Complaints handling procedure
It is our aim to provide an excellent standard of service to our clients. We value feedback from clients greatly because it helps us to continually improve our service. If you do not feel that you are receiving excellent client service, or that something could be improved, please do tell us about it. If we have fallen short of the high standards we have set for ourselves then we would like the opportunity to learn from it and to put things right.
How to give feedback or make a complaint
Wherever possible it would be helpful if you could discuss any feedback or concerns with the fee earner dealing with your matter informally first, as they may be able to resolve your concerns swiftly without the need for a formal complaint. Alternatively, your concerns can be raised with the fee earner responsible for the supervision of your matter, who will be named in your Client Care letter sent to you at the outset of your matter.
However, if the fee earner dealing cannot resolve your concern informally, or if the issue is of such a serious or sensitive nature that you do not feel comfortable raising it with them, please raise your concerns with our Client Care Director, Jo Morris or with the Deputy Client Care Director, Grant McCall. If the complaint is about Jo Morris the matter will be considered by the Deputy Client Care Director, Grant McCall and if about Grant McCall, by Jo Morris.
How to make a formal complaint under this policy
To enable us to investigate and provide a thorough response to your concerns, we will need to form a good understanding of the issues. We would welcome hearing from you by email or by post with a brief explanation of:
• Why you feel dissatisfied with the service you have received.
• How you would prefer to be contacted about your complaint going forward.
• If there is anything in particular that you would like us to do to resolve your complaint.
Please address your concerns to Jo Morris, our Client Care Director, by email on jomorris@amdsolicitors.com, or by post to AMD Solicitors, 100 Henleaze Road, Bristol BS9 4JZ.
If you would prefer not to, or would find it difficult to send written details of your complaint in this way, please call 0117 9621205 to speak to our Client Care Director so that we can discuss the best way for you to give us an understanding of your concerns (for example, by phone, in a face-to-face meeting or video call).
What happens after I have made a complaint under this policy?
We will:
• Send a written acknowledgement of your complaint within five working days of receiving it.
• Investigate your concerns diligently, impartially and fairly. This may include reviewing your matter file and related records and discussing the issues with the team who have been working on your matter.
• Let you know promptly if we need any further information from you to assist our investigation
• Write to you to provide a formal Final Response to Complaint setting out the conclusion of our investigation and any proposals to rectify or resolve the matter.
If you would prefer a face to face meeting to discuss our response, we will offer you one.
If the matter is an ongoing matter at this stage the Client Care Director or Deputy will give both client and fee earner opportunity to elect for the matter to be taken over and completed by another fee earner within the department, if an alternative fee earner is available.
• Although this information is set out in this complaints procedure, at the end of our complaints process we will remind you of what you can do if you are unhappy with the outcome, that you may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, and how to do so.
• We will ask you to let us know whether we have succeeded in resolving your concerns and, if you accept any proposals made, we will fulfil the proposals promptly.
There is no fee for making a complaint and we will not charge you for investigating and responding to your concerns.
Your complaint will be investigated and handled independently of your legal matter. This means that if your legal matter is ongoing it will continue to progress as normal and will not be affected or disadvantaged by the complaints process, assuming no conflict of interests has arisen and that you continue to comply with the terms of our engagement as set out in our engagement letter and terms of business.
Please note that our terms of business provide that our invoices remain payable within 14 days regardless of the investigation of any complaint.
However, please be assured that if the outcome of any complaint investigation concludes that any adjustment or reduction in costs should be made, any reimbursement will be paid promptly at that time.
How long will it take?
We will aim to conclude our investigation and provide our Final Response as quickly as possible. Although we will always aim for sooner, the process may take up to eight weeks from receipt of your complaint.
In exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to extend these timescales. If this occurs, we will let you know in writing and will try to agree any variation with you first.
If your complaint is not resolved within eight weeks, you may be entitled to refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman at that time.
In certain circumstances we will consider and discuss with you whether it will be possible to provide an expedited complaints process with a view to offering an early resolution. If the outcome of this is not satisfactory to you then you will still be entitled to a full investigation and Final Response.
What might the outcome of my complaint be?
We sincerely regret any dissatisfaction which our clients experience and, if our investigation concludes that our service has fallen below our usual high standards, we will not hesitate to apologise. We may also make any proposals that we consider appropriate to resolve or improve your situation. Depending on the circumstances this may include, for example, an offer of reduced fees, an element of compensation, further assistance or other proposals. These are only examples and may not be relevant or appropriate in all cases. We may conclude that the service provided was reasonable, in which case we will explain this to you, setting out the information upon which this conclusion was reached.
When assessing the appropriate redress we have regard to how the Legal Ombudsman would approach matters, and their document “Guidance: Our approach to putting things right”.
We will also take steps internally to ensure that any problems that you have experienced will not reoccur.
What if I remain dissatisfied?
If you remain dissatisfied after receiving our Final Response, or in the unlikely event that you have not received a Final Response within eight weeks of receiving your complaint, you may be entitled to complain to the Legal Ombudsman about our service. The Legal Ombudsman will normally expect you to have exhausted our complaints procedure before referring the matter to them.
The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints independently and accessing the service will not affect how we handle your case (if ongoing).
Most private individuals and smaller organisational or business clients will be able to make use of the Legal Ombudsman scheme. However, there are restrictions for larger organisational and business clients. These are set out in the Scheme Rules, which can be accessed on the Legal Ombudsman website, details of which are given below.
Time limits apply to the service. In certain circumstances the Legal Ombudsman may exercise discretion to consider a complaint out of time.
The general rule is that you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and either:
- Within one year of the date of the act or omission, or
- Within one year of you realising that you had concerns.
Contacting the Legal Ombudsman
You can contact the Legal Ombudsman, or find further information about who can use their service and when, via the details set out below.
www.legalombudsman.org.uk
T 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 am to 5.00 pm
E enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Post Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Complaints about your bill
If you are complaining about our bill, in addition to referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you may be entitled to ask the court to assess your costs under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. However, be aware that if you have done so, the Legal Ombudsman may not be able to consider a complaint about the same issues
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Other ADR services providers exist that are competent to deal with complaints in the legal sector. However, AMD Solicitors believes that, where we have not been able to resolve matters, the Legal Ombudsman offers our clients the most appropriate forum to seek resolution of their concerns.
The Legal Ombudsman service considers complaints about the quality of legal services that clients receive. In the unlikely event that you have more serious concerns that a lawyer or the firm have been involved in professional misconduct then it may be appropriate for you to refer this to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. .We are bound by our professional code, the SRA Standards and Regulations which can be accessed at www.sra.org.uk.
