Our complaint handling Policy
We are committed to providing high-quality legal services. This includes a commitment to putting things right when they go wrong. This policy explains how we will deal with any complaint that is referred to us. Your complaint might concern the way in which you have been dealt with, the quality of advice you have received or the amount of any invoice that you have received.
Our complaint handling procedure
If you have a complaint, please let us know, whether by post to this office or by e-mail to clerk@jplawsolicitors.co.uk. It would be helpful if you could let us know your concerns in writing, but if you would prefer not to, or if you would find it difficult to do so, please telephone us instead on 02086171340. To explain to you how long this process might take we have included our target times for each stage of the process. Where, for any reason, it is not possible to observe any of these limits we will let you know and explain why.
What will happen next?
- On receipt of your complaint we will send you a letter or email acknowledging your complaint and might invite you to a meeting to discuss your concerns. We will open a file for your complaint in our system and will examine the file on the work that this practice has been doing for you. We would look to acknowledge your complaint within two days of receiving it and will complete my initial examination within seven days.
- We might then invite you to a meeting or write to you to ask for further information. Alternatively, we might write to you setting out our views on the situation and proposing any redress that would seem to be appropriate. We will aim to write to you with our views and any suggestions within seven days of completing our investigations.
- Where we feel that we have failed in our standards we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
- You may, if you wish, approach the Legal Ombudsman who provides a service examining complaints against lawyers, including solicitors’ firms. The Ombudsman will usually expect firms to have concluded their examination of complaints within eight weeks their being notified of them and will require complaints to be referred to the Ombudsman’s office within six months of the end of our complaints handling process as set out above. The services provided by the Legal Ombudsman are limited to individuals and smaller organisations. – for more details of this service see the website. The full details of how to contact this office are as follows:
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 Minicom: 0300 555 1777 E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
You should note that the Legal Ombudsman will not be able to accept your complaint if:
- more than six years have elapsed from the date of the alleged act or omission giving rise to your complaint;
- more than three years have elapsed since the time that you should have known about your entitlement to make a complaint if later than above; or
- the date of the alleged act or omission giving rise to the complaint was before the 6th October 2010.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.