Shopping in Tesco Legal Store
by Neil Howlett
Tescolaw (www.tescolegalstore.com)
opened its virtual doors in July 2004. I
have strolled down the electronic aisles as a mystery shopper. By the time I
reach the exit, I have been reminded of how scared some people must be of
lawyers and I have been given a lesson in customer service. However, I am still
unconvinced that this development is a major contribution to access to justice.
Tesco Legal Store is a part of the Tesco website, along with groceries, DVD's, books, power, holidays, wine, mobile phones and financial services. It offers free information online, links to other legal sites, and products for sale.
It advertises itself saying "Legal Store Customers like":
* Saving costly legal fees
* A 30 day money-back guarantee
* Simple, clear information
* Forms to download and use straight away
* Earning Clubcard points on purchases.
The free information is categorised by legal topic, but is largely unstructured. It is mostly random legal FAQ's, which are unlikely to help a consumer looking to help with a specific problem. By comparison with the CLS site at www.clsdirect.org.uk (the new CLS site which used to be JustAsk) or NACAB's www.adviceguide.org.uk, it is poor. Most of the free pages link directly to offers of commercial products, although that is the way the internet often works.
The free advice pages do also link indirectly to "our" Find a Lawyer Service, which is actually a link to the Law Society's website. The Law Society says that the directory has received an increased number of hits since Tesco Legal Store started. However, this site is not without problems, (e.g., it only includes membership of Law Society accredited Specialist Panels, or self accredited specialities). There is a real need for a website which includes all accreditations and other sources of help, such as advice centres.
To be fair, the Tesco site says that it does not offer legal advice. However it offers products that purport to help with legal problems. The exclusions of liability which pop up at various stages are complicated, and go to the full limit of the law; Tesco and Lawpack say they will only accept any liability if you are killed or injured from using their products, which seems unlikely. The site does encourage consumers to seek legal advice but exactly at what stage they should do so is unclear. I fear from experience that some of the people who think they can do it themselves will only accept that they need professional advice after they have created situations that will cost them even more to put right.
Much of the site is concerned with selling forms and "How To" books produced by Lawpack. The forms can be downloaded as zip files, which open as Word documents, and most cost £1.99. Some less experienced computer users may be unclear whether they should save the forms to disc or open them directly, but Mac users will be pleased there is an option for them. Books can be ordered and come by first class post, many with forms on CD. Are they good value for money compared with the information and forms available for free online?
I looked at two of the forms available under the heading "Accidents and Injury". The first was an "Insurance Claim for Property Damage Form", which the site says you can "send to your insurance company to tell them you're making a claim, and to ask for a claim form to be sent to you". This amounts to a half page letter, which highlighted options to complete. It is hard to see the value in this, unless you are the kind of person who will forget to include your Policy Number or address in a letter to your insurers.
That is really a detail; the whole form is redundant. Most home insurers register claims by phone, and do not bother with claim forms. This includes Tesco themselves, and I would praise the explanation of their telephone claims process in the FAQ's on www.tescofinance.com. Why pay £1.99 to do something more slowly?
I then tried the "Referral to Ombudsman Form", of which the site says, "Send this letter to the Insurance Ombudsman to explain a dispute you're having with an insurance company, and ask them to investigate the problem". As the Financial Ombudsman Service site at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk provides well written explanations of procedures, FAQ's and referral forms to complete online or download (or which they will complete for you over the phone) I wondered what LawPack could be offering for £1.99. What they offer is an even shorter letter addressed to the Insurance Ombudsman Service. To start with the IOB was replaced by the FOS in November 2001.
It is hard to think of any words to describe these products other than "rip-off". The most prominent paragraph of the site warns "Lawyers can be expensive - why not see if you can handle the problem yourself?" It is no defence to say that the unit price is small if the products offered are poor.
I raised these points with Tesco under their 30 day money back guarantee and I had both a refund and a reasoned response and apology within one working day. Within a week the IOB form was removed, and an amended FOS letter was made available for free. That is commendable, although I still think consumers would be better advised to go to the FOS website.
I also compared the "Separation and Divorce - Self Help Kit" for £9.99 with the free information available online. The book was written in 2003 so does not include anything about FDR Hearings, and it could say more about Mediation. It is practical and is clearly and simply written but includes little beyond what is available from free websites accessible through sites like www.venables.co.uk, such as www.divorceaid.co.uk or www.divorce-lawfirm.co.uk.
Much of this free information could in fact be accessed via the Tesco Legal Store Links page, which is good, up to date and with enough information to make it more than just a list of URLs. For instance, the "You and the Courts" section of the Court Service website has new simple stage by stage explanations of processes, which also has the direct links to the forms in PDF format, and includes features such as a user friendly calendar to show how to calculate dates.
There is so much good information available for free on the web that it is hard to see that it is worth paying for this, although you can read a book in private (my children got quite worried looking over my shoulder while I was researching this article). I could have got the book cheaper on Amazon, and I was amazed to be offered so many other books on the same subject, including "Divorce for Dummies". On price the best value seemed to be the Dorling Kindersley book of Divorce and Finances second hand for only £2.35!
Tesco Legal Store may be a curate's egg, but the bits that are bad really stink (though Tesco have said they will review them). Generally consumers would save money by being directed to free sites, and there is a conflict to be resolved between selling things they could get for free, and funding their access to that free information.
There is so much good information on the internet. I use it myself, and I refer my clients to it when appropriate. The demand is there, not just "silver surfers", but the motley crew who now fill that part of my local library given over to "The People's Network". The USP of libraries was that their resources were organised in a structured way and if you got lost there was always someone to ask where to find it and which book would be best for you. The internet hasn't solved that problem yet, or worked out how to finance it.
Readers of this article are likely to be in the legal profession; they will know of www.venables.co.uk and they will have their own list of "Favorites". If Tesco Legal Store helps members of the public access good advice that is a good thing. They will get some, but they may pay for it when they don't need to.
Neil Howlett is a solicitor in private practice who suffers a fascination with the internet, which variously delights and exasperates him. Email neilmhowlett@hotmail.com.
Note from Delia: There will be an article next time by Alan Chance, of Lawpack, about how the site was developed. Other contributions to the general debate are also invited; What do you think of the site? What does it mean for Solicitors?
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