Experiences with Slater & Gordon -- injury claims

[scotterdavid]

Hello,

I was hit by a car earlier in the year when riding home from work. Nothing too serious -- broken clavicle and concussion. I was advised to make my injury claim via Slater and Gordon re the Cycling UK relationship, however so far it has been a comedy of errors. I'm starting to think that they're not that good, however it probably doesn't help that they are in trouble (financially) at the moment and making staff redundant.

I'm just wondering if any other members have used Slater and Gordon, and if so what their experience was like. I may have just be unfortunate enough to get the "turkey", however on the basis of my experiences so far I'm considering a move to another chamber and certainly voicing my concern to Cycling UK. Anyone got any similar experiences or advise, please?

Best regards,
David

[al_yrpal]

I was fairly severely injured by being thrown off by a neglected pothole. Slater and Gordon looked at the evidence I gave them but refused to take the case. They are simply a no win no fee outfit. I have nothing good to say about them.

Al

[PH]

My experience was pretty poor, this was dealing with the Sheffield office and in the course of 30 months my claim was dealt with by 4 solicitors, 2 changes after complaints by me.
First issue was after six months they hadn’t got the insurers details correct, when I fond out this was a problem, I solved it in one lunchtime just using the information that had been passed to S&G.
Second issue was they were reluctant to calculate my loss of earning based on the same period in previous years, instead wanting to use the previous month. As my employment at the time was seasonal, that was a difference of several hundred pounds.
The whole experience wasn’t good, communication was poor, the junior solicitors supervision didn’t seem adequate and there was a reluctance to deal with anything that was not straightforward. When I was finally assigned a senior solicitor, the case flew along and the eventual settlement was more than satisfactory. But on the whole my experience with them did not meet my expectations.

OTOH – a few months before this, another CTC rider had a similar accident, he was happy with the service from the start, his solicitor pushed for and got a substantial interim payment within weeks, something my solicitor told me wasn’t possible and made no attempt to do. So the conclusion I’ve come to is that it’s entirely dependent on the solicitor you’re assigned, If I ever need to use such service again, I’ll make sure it’s me making that choice.

[Johnocyprus]

I've used them twice albeit some years agothe first experience was excellent with a very efficient lady, the second was awful with a lady who didn't appear that keen/ interested from day one. I wasn't impressed the first time we spoke and with hindsight I wish I'd asked for her to be replaced.

[Edwards]

Mrs E made the mistake of letting me organise them for her claim. She was not impresed with the Brum lot nor the outcome.

[thirdcrank]

We hear a lot these days about the compensation culture, the idea that people are trying to milk the legal system. My own feeling is that people who have been hurt through the fault of others should have things put right, but I wonder if constant exposure to adverts - not all from solicitors - offering representation and media reports of megabucks have people thinking it's as easy as falling off a log (then photographing your injuries.) Not every injury is a crock of gold.

AFAIK, Russell Jones and Walker, who used to provide the CTC service were one of the biggest, if not the biggest, firms providing this type of service in the country. They were swallowed whole by the much bigger Slater and Gordon Australian outfit. They must surely have the problems associated with big organisations (I learned yesterday that the NHS cannot find my blood and urine specimens they sent for analysis a fortnight ago, and BTW, didn't I see it in the paper because it affected the whole of Leeds?)

OTOH, a big firm can provide an ongoing service for the years which a complicated case may take ro resolve. Here's a case we recently discussed which took fourteen years.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=108657&p=1044669&hilit=slater#p1044669

[rmurphy195]

Hello,

I was hit by a car earlier in the year when riding home from work. Nothing too serious -- broken clavicle and concussion. I was advised to make my injury claim via Slater and Gordon re the Cycling UK relationship, however so far it has been a comedy of errors. I'm starting to think that they're not that good, however it probably doesn't help that they are in trouble (financially) at the moment and making staff redundant.

I'm just wondering if any other members have used Slater and Gordon, and if so what their experience was like. I may have just be unfortunate enough to get the "turkey", however on the basis of my experiences so far I'm considering a move to another chamber and certainly voicing my concern to Cycling UK. Anyone got any similar experiences or advise, please?

Best regards,
David

In your paperwork you will find a complaints - sorry, customer services - department. Email them with your concerns - I did, they promptly put a different solicitor onto my case and it made a huge difference.

What is the name of the solicitor allocated to your case?

[Paulatic]

Believe be mentioned before that I know of case still being fought over. Can't give you details at the moment for obvious reasons.
Let's just say it's based onS&G incompetence.

[eileithyia]

Nothing but praise, have used them twice and had same solicitor for both accidents (to be honest first claim was still ongoing when I had a second accident).
Having previously used CTC solicitor in the past it was via a firm based in Birmingham, who i understand handled all the West Midland area CTC claims.

Now in the NW my first accident above was handled by a firm based in Manchester, not entirely sure but I don't think they were part of the Slater Gordon set up initially. My impression is slater and Gordon are a large umberella organisation that has taken over several different firms in different strategic offices around the country, but could be wrong. My dealings with the company based in Manchester was satisfactory and settled properly as far as i could tell. Yes it was a little bit lengthy, but given the nature of the injury and physical job, I would not want to settle any quicker than 2 years anyway, as i would want to be sure the recovery was a good as it was going to get.... no point a settlement after 4-6 months (I was barely back to work after 6 months and still having physio for the first injury) unless absolutely certain you are fully recovered.

[PH]

I would not want to settle any quicker than 2 years anyway, as i would want to be sure the recovery was a good as it was going to get.... no point a settlement after 4-6 months (I was barely back to work after 6 months and still having physio for the first injury) unless absolutely certain you are fully recovered.

Of course, but for those who struggle with the loss of income, interim payments can be sought, it's down to the solicitor to pursue them.

[Geoff.D]

I had good service. Same person throughout. Prompt replies and clear paperwork for me to complete. Satisfactory and realistic settlement.

[markjohnobrien]

I had 3 months off work with multiple injuries after being side swiped by a car and had excellent service from S&G : however, I was helped that the solicitor dealing with the case was a former colleague of one of my mates from university

[JohnW]

I had 3 months off work with multiple injuries after being side swiped by a car and had excellent service from S&G : however, I was helped that the solicitor dealing with the case was a former colleague of one of my mates from university

Nice one

[Tdx8x]

Believe be mentioned before that I know of case still being fought over. Can't give you details at the moment for obvious reasons.
Let's just say it's based onS&G incompetence.

Can you give any more info on this yet Paulatic? I'm having a nightmare with Slayer & Gordon and can see a new case starting!

[Paulatic]

Believe be mentioned before that I know of case still being fought over. Can't give you details at the moment for obvious reasons.
Let's just say it's based onS&G incompetence.

Can you give any more info on this yet Paulatic? I'm having a nightmare with Slayer & Gordon and can see a new case starting!

You have a pm