Complaints Procedure

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. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our complaints’ procedure

In the unlikely event of you having a complaint, please contact our Complaints Manager, Pam Smith.

What will happen next?

Pam will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain, where appropriate, the details of your complaint. You should receive our letter within seven working days of us receiving your complaint. We will record your complaint in our central register.

We will then investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:

• A review of the relevant file;

• Discussion with the fee-earner(s) who acted for you.

We should complete our investigation and respond fully in writing, or invite you to a meeting to discuss your concerns, within 28 days of our letter of acknowledgement.

If you are not satisfied with our written response, we will (if a meeting has not already been held) invite you to meet Pam Smith and, where appropriate, the relevant fee-earner to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.

We will write to you within 5 working days of the meeting confirming what took place and the agreed solutions.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you can contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:

• We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it. They will do this within ten working days; or

• Alexander Weller – one of our Directors, will review your complaint within ten working days.

We will let you know the result of the review within five 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 still not satisfied, you can contact the legal ombudsman (LO) about your complaint.

More information about the LO can be found at www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by calling their helpline on 0300 555 0333. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the LO within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint and up to 1 year from the date of the act or omission or discovering a problem. The Ombudsman deals with service-related complaints; any conduct-related complaints should be referred to the Council for Licenced Conveyancers.

If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of work for which we are legally responsible, and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

Alternative complaints bodies such as Small Claims Mediation (UK) Ltd exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We agree to use Small Claims Mediation (UK) Ltd. Its website address is www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk.

Our Responsibilities

We will provide the agreed services with reasonable skill and care and in a timely manner subject to any specific engagement letter and these terms.

The work we carry out for you will necessarily reflect the circumstances in which the work is carried out. By way of example only, where work is carried out in restricted timescales, or unusual circumstances, you accept that we may be unable to provide you with the same level of written advice or confirmation as may be appropriate where such restrictions or circumstances do not exist.

Our work and advice will cover the agreed services for the purpose expressly made known to us by you. In the absence of specific instructions from you accepted by us in writing, we will not be obliged to provide, and can accept no liability for, advice or work beyond the scope of the agreed services or in relation to factors of which we were not made aware.

Your Responsibilities

You must provide us with timely, accurate and up to date information relating to the agreed services and notify us promptly of any material change in information or circumstances.

We will be entitled to rely on information which you give us without further verification unless expressly agreed otherwise.

You accept that we will be entitled to treat the person or persons instructing us as being fully authorised by you to do so, including in respect of accepting these terms and the terms of any specific or additional engagement letter.

We expect you to check all information and documents sent by us to you where it is apparent from the circumstances, or indicated by us, that you should do so and to notify us promptly of any incorrect statements or information of which you become aware.

You must tell us as soon as possible if matters are or become particularly urgent or require action by a specific time.

You accept that we may rely and act on advice or information provided directly, or through you, by other specialist advisers acting on your behalf.

Our role is to act as legal adviser. You will be solely responsible for all commercial, financial or business decisions that you make.

Last updated 13th December 2018