Our complaints policy
We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have given, please let us know right away so that we can do our best to sort things out. This will also help us to maintain and improve our standards from now on.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact us with the details. You do not have to write down your complaint and can bring it to our attention in any reasonable way, but a letter or email may help to summarise the matter.
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 3 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
We will then look into your complaint. Brian Watters, the principal of the practice, will review your matter file and speak to any other person involved.
Brian will then invite you to have a meeting (either in person or online or on the phone, subject to Covid-19 regulations and best practice) to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
Within 3 days of the meeting, Brian will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions you have agreed with him.
If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter Brian will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for Brian to review his decision.
We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Please be reassured that there will be no charge made to you for using this procedure.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
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 6 months of receiving a final response to your complaint
and
– No more than 6 years from the date of act/omission; or
– No more than 3 years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for 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 9.00 to 17.00.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help 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.
Visit the SRA website to see how you can raise your concerns with them: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
Revised: January 2022