Pocock's - Whitstable

Miss A.

If I could give 0 stars I would.

I got in touch with Andrew Lawrie last year regarding a lease extension, and to this date, it has not been completed. The entire experience has been a nightmare, with no clarity or updates on the timeline despite my repeated attempts to follow up. My father is elderly, and this delay has caused unnecessary stress as we simply want the process to be completed as soon as possible.

Andrew Lawrie has demonstrated a complete disregard for his work and a lack of professionalism. It seems like he takes on cases solely for financial gain, with no intention of actually doing the work. He ignores phone calls and takes weeks to respond to emails, making communication practically impossible.

To make matters worse, I sent him the signed deed in October 2023. It wasn’t until September 2024—nearly a year later—that he confirmed he had received it and stated he would need to post the other deeds for the other parties to sign. And since I’ve raised concerns and even threatened to escalate the matter to the legal ombudsman, I’ve been met with complete silence.

Adding insult to injury, this firm has no complaints procedure in place, as Andrew Lawrie is the director. When I tried to inquire about it, the receptionist rudely told me there was no process for complaints.

Long story short: avoid this firm at all costs. They are absolutely awful, unprofessional, and seem completely unbothered by their clients’ needs. If you value your time, money, and sanity, run a mile from Andrew Lawrie and his office.

Medine B.

I recently completed on my first ever purchase using Andria. I am so impressed with the high level of service I received for her, someone is always available to talk to! I 100% recommend using Pocock's.

Heather M.

I cannot express the incompetence rudeness, complete lack of communication and overall professional I experienced by Andrew Lawrie the Managing Director of PoCock Law. I know people who write bad reviews are often just disgruntled and difficult. I entirely believe that if you saw the correspondence regarding this matter, this would change your view and you would also agree with my position.
The freeholder in my building had agreed to sell his 50 percent to myself and another flat owner. Andrew was his lawyer. I began discussions about the sale in April 2023 with the owner of the freehold. It was not till June 14th 2023, that I heard from Andrew. This followed me chasing the seller, who said, “Andrew must be busy”
The entire process did not complete till May 16th 2024, when the deed was finally registered. The sale did not go ahead till March 2024. That was 10 months since the initial contact with Andrew and 12 months from the first contact with the seller.
Andrew ignored constant emails from myself and the other buyer, I could count, but I would estimate more than 18. Yes, I was not his client, but we were trying to move the process along. Additionally, I had to tell the seller their rights so they could press the lawyer as he expressed, he was "also being ignored". When Andrew finally got in touch to start moving forward, he was extremely rude to the other seller, telling her she needed to seek further legal advice (which she had already taken) and the manner of this was just plain rude.
When the papers were drawn up Andrew made more than one error including that of the actual address of the property. He seemed to not have any idea of what he was doing and no attention to detail. I have never felt any solicitor that I’ve met was more impolite and incompetent. Both my parents own tax law practices and I am surrounded by lawyers so this comes with extensive experience in appropriate practice.
Following the sale, it took two more months of chasing Andrew to get the deed registered (we had already paid him in full). I wrote, the other buyer wrote Andrew, and my solicitor wrote Andrew, we were all ignored. After two months, I called Andrew’s office and said that I was furious and that if the documents were not sent by the week’s end I would be contacting the Legal Ombudsman and the Law Society (which I will still do). It was only then that he rang me. On the phone I experienced him as shockingly irascible, he blamed myself and the others involved in the sale for the delays, which was unconscionable as we responded to all his emails next day and he usually ignored ours.
He then said, he would send it when he had time (cause it takes at least two months to pop something in the post!!!!!). I then gave him a piece of my mind, he decided to escalate the manner by responding in kind. Lawyers are always told to deescalate and be honourable in how they speak with others and my fury was entirely justified. There was no swearing, just a litany of facts and his failure to act with integrity. When he came back with a nasty response, I reminded him of this and his inability to honour the integrity and ethics of his profession. He then said he would said the deed that day, I think it was sobering for him to hear someone tell how him how he was not upholding the edicts of his own profession. We did not receive it till three days later. I can only say, that is my opinion he should be disbarred. Under no circumstances, do I believe you should ever consider his firm. Please keep your sanity and help to hold him accountable for his behaviour.

Nick H.

Awful. Took a £100 deposit and did nothing for 6 weeks. Ignored my e-mails when I requested updates.

Bob G.

We have just used this Practice to prepare our new Wills. We found the service and professionalism top dollar. The environment in their new offices is bright, cheerful, relaxed, efficient & friendly.
Sarah, our Solicitor, gave us every confidence in the advice & guidance offered. We feel very comfortable with every aspect of the service provided.

Seth C.

This is a company that moved premises with mine and other beneficiaries inheritance money and failed to inform any of us of their move. I only found out about their move after calling their phone number, which was cut off. This prompted me to take a trip to their old premises to find a notice of this move on their door. Their communication is almost non existent and you have to fight for it. There are also many inconsistencies in what you get told and they don’t like putting anything in writing because they know they would be held accountable. It has so far nearly took them 3 years to complete on the estate I am a beneficiary to and even now it still appears nothing is progressing. They obviously can’t handle bigger estates and take on too many clients which means they can’t give any quality or time to each one. The longer it goes on the more the expenses increase. They should look at employing someone else to help speed things up especially due to the duration they take. I would not recommend this solicitor’s to anyone.

cilla M.

We only used Pococks as our usual solicitor did not carry out conveyancing services. We have been so pleased with the service received. We were kept informed all the way through by our conveyancer Tilly. She kept an eye on all links in the chain and maintained a good dialogue throughout. Not once did we have to enquire on progress as Tilly kept good pressure on other solicitors and estate agents alike. This is borne out by the fact that, although we were in the middle of the chain and there were the inevitable challenges on the way, it only took two months between instruction and completion and no sleepless nights!
I highly recommend this Company.

Bill B.

Just sold a flat using Pocock's for conveyancing. Difficult to be very analytical because Covid and lockdown has had its effects, but I didn't have any problems with them and their fees are very reasonable, much cheaper than I was quoted by the solicitors I had used before. My thanks to Tilly, who was very professional and polite throughout.