The firm is committed to providing a high standard of service to all our clients.
However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided, then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your matter to discuss your concerns, as that person is often best placed to clarify and resolve any issues for you and will do their best to do so.
If you feel uncomfortable about raising your complaint with that person directly, or if you have done so and feel that your complaint has not been resolved, then please contact Tania Austin, our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (ta@branchaustinmccormick.com), who will deal with the matter.
Please make your complaint to us in writing (whether by letter or email), with as much detail regarding the complaint as possible so that we can investigate it properly. Please ensure that the letter or email is clearly marked “Complaint”.
WE TAKE ANY COMPLAINT SERIOUSLY AND WILL DEAL WITH IT PROMPTLY. IT IS OUR AIM TO RESOLVE ANY COMPLAINTS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
Your complaint will be acknowledged, at the latest, within 5 working days of receipt by the relevant person.
It will be reviewed initially, and if on that review we feel further information is required from you in order to commence our investigation, we will advise you of this as soon as possible.
We will confirm to you that our investigation into your complaint has started and will either respond to you in full, or provide an update on progress, within 10 working days.
MAKING A COMPLAINT WILL NOT AFFECT HOW WE HANDLE YOUR MATTER.
Some matters will be more complicated, others less, and the timescale of the investigation will differ in each case. If an investigation takes longer, updates will be provided to you at regular intervals. However, we must conclude our investigations and provide you with our written response within 8 weeks—unless you and we agree on a longer period to resolve matters.
Once our investigation is concluded, we will provide you with a written response to your complaint. You are entitled to respond to our findings if you have any queries or are dissatisfied with our response. We will give such response our full consideration and endeavour to resolve any remaining issues.
WHAT TO DO IF WE HAVE NOT RESOLVED YOUR COMPLAINT
Whilst we hope that we will have been able to resolve your complaint, if you remain dissatisfied, then you can take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). The LeO will look at your complaint independently, and it will not affect how we handle your case.
You may complain to the LeO if we have not resolved your complaint within the eight week period.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the LeO will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first, unless the LeO considers that there are exceptional reasons to consider the complaint sooner, or without it having been made first to us, or if the LeO considers that in house resolution is not possible due to an irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between you and us.
The time limits within which you must ordinarily take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman are:
- Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
- No more than one year from the date of the act/omission; or
- No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
Contact details:
Contact Us | Legal Ombudsman
enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am and 5pm.
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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 another characteristic.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority: https://www.sra.org.uk/