Complaints Procedure
Our 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.
Our complaints procedure
We aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service and are confident that we do so. However, should there be any aspect of our service with which you are unhappy with and which cannot be initially resolved with the person who has conduct of your file you may raise the matter in writing, with the senior partner, Ian Springall who will peruse your file and discuss this with the fee earner concerned.
The following will then happen:
- Within three days we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain any further details. If it seems appropriate we will suggest a meeting at this stage. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint which generally would be Ian Springall unless he is on holiday or unavoidably away from the office when it would be Gillian Danger.
- We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will also investigate your complaint in detail.
- We would hope to be in a position to write to you further no longer than 8 weeks after receiving your letter of complaint to Ian Springall who will write fully to you setting out his views on the situation and any redress that we would feel to be appropriate. If you would prefer to meet to discuss the file we will be very pleased to arrange a meeting.
- Within three days of any meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions that we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within a further 10 working days. This will happen in one of the following ways:-
Ian Springall will review his own decision;
Gillian Danger will review your complaint;
If you remain dissatisfied following our review, we may refer the matter to an independent complaints handler, Leila Chaudry of Legal Compliance Consultants. She previously worked for the Law Society investigating complaints of misconduct and poor service.
After this process, if you remain dissatisfied you still have the right to escalate your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.
- We will let you know the result of the review within five working days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We will also give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact them about your complaint. We very much hope that this will not be necessary.
If you are still not satisfied, the next step is for you to contact the Legal Ombudsman by one of the following methods:
Telephone : 0300 555 0333
Overseas: +44 12 245 3050
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
In writing : PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
The Ombudsman service is only available to members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. If you are unclear about your position, then you should contact the Legal Ombudsman direct to clarify whether or not they can deal with your complaint. Alternatively, please refer to the Legal Ombudsman’s scheme rules which are available by clicking on the following link:
http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/downloads/documents/publications/Scheme-Rules.pdf
You have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman at the conclusion of our complaints process providing you do so within 6 months of the date of our final written response.
In addition, 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.
Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate (http://www.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. Tinklin Springall does not agree to use ProMediate as we prefer the Legal Ombudsman’s clear adjudication process.
Contacting the Solicitors Regulation Authority
Separate to the procedure set out above please be aware you may contact The Solicitors Regulation Authority if you have concerns about the way in which our firm or our solicitors behave. Such concerns you feel may relate to treating you unfairly because of a personal characteristic (ie age, disability etc) or concerns as to honesty or integrity, or processing money we receive from you to hold on our client account. Please do visit The Solicitors Regulation Authority at Solicitors Regulation Authority for further information in this respect.
