Complaints Procedure

We want to give you the best possible 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.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage.  Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

Our Complaints Procedure:

If you have a complaint, contact us with the details.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within 3 working days of us receiving your complaint.

We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. We will do this within a working day of receiving your complaint.

We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:

We will pass your complaint to Mr. John Cosgrove, our Client Care Director, within 5 working days

He will ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within 5 working days, to him.

He will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. And, if necessary, he may also speak to them. This will take up to 5 working days from receiving their reply and the file.

Mr. Cosgrove will then send you a detailed reply to your complaint, including any suggestions for resolving your complaint. He will do this within 5 working days. If appropriate he may invite you to a meeting.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways.

Another director of the firm will review Mr. Cosgrove’s decision within 10 working days

We will ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 5 working days. We will let you know how long this process will take

We will invite you to agree to independent mediation within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour.  This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

You can raise concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. (http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page).

 

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves.  They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.  If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint

And

• No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
• No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ