Our Solicitor’s 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.
For the procedure for making a complaint against AP Huskinson as a Notary Public please see Notary Terms of Business.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint please contact us with the details.
What will happen next
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 3 working 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 our client care partner Ralph Freeman (or if he or Stephanie Cumberland is the person who had conduct of your matter Roger Covell) who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. Ralph Freeman or Roger Covell as appropriate will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within 3 days of the meeting Ralph Freeman or Roger Covell as appropriate 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 Ralph Freeman or Roger Covell as appropriate will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint including his suggestions for resolving the matter within 21 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 to review the decision.
7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for review confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If you are still not satisfied you can then contact the Office for Legal Complaints, known as the Legal Ombudsman, at P O Box 6808, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ about your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within 6 months of the date of our final decision on your complaint but for further information you should contact the Legal Ombudsman (0300 555 0333 or enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk).
If we have to change any of the timescales above we will let you know and explain why.
Complaints to the Solicitors Regulation Authority
The SRA deals with cases where we have breached the SRA Principles. Complaints about poor service should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman If the Legal Ombudsman thinks your case involves a breach of the SRA Principles they will refer your case to the SRA Similarly if you report us to the SRA for poor service they will refer you to the Legal Ombudsman
The SRA can be contacted at
Email : contactcentre@sra.org.uk
Telephone : 0370 606 2555
Address : 199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
Further information can be found at :
Your right to complain/Solicitors Regulation Authority for which the link is www. sra.org.uk/consumers/instructing/your-right-to-complain/
Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman
If you have complained to us and you are not satisfied with our final response you can complain to the Legal Ombudsman
You will need to provide to the Legal Ombudsman documents which include evidence of your complaint to us (eg letter or email) and our response to you
You can complain to the Legal Ombudsman provided :
(a) your complaint has not been resolved by us to your satisfaction within 8 weeks of your making that complaint to us or
(b) the Legal Ombudsman considers that there are exceptional reasons to consider your complaint sooner or
(c) the Legal Ombudsman considers that in-house resolution is not possible due to irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between us
This time limit only applies if our written response to your claim includes prominently
(a) an explanation that the Legal Ombudsman is available if you remain dissatisfied
(b) full contact details of the Legal Ombudsman and
(c) a warning that your complaint must be referred to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of the date of our written response
If these 3 conditions are satisfied you must ordinarily refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our written response to your complaint
In addition ordinarily
(a) the act or omission you are complaining about or the date when you should have known there was a cause for complaint must have been after 5th October 2010
(b) the must refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman no later than 6 years from the act or omission or 3 years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint whichever is later
If the Legal Ombudsman considers that there are exceptional circumstances he or she may extend any of the above time limits to the extent that he or she considers fair
The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted at :
Email : enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone : 0300 555 0333
Address : PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Further information can be found at :
Bring your complaint to us/Legal Ombudsman for which the link is www.legalombudsman.org.uk/information-centre/consumer-resources/bringing-a-complaint-to-us