Complaint Information

OUR COMPLAINTS POLICY & PROCEDURE

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.

WHAT IS A COMPLAINT?

A report by a client that their expectations of what they consider to be a good service have not been met.

MAKING A COMPLAINT

You can register the complaint with the person dealing with your matter or directly with Richard Cramer, Managing Director at our Office Address.

In the first instance, we’d prefer if you write to us with full details of your complaint so that we have a good understanding of the issues being highlighted.

Richard Cramer is responsible for ensuring that complaints are handled effectively and in accordance with this procedure. This procedure will also apply to prospective clients who we have refused to provide a service to or persistently or unreasonably offered an unwanted service to but only if the complainant has evidence to show that we did not have reasonable grounds to do so.

INVESTIGATING THE COMPLAINT

1. We will acknowledge the complaint within seven days.
2. We will conduct a full investigation and an independent review of the matter.
3. We aim to respond in full within 28 days. However, if the complaint is of a more complex nature we will require more time but we will let you know when you will receive a full response.
4. We will reply to you, usually in writing to tell you of our views on the complaint and how we propose to resolve it, hopefully to your satisfaction. You will also be advised in what timescale you will be given an initial/substantive response.
5. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, or the way the complaint has been handled, you may write to Richard Cramer who will make such further investigations as are necessary.
6. Richard Cramer will inform you of the conclusions and any alternative proposals to resolve the complaint, usually within 28 days of this subsequent contact.
7. If still unresolved at this stage, you may take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman whose contact details are given below or, in accordance with the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations, to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Scheme Provider.
8. We record all complaints received from clients centrally to identify the cause of any issues or trends leading to a requirement to correct any unsatisfactory procedures.

LEGAL OMBUDSMAN

The Legal Ombudsman is the independent body established by the Office for Legal Complaints under the Legal Services Act 2007 to deal with complaints against Solicitors.

The Legal Ombudsman may:

• Investigate the quality of professional service supplied by a solicitor to a client.
• Investigate allegations that a solicitor has breached rules of professional conduct.
• Investigate allegations that a solicitor has unreasonably refused to supply a professional service to a prospective client
• Investigate allegations that a solicitor has persistently or unreasonably offered a professional service that the client does not want

Before it will consider a complaint the Legal Ombudsman generally requires that the firm's internal Complaints Procedure (outlined above) has been exhausted. If the Legal Ombudsman is satisfied that the firm’s proposals for resolving a complaint are reasonable, it may decline to investigate further.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The Legal Ombudsman’s address and contact details are:

PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Tel 0300 555 0333

legalombudsman.org.uk

enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION SCHEMES

Alternative complaints bodies (such as Ombudsman Services www.ombudsman-services.org/) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.

However, we don’t currently agree to use this Alternative Dispute Resolution service in view of the availability of the independent Legal Ombudsman Service established under the Legal Services Act 2007. We are bound by our Regulatory Code to comply with the Legal Ombudsman.

CONTRACTS ENTERED INTO ONLINE

If we are unable to resolve your complaint which relates to a contract entered into online, you may contact the Online Dispute Resolution providers by accessing the following link http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr