Our complaints policy:
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, write to 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 your letter within 2 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 day of receiving your complaint.
- We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within a day of your reply.
- We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps.
- We will pass your complaint to Mr. Roger Baldwin, our Client Care Partner, within3 days.
- He will ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within 5 days.
- 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 3 days from receiving their reply and the file.
- Mr.Roger Baldwin will then invite you to meet him and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 3 days.
- Within 2 working days of the meeting Mr. Roger Baldwin will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Mr. Roger Baldwin will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include his suggestions for resolving the matter. He will do this within 5 days of completing his investigation.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can write to us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways.
- Another partner of the firm will review Mr. Roger Baldwin’s decision within 10 days.
- We will ask another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 5 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.
8. We will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We will also give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman. If you are still not satisfied, you cancontact them about your complaint.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint or after 8 weeks from making a complaint, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman on 03005550333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.ukor by post at PO BOX 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ to consider your complaint. You may have a right to object to our bill by making a complaint to the same body and/or applying tothe Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. You should though be aware that if all or part of the bill remains unpaid we may be entitled to charge interest.
You can ask the Legal Ombudsman to investigate a complaint up to 6 years from the date of the problem happening or within 3 years of when you should have found out about the problem but must do so within 6 months of our final response to your complaint to us.