Complaints Policy

Complaints Policy

Our aim is to provide a high-quality service with which you will be satisfied. However, we do realise that on some occasions your expectations may not be met or that you may have a query or concern or simply be dissatisfied. You are entitled to complain about the services that we provide to you. We have a complaints procedure for handling complaints.

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients and when something goes wrong, we want you to tell us about it. Every complaint will improve our standards and our aim is to resolve every complaint with efficiency and with a view to improving the service we provide to you.

A complaint is any oral or written expression of displeasure with our people, business or other services we provide which has caused you to suffer financial loss, distress, inconvenience or other detriment.

For this reason, we operate a complaints handling procedure whereby should you have a complaint you are able to request a Client Complaint Form which can then be forwarded to our Complaints Manager, Aaron Burgess.

Complaints Procedure

The Complaints Manager will investigate the complaint and acknowledge this within five working days from the date of receipt of the Client Complaint Form and will invite you to a meeting to discuss the complaint and attempt to resolve it. In any case we will send a response to you within eight weeks from the date of your complaint.

If you are not able or do not want to attend a meeting, the Complaints Manager will explain in writing, and if possible, also by telephone, the outcome of their investigations and a suggestion for resolving the complaint.

If a meeting is held, the Complaints Manager will write to you within two working days of the meeting, confirming the discussions that took place and any solutions that have been agreed The firm will then arrange for a review of the Complaints Manager’s decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:

Another Partner or senior member of staff will review the complaint, and if necessary, re- investigate the details of the complaint. The local Law Society or another firm of solicitors will be asked to review the complaint. The Complaints Manager will ask the you to agree to independent mediation as detailed in our Client Care Letter.

The Complaints Manager will write to you within five working days of the conclusion of the review, detailing the outcome of the review, and what the firm’s final position is with regards to the complaint. This letter will contain details of the Legal Ombudsman, who should be contacted if you are still not satisfied.

Legal Ombudsman

At the end of our complaints procedure and should your complaint not be resolved

There are time limits for making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman: you should make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than:

• 6 years from the date when we have done or not done something which is the subject matter of your complaint; or
• 3 years from the date when you should have reasonably known that you could complain.

You also have 6 months to complain to the Legal Ombudsman from when you receive a final response from us. The Legal Ombudsman has indicated that this time limit and the time limits in paragraphs above must be met for a complaint to be accepted.