Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided, we need you to tell us about it, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem. This will also help us to improve our standards.
You also have the right to make a report to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). 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 other characteristic.
Our Complaints Procedure
In the first instance please contact the member of the firm who is working on your case, to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you still have queries or concerns, and would like to make a formal complaint please contact Ian Horner, our client care partner. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
You can contact Ian Horner at: Wadsworth House, 30-40 Laneham Street, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN15 6PB or email on ianhorner@brrlaw.co.uk. If we have to change any of the timescales set out below we will let you know and explain why.
What will happen next?
1. We will send you an acknowledgement of your complaint and ask you to confirm or explain any details if required. If it seems appropriate we will suggest a meeting at this stage. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
2. We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will also investigate your complaint by examining the relevant file.
3. If appropriate we will then invite you to meet Ian Horner to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We would hope to be in a position to meet with you in this way no longer than 14 days after first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, Ian Horner will write fully to you setting out his views on the situation and any redress that we would feel to be appropriate.
4. Within 2 days of any meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions that we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within 10 days. This will happen in one of the following ways.
- Ian Horner will review his own decision.
- We will arrange for another partner in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it.
- We will review your complaint within 10 days.
- We will invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
6. We will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
7. If you are still not satisfied with our decision then you have the right to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, Tel. 0300 555 0333 between the hours of 9am and 5pm or email at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk website www.legalombudsman.org.uk. We very much hope that this will not be necessary.
8. The legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman
Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint
And
No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or from when you should have reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
If you have any concerns as to whether you are within the time limit for referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you can seek their guidance by contacting them at the telephone numbers or email address contained in paragraph 7 of this policy.
9. The complaints handling scheme operated by the Legal Ombudsman does not deal with complaints from most businesses unless they are a small enterprise. If you need guidance on this point you should contact the Legal Ombudsman whose details are set out at paragraph 7 above. The Legal Ombudsman will not deal with complaints from trustees where the asset value of the trust is more than £1m or from a club or association where it’s annual income exceeds £1m. We will deal with any complaints made by businesses, trusts, clubs and associations falling into such categories under our complaint handling procedures set out above.
Solicitors Regulation Authority No. 47538
If we have to change any of the procedures above, we will let you know and explain why