Complaints policy
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 so that we can put it right and to help us to improve our standards. So that we can put things right, we ask that you contact us as soon as possible after you feel dissatisfied; this should be within 6 months of becoming aware of the issue you wish to complain about. if you express concerns about the services you have received from us, unless you tell us otherwise, we will treat your comments as a complaint.
Our complaints procedure
Initially you should take up any concerns with the member of the company dealing with your matter.
What will happen next?
- If you have contacted us in writing, we will send you a letter or email acknowledging your complaint within 21 days. We may ask you to confirm or explain any details. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
- We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint.
- They will commence investigations and we aim to let you have a formal response to your complaint within a further 21 days.
- If appropriate, we might invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint and we would hope to be in a position to invite you to a meeting no later than 35 days after first receiving your complaint.
- Within 7 days of any meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions that we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
- At this stage if you are still not satisfied, please let us know within 1 calendar month of our response to you. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally do this within 28 days. This will happen in one of the following ways at our sole discretion:-
- Mark Jefferies, who is one of our directors and has responsibility for complaints will review the initial decision in the light of any further comments you may have made.
- We may arrange for someone else in the company who has not been involved in your complaint to review it.
- We may ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. We will let you know how long this process will take.
- We may invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
- We will let you know the results of the review within 7 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. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the complaints process or if we have taken more than 8 weeks to resolve your complaint, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
- The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. The Legal Ombudsman expect complaints to be made to them within 1 year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to you. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by:
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
- Alternative complaints bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should either you or our company wish to use such a scheme.
- 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 your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority by:-
Monday to Friday 8.45am - 5pm
