Which? legal advice service - Cardiff

Khaled B.

Absolutely useless. Booked an appointment to discuss redundancy process and rights. Then get a call saying the appointment has been cancelled because of a 'professional conduct issue' - that was it. No other explanation. I asked what this means exactly i.e. is there an issue with their own staff hence they cannot advise. But no further explanation was given. Please do not bother spending your money on this rubbish service.

José R.

After being a which member for over 30 years I am sad to say that which and which legal have gone the way of most corporates and diluted the quality of their service. Like most others they push and ecounrage you o do stuff on line instead of speak to someone. Their reviews are tainted and biased and limited and are not up to date on most tech stuff . Their legal team now spentd more time rejecting calls as they suddenly "do not cover it" where as a before you could gain some advice on how to write letter and quote some always. Now their offering is so limited and automated it is no longer fit for purpose. You may as well google advice for free. Sad to say goodbye and to see Which in 2024 to have gone downhill so much. Save your money... I wil not be renewing.

FH

I bought subscription for a year as I thought it would be worthwhile for the problems I am currently facing. However, I was told that they do not help review legal documents. This was not made clear enough when I signed up but it also seems pointless to me to have a legal service that does not help you with legal documents. If it was cheaper I don't think I would care as much. On top of this, I've been told I might not get my refund if I cancel service now because I've already had one session with the legal team. The Ts&Cs state that if you're within your 14 day cooling off period and have already had some sessions, the cost of the sessions will be deducted from your refund. I was told today that I'd have to wait for a callback which will now be next week. Quite upsetting considering they are a consumer goods governing body. :-/

J K.

There are too many areas that they cannot assist with. I was missold a property because the previous owner failed to declare the presence of Japanese knotweed. However, Which Legal were unable to assist with any advice. Also, their legal advisors seemed more articulate and knowledgeable back in the day.

D T.

Not recommended. Fairly patronising and condescending attitude of the person giving the advice.

Amisha P.

I recently used Which? Legal for some problems I was having with a Tour Operator and I was so impressed by not just the ease at which I could speak with an advisor but also the level of advice given for the price of the subscription. A specialist travel law firm was quoting me £300 for the same level of advice! I also love their monthly magazine... it's full of great advice and tips.

Ashton B.

They are only able to offer the most basic advice and when things really go wrong, they're unable to help at all nor point you in the direction or anyone who can.

It is interesting that they provide very little information on what you actually get when you subscribe, or say you'll get X Y and Z but when it comes to it, you don't. You in fact get a lot less or there are hidden things you weren't made aware of before subscribing.

Of course £9 a month isn't much at all and the service clearly reflects that.

However, they clearly misrepresent the service they offer and the irony of that is that it is a breach of the consumer rights act 2015.

I would make a complaint and take it up with them and the powers that be, but I really can't be bothered.

The advice that you get from them, you're better off with The Citizens Advice and Google.

They have been of very little benefit to me and one could argue, detrimental to my case if anything.

Save your money. Google.

A B.

Which? Legal not only let me down by providing a highly unprofessional service but behaved even more unprofessionally when I brought this to their attention.

Their solicitors were clearly out of their depth with the most basic legal knowledge, and, as a result, provided me with incorrect and conflicting advice. On one particular call, the solicitor changed his advice three times regarding the track my case would be allocated to in the County Court. He also informed me that I could only use the small claims track if a case was valued below £1,000, while the correct amount was £10,000.

Initially, I only wanted to make Which? Legal aware of the issues I’d encountered but they said the only way of doing this was to raise a complaint and so I did. Feeling sure an organisation like Which? would handle my concerns in a professional manner, I was amazed that they refused to uphold my complaint and simply stated that they ‘could have been clearer’. From my stance of wanting to support them by letting them know about the poor service I'd received, I was now feeling quite angry.

I wrote to their CEO but she didn’t reply to me and I was then contacted by the ‘Head of Legal Operations’ at Which? Legal. This is where things got really bad. Rather than showing concern for the issues I’d encountered with his legal service, he continually gaslighted me by downplaying what had happened. For example, when I pointed out the call with the solicitor who kept changing his advice, rather than acknowledging how unprofessional this was and upholding my complaint, he responded saying he appreciated that I may have found the advice ‘less than conclusive’.

After pursuing him about this, and asking him to uphold my complaint, he eventually offered to uphold just the part of my complaint relating to that one call. Using this sort of ‘undermining’ strategy is a form of bullying and it caused me considerable distress. It seemed he just couldn’t bring himself to admit that his legal service hadn’t done a good job and apologise for it.

After this horrible experience with Which? Legal, I turned to the charity Shelter to try and make sense of the County Court process. They amazed me by clarifying in three succinct sentences the information I'd been trying to glean from Which? Legal for months. I decided to write to the Head of Legal Operations at Which? Legal asking why his solicitor hadn’t provided me with the correct advice (that I'd received from Shelter). He replied stating that his solicitor’s advice was correct and not at odds with the advice I'd received from Shelter. This wasn't true and it seems he had no issue with fabricating a story to try and make him and his legal service appear in a good light.

It feels really sad that someone who should be there to support Which? members, when things go wrong, is more focused on their own survival.