If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you or you have concerns about your invoice then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. We have a complaints’ handling procedure in place which is available at our offices. Under current Codes of Practice, we have eight weeks to consider and respond to your complaint.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 14 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Robert Dudden who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

Robert Dudden will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be done within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

Within 14 days of the meeting, Robert Dudden will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.

If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Robert Dudden will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgment letter.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another director of the practice to review the decision.

We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may seek assistance from the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about poor service from legal practitioners.

The Legal Ombudsman can investigate complaints up to six years from the date of the start of the complaint or within three years of when you discovered the complaint. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must do so within six months of our final response to your complaint. If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman their contact details are as follows:

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Call 0300 555 0333 or 0121 245 3050 between 8.30am – 5.30pm

Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02) from both mobiles and landlines.

Calls are recorded and may be used for training and monitoring purposes.

For minicom call 0300 555 1777

Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton. WV1 9WJ

Do not send original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.

There are time limits within which complaints must be made to the Legal Ombudsman, as indicated below.

Generally speaking, your complaint should be made to the Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us 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.

You also need to be aware that the Ombudsman only deals with complaints from the following:

• an enterprise which, at the time that the complaint is made, is a micro-enterprise within the meaning of arts.1, 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, as that Recommendation had effect at the date it was adopted;
• a charity with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
• a club, association or organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee or committees of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
• a trustee of a trust with an asset value of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
• a personal representative of an estate of a person; or a beneficiary of an estate of a person.