Complaints
COMPLAINTS HANDLING POLICY
We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). We are committed to high quality legal advice and Client Care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service, the level of bill, or should there be any aspect of our service with which Clients are not satisfied, then you should inform us immediately so that we can try to resolve the problem.
Our definition of a complaint is:
“any written or verbal expression of dissatisfaction referred to any person in our organisation by a client.
A complaint can be identified through a letter, telephone call, e-mail, and fax or in the course of a face-to-face conversation.
A complaint may involve:
- Dissatisfaction with the handling of a case;
- Disappointment with an alleged lack of communication;
- Frustration with an alleged lack of case progress;
- An allegation of discrimination; or
- Dissatisfaction with the outcome of the case.
However, issues of a very minor nature, for example, not returning a non-urgent telephone call until the following day will not be recorded as a complaint.
It is the policy of the firm that:
- Every complaint made by a Client is reported and recorded centrally;
- Every complaint received is responded to appropriately;
- The cause of the problem is identified, appropriate redress is offered, and
unsatisfactory procedures are corrected
In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage.
If you would like to make a formal complaint then please contact to Mr Adnan Saeed on 01582 737952 or by post to Clody House, 90-100 Collingdon Street, Luton – Beds LU1 1RX. Please note that making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
What will happen next?
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within seven working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
We will investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our compliant handler, Mr Adnan Saeed in the first instance, who:
- Reviews the matter with any staff member involved;
- Identifies the cause of any problems of which the Client has complained
- Determines what degree of validity the complaint has; and
- Decides how the complaint should be resolved.
Any complaints made where Mr Adnan Saeed had conduct of the matter are referred to Mr Faisal Mehmood.
We will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will do this within 28 working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
Within five days of that meeting, we will write to you confirming what took place and to set out any solutions that have been agreed with you. If you do not want a meeting, or it is not possible, you will be sent a detailed written reply to your complaint, including the suggestions for resolving the matter, within 28 working days of the acknowledgement letter.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another Director within the firm to review the decision.
We will write to you within 21 working days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. Contact details are as follows: PO Box 6806 Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ 0300 555 0333 * enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk ü www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Before accepting a complaint about 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 them: · Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint. If we have to change any of the above timescales, we will let you know and explain why.
Complaints about your bill
The above complaints procedure also applies to complaints arising concerning our bill. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; and that if all, or part, of a bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest. Raising concerns with our regulator, The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) 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 find information about raising your concerns with the SRA at www.sra.org.uk in the ‘For the public’ section.
Mr Adnan Saeed will keep details of all complaints received in a central record. Copies of any documents/correspondence showing how each complaint is resolved are also retained on the central record.
Mr Adnan Saeed has overall responsibility for handling complaints and carries out an analysis of the central record of complaints annually. Following this review, he decides whether any action can be taken to improve our services. The results of the review (i.e. any trends identified and action proposed) are documented.
Mr Adnan Saeed is responsible for the operation of this procedure. He will review it annually to verify that it is an ineffective operation.