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Complaints Handling 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

If you have a complaint about our service or a bill that we have rendered or both, please contact us with the details.

The person to contact is Chris Gaiger, and he can be reached at:

If Chris Gaiger is not available or it is not appropriate for him to deal with the complaint, Will Day will deal with the process in his place. Mr Day is a solicitor and partner at the firm.

What Will Happen Next?

  1. 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.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Christopher
    Gaiger who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
  3. Mr Gaiger will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be
    done within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  4. Within 14 days of the meeting, Mr Gaiger will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions
    he has agreed with you.
  5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Mr Gaiger will send you a detailed written reply to your
    complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 14 days of sending you the
    acknowledgement letter.
  6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another
    partner or someone unconnected with the matter at the practice to review the decision.
  7. 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.
  8. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
  9. If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman at:
    Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Minicom: 0300 555 1777 Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

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

and

  • No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
  • No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We do not agree to use Promediate.