are very please with her work.

I was seen at the Torquay office. It was easy to make an appointment. I was seen by Jacqui Bell who was delightful. She answered all my questions efficiently, explained everything clearly and without making feel a bit dim!

WBW were a brilliant team who were incredibly knowledgeable, thorough, persistent, focused and supportive.

Louise Crockford is by far the best and most efficient Conveyancing Solicitor we have ever had. One hopes that the processes involved in selling and buying a house run on rails, and when they don't you need someone like Louise to be representing you. Louise is so thorough and competent. She promptly dealt with important matters and answered our queries mostly by return on the same day. She lets you know in advance when she will not be available and informs you of whom to contact in her absence. We must also mention that in her absence Karen also dealt with matters efficiently and promptly. If you are looking for a Conveyancing Solicitor look no further than Louise. We will certainly be using her services again in the future, which we hope will be soon.
Harvey and Trish Malkin

Sanjeev Harash Prepared a lease for a commercial property for us recently, we really appreciated his expertise and commitment to work to a deadline.

We had a stressful time with our prolonged house sale and Danielle and Louise gave us good service with good timely communication and being proactive to chase the chain and speed things along as far as possible. This was in contrast to our purchasers solicitor who's performance was sluggish at best.

WBW (Kathryn) handled the estate of our late father. We had appropriate solutions provided for the concerns we had, and communication was good. Most of all, there was no fuss, all calm and careful throughout. Very straightforward for the children.

My father was selling the family home earlier this year and reverted to Louise whom he had used for a previous sale and purchase many years before.
After emigrating I took over the communications to finalise the sale on behalf of dad, and then subsequently utilised WBW services for an (aborted) purchase. Communicating with both Louise and Karen was a pleasure, through what was a very stressful time.
I have no hesitation in recommending them.

We found WBW Solicitors through a websearch tool and from our first enquiry to our last communications they were totally professional, extremely helpful and knowledgeable and were very quick and fair to bring our issues to a successful close, keeping us informed and updated all the way. We would have no hesitation in recommending 100%

Danielle and Louise from the Exmouth branch handled our house sale quickly and efficiently. Would not hesitate to use this company again.

We dealt with Louise at Launceston and she was professional and helpful through the whole long exhausting process of several buyers and some very strange issues. She always responded promptly and actively chased the sale and purchase. As always, the issue with any conveyancing is with the least efficient solicitor in the chain and this is what caused the delays - Louise did everything she could in a difficult situation.

I am delighted with the service I received from the Property Team at WBW Solicitors in Exmouth Devon. They recently dealt with conveyancing of a sensitive nature, offering compassion and care. They made the process as easy as possible, so thank you! Highly recommend.

I have my brother's POA. I had to sell my brother's flat in London having moved my brother to an assisted living flat in Kent. Louise Evers was brilliant a long with her team. Without Louise's kindness, understanding and patience I couldn't have gone through 10 months of worry and frustration as
I live in Devon. Please congratulate the team and my sincere thanks.