Price: Consumers “often do not know who to trust”
Financial adviser rating and review website VouchedFor has said it is aiming to sign up 1,000 solicitors in the next few weeks.
The site, which has published 10,000 reviews of independent financial advisers and mortgage brokers, plans to launch its solicitor service to consumers in September.
Like TripAdvisor, VouchedFor.co.uk relies on customer ratings and reviews, from which other customers can make comparisons.
Sam Spurrell, new categories manager at VouchedFor, said the ultimate goal was to have all the solicitors in the country on the website.
Mr Spurrell said that, from yesterday, they can register for the ‘beta’ version of the site. Some have already been involved in a test site.
“The feedback we’ve had from solicitors is that clients pay more attention to quality of service than price alone,” he said.
Mr Spurrell said solicitors would have free access to the site for the first three months, after which they could pay to log in and access additional marketing services.
He said only qualified solicitors would be featured for the time being, though the site may, in the future, be expanded to include barristers and legal executives.
Mr Spurrell said no review would go live on the website until solicitors had verified, from clients’ names and emails, that they were genuine.
“Otherwise, to stop fraudulent reviews, we will go to the client and ask them to provide emails or letters,” he said.
“Our experience of the financial adviser service has shown that it has no similarity to ‘Solicitors from Hell’.
Adam Price, founder of VouchedFor, said the site offered huge benefits for “small practice solicitors” across the country.
“When looking for advice consumers often do not know who to trust. We’re glad that VouchedFor can help bridge that trust gap for solicitors.”
Mr Price said the site received “hundreds of thousands of visitors” and was promoted through Google, word-of-mouth and relationships with national newspapers.
