If you have any complaint about the way in which your matter has been dealt with this is the procedure which will be followed:
A complaint is an oral or written expression of dissatisfaction which alleges that the complainant has suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, distress, inconvenience, or detriment.
We aim to resolve any complaint you have about the service we have given you as quickly as possible. If you are unable to sort things out with the person who has been dealing with you please contact the opposite Director Sue Drew or Lisa Dobbs.
Once we have received your complaint, Sue/Lisa write to you within 7 days to explain how your complaint will be investigated if a complete response to your complaint has not been made by that time. You will be told the latest date by which a complete answer will be given to your complaint (this should be not more than 28 days after we received your complaint). If you have made the complaint verbally - either at a meeting or on the telephone - we will set out in our full response our understanding of the nature of your complaint
The assessment of the complaint will be based upon a sufficient and fair investigation. We will explain in writing our findings and where the complaint is upheld will offer remedial action or redress. This will be actioned promptly.
If after following the review process you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint, you may contact directly the Legal Ombudsman to ask them to consider the complaint further:
Tel no: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
Postal: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
The Legal Ombudsman can normally only investigate a complaint if it has already been through our own complaints procedure. If the ombudsman receives a complaint which has not been through our complaints process, it will be referred to us to be dealt with in the first instance.
The Legal Ombudsman can accept complaints up to 6 years from the date of the act/omission or 3 years from when you should have known about the issue. We may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if our own complaints process has taken 8 or more weeks to complete.
Unless it agrees there are good reasons not to do so, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to allow us to consider and respond to your complaint in accordance with the procedure set out above in the first instance. You can refer your complaint up to 6 months after you have received our final written response to your complaint. You can also use the Ombudsman service if we have not resolved your complaint within 8 weeks of us receiving it. A complaint can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman up to six years from the date of the act or omission or up to 3 years after discovering a problem. The ombudsman deals with service‐related complaints; any conduct‐related complaints will be referred to the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.
Under the EU Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution alternative complaints bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should you wish to use such a scheme. Contact details for Ombudsman Services: Property are as follows:
Phone: 0330 440 1634
Fax: 0330 440 1635
Email: enquiries@os-property.org
Website: https://www.ombudsman-services.org/sectors/property
Post: PO Box 1021 Warrington WA4 9FE