I have had a miserable experience with Wilkes Partnership, 41 Church St, Birmingham (incorporating…read moreColey & Tilley Solicitors). We used them for probate in 2014-15. We asked for tax advice which their terms and conditions clearly stated they could give in relation to probate & wills. The solicitor rang us but didn't know that tax allowances were transferable describing them as personal, and subsequently as individual and a 'use it or lose it' allowance. But the law had been changed since 2007 to allow them to be transferred between spouses. Later I was told that for a parent to give to children would incur capital gains tax. But that too is not correct. It would be a gift. Since I discovered these matters in 2019 onwards, Wilkes have told us all sorts of things that just aren't true. Fortunately I discovered a recording of the first call and the advice which totally contradicts what they claim. I also can see from documents that different things were written after meetings with us; a slight difference between client letters sent to us at the time and file notes being placed in the file which gave the appearance of other things having been said (should anyone investigate in future). I now find myself turning to the LEGAL OMBUDSMAN to look at the firm. I was disappointed when Wilkes attempted to block the OMBUDSMAN from investigating through technical legal manoeuvres and claiming it was NOT IN THEIR REMIT to investigate them. Thankfully the Legal OMBUDSMAN rejected these attempts and are agreed to look into their behaviour. I also find myself turning to the SOLICITORS REGULATION AUTHORITY, the regulatory body set up to 'police' solicitors, to look at Wilkes' behaviour and what they claim to have happened, which I find to go against their own statements in the file, in their emails and in the recorded calls. But as the Trustpilot scores for the Solicitors Regulation Authority unequivocally suggest, they don't seem to be impartial enough from the solicitors who, in effect, actually fund them. So it appears difficult to get them to properly regulate but we can only hope. Wilkes also sent me private documentation for other people amongst copies of my own paperwork which was worrying and rather upsetting, both for the those persons concerned, including a juvenile whose personal documents they failed to protect as required by the Data Protection legislation, and for me given my own knowledge of missing documents from my file. I just hope my paperwork hasn't similarly been sent to others by mistake. I hope Wilkes do not try to block this review given that it is a true and honest account of my own personal experience of using their services.