Client Complaint
We take very seriously all expressions of dissatisfaction from our clients. If you wish to express any concerns verbally or in writing please contact either the lawyer you are dealing with or Melonie Smith who is the Complaints Partner, a Supervising Partner or other Supervisor identified in the client care letter sent to you at the start of your file. This document explains our procedures for handling complaints to ensure that each complaint is dealt with swiftly in an attempt to reach an amicable and satisfactory solution.
Informal verbal complaints should be addressed to your lawyer in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with their proposals, then the matter should be taken up with the Supervisor responsible for their work. The name of that person will have been given in your initial client care letter, but if you are unable to locate this, you can ask your lawyer or a member of our support staff. If the matter cannot be resolved informally with your lawyer, it would assist investigations if you were to fully detail your concerns in writing so there is less room for misunderstanding your concerns and requirements.
Written complaints will be acknowledged within 2 days of receipt. A full reply will be sent as soon as the matter has been investigated. We will always endeavour to provide a full response within 21 days. If that is not possible, an interim response will be given explaining why it is not possible to meet this deadline, when we expect our investigations to be completed and a response finalised.
All complaints (written or verbal) are recorded and logged centrally. Where necessary, we will implement corrective action in response to individual complaints and improvement measures to prevent adverse trends and correct recurring problems. In this manner, we aim to constantly improve the service we provide.
If you are a consumer and we have made a contract with you by electronic means you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us. That is at http://ec.europa.eu/odr
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.
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.
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
