Look, I am a solicitor and I have to admit that our profession get things wrong sometimes. We get a lot of bad press and lot of it is rubbish, but some of it is justified.
From my experience in the past as an associate in a large firm, I can tell you that sometimes clients get messed around by the best of firms. If you work for a large firm you will be under enormous pressure to bill big hours, so will have far too many clients to keep happy. As a result some do not get good service. Even an excellent solicitor can give shoddy service. In my opinion the structure of solicitors' practices is all wrong. Essentially there are a few equity partners at the top of the tree who make all the money. Then there are the junior and senior associates, and the non-equity partners who have to deliver five times their salaries in fees in order to meet their targets so that the equity partners can bring home six to seven figure salaries. Inevitably the client loses out. This system does not put the client first. The associate or non-equity partner chooses a limited number of clients who get a rolls royce service. Everyone else gets attention when the solicitor can squeeze it into their day.
So essentially you need to find a good solicitor and get yourself on their rolls royce list. Mbay there's only one way to find a good solicitor - ask around. Talk to people you trust. Get a couple of recommendations. Meet the solicitors. Choose someone you can develop a good working relationship with. Choose someone who will value the work that you give them. Talk to the solicitor you choose about your and their expectations in terms of communication. Then accept that a good relationship with your solicitor is a two way street - if you are asked to provide information, provide it. When telling your story don't lie, exaggerate or leave things out. Agree fees up front and pay your bills in good time. Listen to the advice that you are given. Be prepared to accept that things may be more complicated than you would like, or that there may be no good solution to your problem.
I'm sorry that you've had such a poor experience so far. The easy thing to do would be to recommend that you leave your current solicitor. In reality that could just make things that much harder for you (hassle of moving file, new solicitor to become familiar with it etc). Perhaps the solicitor is a good one but for some reason not delivering for you. If that is the case the best thing to do would be to get to the bottom of the problem quickly, resolve it and move foreward. Full and frank discussion with current solicitor needed!