Posted: Tuesday, 29 August 2023 @ 10:37
We live in times where we all exposed to erratic service particularly from large service providers.
By way of example, with the use of your mobile phone you can receive super market groceries delivered to your home within 30 minutes; alternatively if you want to speak to a human being at your mobile phone provider by telephone you may have to wait 60 minutes on hold (if you can find the relevant phone number as it may be deliberately hidden as the organisation seems to prefer to limit direct phone calls.)
What this appears to be is an issue of costs(lack of investment), a struggle of many organisations to deal with managing technology and a possible acceptance of mediocrity by organisations.
And this contrasting user experience extends to us litigation lawyers.
As a court user on
the one hand we have the High Court which if you end up at the Rolls Buildings
offers a fantastic service.
You file documents by e-filing which are often dealt
within an hour or so by Court staff, if not the same day.
You can call up the Court staff and
they will pick up the phone normally within three minutes, sometimes immediately. And the Court staff answer your question.
You can attend court
and your case will start on time.
However, you will not be so lucky in other courts.
If you need to obtain probate when a relative dies (you need probate if you seek sell the
Deceased's property typically or get access to bank accounts with significant monies still in them) you are
looking at six months minimum to get the critical probate document.
Also very good luck if you
have a query about your probate case as you can have a waiting time of more than 30
minutes to make that telephone call and speak to a human being who may or may not be able to help you.
Or
you could find yourself in the County Court(claims less than £100k) where you can a have a waiting time
of more than one year to deal with your case and say more than two years to get a
trial date.
However I am pleased to say some organisations know how to manage these challenges.
I
have a probate case and have two well known charities are beneficiaries. I have
approached both charities via the contact methods they suggest (email or messaging
system) with a view to getting help which will enable a not uncomplicated probate application to proceed.
Within a week both charities have clearly go to grips with the issue which is positive and shows that despite limited resources some organisations can manage well in the current climate if they possess the motivation and the know-how to do so.