SSR Solicitors Limited – Complaints Handling Procedure
1. Our complaints 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 and services we provide.
2. Our complaints procedure
If at any point you become unhappy with the service we provide to you, then please inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem for you. We will therefore investigate your complaint in accordance with the terms of this complaints handling procedure.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, you have the option to have your complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints directed towards solicitors’ firms regarding legal services. Further details regarding this are provided at Section 4 below.
Once you have notified us of your complaint, we may ask you to put this in writing, which will allow us to fully understand your concerns and for us to conduct a thorough investigation before responding.
3. What will happen next?
Upon receipt of your complaint:
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 5 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a further copy of this procedure, if appropriate. If we require further information to allow us to properly understand the complaint, we will request it at this point.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Compliance Team who will review your matter and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. It may be appropriate for the team dealing with your case to provide a reply to your complaint, with the knowledge and assistance of the Compliance Team. Alternatively, it may be more appropriate for a member of the Compliance Team to respond.
4. Following any discussion held to try and resolve your complaint, your complaint handler will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions they have agreed with you within 5 days of such discussion or meeting.
5. If your complaint does not require internal further reviews or consultation to clarify any issues, we will aim to respond within 14 days of acknowledging your complaint. If further information is required from you, a response will be provided within 14 days of receipt of this information being provided. If we are unable to provide a response in that 14 day period we will advise you of this at the earliest opportunity. The Legal Ombudsman’s rules state that a final response must be provided within 8 weeks of the date of a complaint and in all cases we will provide a final response within that time.
4. Legal Ombudsman
If you remain unsatisfied with our response in respect of the service that we have supplied, you can contact.
the Legal Ombudsman at the address below.
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. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
Website : www.legalombudsman.org.uk Email : [email protected]
Tel : 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00
5. Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.
Visit their website www.sra.org.uk to see how you can raise your concerns with them.