Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. We have been in business for over 200 years as a result of recommendations from satisfied clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our service.
In the first place, if you have a complaint, please speak to the person dealing with your case to discuss the problem with them. Experience shows the sooner problems are raised the more easily they are resolved. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
If you are not satisfied then please contact us with details of your complaint. We have eight weeks to deal with your complaint. If we are unable to resolve it within this time you have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
What will happen next?
- We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it.
- We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Derek Holland Senior Partner, who will review your case and speak to the member of staff who acted for you before responding. We will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and 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.
- We hope that we can resolve your complaint satisfactorily. However, if you remain unhappy with our response then you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body established under the Legal Services Act, who can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received from us.
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 contact details are: –
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Minicom: 0300 555 1777
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.