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 maintain and improve our standards.
Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact Miss Jacqueline Samuels with the details.
What will happen next?
Miss Samuels will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within two days of receiving your complaint. She will also let you know who will be dealing with your complaint.
She will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. She will do this within a day of receiving your complaint.
She will then start to investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:-
(a) If she acted for you, she will consider your complaint. She will then send you her detailed reply. This will include her suggestions for resolving the matter. She will do this within 28 days.
(b) If someone else acted for you, she will ask them to give her their reply to your complaint within five days. She will do this within a day.
(c) She will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. She may also speak to the person who acted for you. She will do this within three days of receiving their reply and the file.
(d) She will ask another independent local solicitor to investigate your complaint and report to her. She will do this within 10 days. She will let you know how long this process is likely to take.
She may then write inviting you to meet her and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. She will do this within three days of completing her investigation.
Within two days of the meeting she will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions she has agreed with you.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you can let her know. Miss Samuels will then arrange to review her decision. This may happen in one of the following ways:-
(a) She will review her decision herself within five days.
(b) She will arrange for someone who is not connected with the complaint to review her decision. She will do this within 10 days. She will let you know how long this process is likely to take.
(c) She will ask her local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 10 days. She will let you know how long this process is likely to take.
(d) She will invite you to agree to independent mediation within five days. She will let you know how long this process is likely to take.
Miss Samuels will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At this time she will write to you confirming her final position on your complaint and explaining her reasons.
If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman about your complaint. Their contact details are as follows:-
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
You need to bring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our conduct. 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 at
www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page