Complaints procedure

We are confident that we will give you a good quality service. However, if you have any complaint about the way in which your matter has been dealt with, this is the procedure which will be followed.

1. A complaint is an oral or written expression of dissatisfaction which alleges that the complainant has suffered, or may suffer, financial loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment.
2. We aim to resolve any complaint you have about the service we have given you as quickly as possible. If you are unable to sort things out with the person who has been dealing with your matter, please contact Elizabeth Spencer at our office.
3. Once your complaint is received, Elizabeth Spencer will contact you within 7 days to explain how your complaint will be investigated. If Elizabeth Spencer is away from the office for a longer period, a senior member of staff will contact you. If a complete response to your complaint cannot be given by that time, you will be told the latest date by which a complete answer will be given. This will not be more than 28 days from receipt of the complaint. If you have made the complaint verbally, we will set out in our full response our understanding of the nature of your complaint.
4. The assessment of the complaint will be based upon a sufficient and fair investigation. We will explain in writing our findings and where the complaint is upheld will offer remedial action or redress. This will be actioned promptly.

If after following the review process you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint, you may contact directly the Legal Ombudsman to ask them to consider the complaint further:
Tel. No. 0300 555 0333
Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ

Unless it agrees there are good reasons not to do so, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to allow us to consider and respond to your complaint in accordance with the procedure set out above in the first instance. You can refer your complaint up to 6 months after you have received our final written response to your complaint. You can also use the Ombudsman service if we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks of us receiving it. A complaint can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman up to 1 year from the date of the act or omission or up to one year after discovering a problem.

The Ombudsman deals with service-related complaints; any conduct-related complaints will be referred to the Council for Licensed 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, who are our statutory regulator.

Alternative complaints bodies (such as ProMediate, https://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.