COMPLAINTS
We want to give you the best possible legal service, however, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
Formal Complaints Procedure
We are sorry that you have felt the need to complain about our service. We hope that the following procedure will enable us to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction.
The firm operates a complaints handling procedure to ensure that it knows about client dissatisfaction when it arises and the firm will take all reasonable steps to ensure that those complaints are addressed and resolved and that the client is reassured as quickly as possible.
The firm takes all complaints seriously so that it can also learn from the experience and lessen the risk of complaints in the future.
If you have not been able to obtain a satisfactory response from the person dealing with your matter you should contact the appropriate Head of Department by telephone or in writing introducing yourself and setting out the grounds of your concerns or complaint so that they can get a general idea as to the extent of your complaint, your concerns and the circumstances surrounding your case.
The people with responsibility for administering the complaints procedure and responding to formal complaints or concerns are the Heads of the respective Departments:
and then failing an appropriate solution Rachel Gaylor who is the firm’s Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. If your complaint is against one of the Heads of Department then you should contact Rachel Gaylor. If your complaint is about Rachel Gaylor then you should contact Richard Rodway.
In order that there is no uncertainty on the specifics of your complaint it is likely that the Head of Department may ask you to commit the grounds of your complaint in writing highlighting the areas which concern you and the areas which you feel the firm has fallen below the standards you expected. In those circumstances Rachel Gaylor should be sent a copy of that written complaint. If you are not able to put your complaint in writing then please request an appointment with the Head of Department or Rachel Gaylor.
The Heads of Department after receiving those written details will launch an internal investigation over the handling of the case and the concerns and circumstances you have described and will in the normal course of events attempt to respond to and satisfy those concerns and complaints within 7 days either by letter or by the offer of a meeting.
If the extent of the complaint or concerns is more complicated and requires more than 7 days to investigate and report then the Head of Department will at the point of acknowledging your written complaint advise as to the extended period of time that will be required to complete the investigation.
Within 14 days of any meeting or the conclusion of any exchange of correspondence the Head of Department will write to confirm the final agreement or solution.
At this stage if you are still not satisfied will you please let Rachel Gaylor know. She will then arrange to review the decision. She will generally aim to do this within a further 14 days.
We will let you know the result of the review within 7 days at the end of the review when Rachel Gaylor will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reason.
Time Limits for Complaining
The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising or when you should reasonably have known there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
We will aim to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible and well within the period of 8 weeks but if you remain dissatisfied after this internal procedure or we have failed to resolve the complaint within 8 weeks then you may complain direct to the Legal Ombudsman at the address below.
You should do this within 6 months of the end of our complaints process in order to ensure that the Legal Ombudsman will deal with your complaint.
Legal Ombudsman Contact Details:
Legal Ombudsman
P O Box 6167
Slough SL1 0EH
Tel: 0300 555 0333 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. Whether we agree to use ProMediate will be decided on a case by case basis and we will notify you of this if we are unable to resolve your complaint satisfactorily.
We hope very much that this will not be necessary.
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
For complaints that relate specifically to an alleged breach of the SRA Standards and Regulations including the SRA Accounts Rules, you should refer the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could be for things like general misconduct, losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. The SRA will not investigate complaints about services provided by firms – they will refer such matters to the Legal Ombudsman.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority in writing to Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN or by telephone on 0370 606 2555 between 8am to 5pm. Except Tuesday 9:30am to 5pm.
You can also report a solicitor on the SRA’s website, the full details of which can be found on the link below https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/
