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 where appropriate.
If you have experienced a problem, thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We will do our best to address any dissatisfaction that you have experienced in using the services of this firm. Our primary objective is to listen to your concerns, investigate them and to clearly provide you with our objective response.
Our Complaints Partner is Norman Hartnell, Managing Director, and Solicitor. You may write to him at Oriel House, Southernhay Gardens, Exeter, Devon. EX1 1NP and/or by e mail at [email protected]. Any complaint should also be sent to Sally Cook at the same postal address and by email at [email protected]. Ms Cook will be responsible for acknowledging your complaint and conducting the initial investigations. It is helpful if you put your concerns in writing, but if you would find this difficult you should write or e mail as set out above and ask for a telephone appointment to discuss your concerns.
If you have additional needs which we should take into account due to language or disability please let us know.
To explain to you how long our 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?
- We will endeavour to write to you acknowledging your complaint within three working days of receiving it, where possible. We may ask you to clarify any details in writing, with supporting evidence.
- We will investigate your complaint, examine the file and speak to members of staff concerned.
- If appropriate we will invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter and, we hope, resolve your complaint. A full response will be sent to you in writing. We should be in a position to do this within 25 working days of first receiving your complaint. However, complaints may take up to eight weeks to deal with.
- At this stage if you are still not satisfied please let Sally Cook know and she will arrange for Norman Hartnell the Managing Director to review the position again. He may ask another Senior Lawyer who has not previously been involved to review the complaint and our response.
Alternatively we may ask our local Law Society to review your complaint. They will need to see the file. Please let us know if you have any objection to this. The Devon & Somerset Law Society offers a free independent conciliation scheme, details of which are available on their website at www.dasls.com
- We will write to you again within 15 working days of receiving your request for a review, setting out our final response to your complaint together with reasons.
Legal Ombudsman
The Legal Ombudsman may be able to help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve it with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- Within one year from the date of act/omission; or
- Within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.
Email: [email protected]
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Solicitors Regulation Authority
You may alternatively contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you have concerns as to whether we have breached any of their professional rules for Solicitors or 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.
Details will be found at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/principles and the SRA can be contacted at The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN or by emails to [email protected]
