Absurd bills

Hello everyone, and thanks in advance to whoever will be able to give me some guidance.
I am being unduly charged for unnecessary work by my solicitor (hourly rate 300). My bill is running in the 40k!
Here are some examples:
- SMS received at 11pm asking me to call before 7:30 am. Content of the information she wants to give is to send me again a Court Order I already have. Basically spam. An SMS takes 6 minutes in her itemised statement. Not to mention that an SMS at night is damn worrying. I could not sleep that night.
- I spent 14 nights 8pm-1am to respond to my wife''s questionnaire. I sent all my responses, had no advice or support whatsoever. I get charged 3 hours for turning my responses into first person. (I had responded naming myself "he, the Applicant" and wife "she, the Respondent).
In addition she arbitrarily decides to itemise my attachments with letters A,B,C ... instead of what I had done 1,2,3.
No change of contents or any advice on what to say, more or less.
- She distractly once sent very personal information to my work email, which is heavy monitored. Nothing came up from it, but this solicitor is really a failure.
- I am also billed for her time to travel to Court. Between her and the greedy wife, I am totally disappointed with the human race!

What to do? Wait till it''s over and sue them? Complain now? Verbally or in writing? Write to the Ombdusman? I am no doubt being abused by ruthless individual who know exactly how much I can afford and when.

If your unhappy with your solicitor why not change?

The only reason is the FDR next month. It would be risky to change now.

A solicitor provides a service and until you highlight inadequacies in that service there is nothing the solicitor can do. Give them the chance to correct their wrongs.

You could go to the Legal Ombudsman who will ask if you have been through the complaints procedure before sending you back to do so.

If you received a poor meal in a restaurant would you raise an issue with the staff and manager or would you write to head office in the first instance? If you raised the issue with the staff and they agreed to charge you only for the drinks and not the food would you be content?

Raise the issue and see what happens and escalate the issue if you do not receive the desired response.

Charles

You can always ask you solicitor or whoever deals with their accounts/bills to explain why you''ve received some of the charges. I have done frequently - eg - I was charged £35 for an email sent to me saying a Mrs **** telephoned to speak to me was it you??? - no it wasn''t me so I queried it and they credited my account. If you''re not happy with that solicitor you can change - I changed solicitors for a different problem just before my FDR it wasn''t a problem.
They will bill you for travelling time to court etc.. you are still in theory using their time - query the bills and ask for explanations. If you''re still not satisfied you can make a complaint with the legal ombudsman but there is a process initially you have to complain to your solicitors and wait for their response - would this make it a problem with them representing you???
Initially I would ask for an explanation and query the bills - you should not be charged for this - or if you''re unsure about that ask them first !