Cowra solicitors - Western Rivers Legal

Andy Stucken caused us nothing but grief.We chose him because we wanted someone local, who if we had any issues, we could go and speak to them in person. I am writing this review so that any person wanting to enlist Andy has a clear idea of what they are getting themselves into. There were no reviews when we enlisted Andy’s services and I wish there had of been.We continually told Andy that we were homeless and required this to be processed asap as every day without a home was costing us money in accommodation and storage of our belongings. The owners also needed this transaction processed asap due to a rare vacancy in a retirement home. Andy constantly stated in his emails and phone conversations “we are in no rush…If you still wish to proceed…when you are ready”, leading us to believe he did not listen to us or have sympathy for our current position and understand both parties were financed and very eager to proceed.Andy was very difficult to contact and his communication efforts were very poor, often waiting until the last minute to communicate issues/problems that had arose (last minute meaning, after business hours on Friday). His vocabulary was very convoluted and difficult for any non-legal person to understand and he continually failed to clarify the information he has conveyed to us, even when asked to clarify, he would say “I can’t possibly make it any clearer”.Let me be clear, no other vendor or professional involved delayed this transaction. We actually had to enlist the help of a separate conveyancer to continue moving forward with this transaction as Andy failed to follow our direct instructions on multiple occasions. For example, he failed to tell us of documents we needed to complete (who knows when he would have instructed us?!). We requested, on multiple occasions, if there was anything we needed to complete, to let us know as soon as possible, he failed to mention these documents on all those occasions. The documents he failed to tell us about (until our other conveyancer made us aware) were the VOI, the first home buyer’s application and pexa authorization. Being first home buyers, we relied heavily on his guidance, and time and time again he let us down. Our other conveyancer actually apologized to us over the phone and stating “Buying your first house shouldn’t be this hard. I am so sorry you have enlisted a dud conveyancer [Andy Stucken]. You should consider legal action.”The one time we did meet Andy in person he refused to shake my hand at the start of the meeting (stating no reason for it, I would have understood if he was taking his own covid precautions but he mentioned no such thing and ignored me) then proceeded to only make eye contact with my Husband, speaking directly to him and not to me. Very disappointing in this day and age.Andy failed settlement twice for us, once because he failed to contact the bank! We continually advised him that we could not contact the bank because we were not customers yet, but he failed to listen and continued to ask us to contact the bank. We ended up having to get our mortgage broker to book and confirm the bank for settlement due to his incompetence.All in all, would not recommend Andy’s conveyancing services.