We employed Jane to write a draft version of a renovation by-law requested by our strata, after she was recommended to us by a member of the strata committee.
Jane was very responsive (answered all our emails and phone calls), and the quality of her work was great. Her fee is very reasonable considering her efforts/the results.
The previous reviews seem harsh to me.
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We retained Jane Crittenden Lawyers in Sydney to draw up a proposed by-law for renovations in our unit.
Initially we received great service from one of her associate lawyers, but the lady who was dealing with our motion left the firm and it was downhill from there!
After signing consent forms in December 2018, we heard nothing back until February 2019, when a new associate emailed us to say they had no record of our signed consent forms, and asking us to pay their invoice which he attached for the first time..
We asked them to resend the forms with another copy of the draft motion, but this all took place just 2 days before we left for the United States to assist my daughter, who's father was critically ill.
He in fact passed away 3 weeks later, so we were not keeping up with our emails, nor were we connected to international roaming.
We did not hear from them again till early May, when they sent a demand for payment, but we were in a very difficult financial situation because of the additional unforeseen expenses and the fact that my husband's disability pension had been suspended due to him being overseas longer than 38 days.
We emailed back asking that they graciously allow us to sort out the invoice on our return at the end of May, when we would apply for an early drawdown from my husband's superannuation.
Not only did they refuse, but Jane Crittenden herself gave me an ultimatum on the phone to pay the invoice in full, 3 days before our scheduled return to Australia. After screaming threats at me, and suggesting we sold our home to pay our debt to her / less than $900 - she hung up the phone on me.
We managed to scrape together half the amount owing, which we paid via eft, and immediately upon our return, we applied for the withdrawal from my husband's Super and payed the balance by the date we had promised to pay.
Their response was to send a receipt for the payment, along with a brief, curt email informing us that it was no longer appropriate for them to continue acting for us and telling us to find another lawyer!
We will do so with pleasure. We would not have them do any further work for us, even if there was no one else willing to act for us.
We are both retired, living on pensions, but we have an unblemished credit record, my husband is currently doing jury service and we are beyond shocked at their cavalier, heartless attitude towards us when we suddenly found ourselves in a serious, stressful family situation overseas, unable to comply instantly with their demands.
Overall, dealing with Jane Crittenden and her associate lawyers has been a horrible experience, and we will definitely be sharing this experience with our strata management company!
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We engaged Jane Crittenden as she came highly recommended. Initial contact was professional but once the contract was signed, customer service became non existent. Totally unresponsive ( ignored multiple phone calls and emails) and disinterested in our case. I could have represented myself and achieved the same outcome.
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We engaged this firm on a strata matter. We did not feel we received the service we expected and we're very dissatisfied with the outcome. We found their handling of our complaint to be dismissive and unsatisfactory.
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