Complaints Procedure
Introduction
If you are dissatisfied with the service we have provided then you have the right to complain. The Legal Ombudsman service oversees complaints within the legal sector and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are dealt with appropriately.
Timescales
In normal circumstances you are required to register a complaint within one year. You must then give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint before contacting the Legal Ombudsman. A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made within six months of the date of the conclusion of the Firm’s complaints procedure. In summary:
- You must register your complaint with us within one year
- The Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint
- After this time, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman (but you must do so within 6 months)
First Steps
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the Lawyer who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If the problem cannot be satisfactorily resolved with the Lawyer then please take your complaint up with the Partner with overall responsibility for your case. His or her name will be detailed in the original Client Agreement letter.
Getting Started
If matters still have not been resolved to your satisfaction, then please contact Chris Detheridge, our Client Care Officer by doing one of the following:
Email: clientcare@wmlaw.co.uk
Tel: 01743 280100
Address: 21 St Mary’s Street, Shrewsbury. SY1 1ED.
To register a formal complaint, please write to us and include all the information suggested by the Legal Ombudsman – their website includes some useful resources.
What will happen next?
We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 7 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
We will investigate your complaint, which will normally involve Mr. Detheridge speaking to the member of staff who acted for you and a written report.
Within 28 days of sending the acknowledgement letter to you, Mr. Detheridge will aim to undertake a full review of the file and once the investigation is complete he will provide a proposed solution in writing within 40 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
In the event of Mr. Detheridge’s absence from the office for any reason your complaint may initially be referred to a Director.
If you are not satisfied with the proposed solution or decision then you may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:-
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Tel: 0300 555 0333
Minicom text phone user:
18002 0300 555 0333
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Please note that the Legal Ombudsman will usually allow at least eight weeks for Wace Morgan to resolve the complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern. There is also a requirement for you to refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or omission or date of awareness was before 6th October 2010.
You can also raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and further guidance is available on the following SRA link:-
SRA | Reporting a solicitor or firm to us | Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Legal Ombudsman can only deal with complaints from individuals and small businesses, charities, clubs, societies, associations and trusts with a turnover of less than £1million. Clients with a turnover of over £1million still have a right to complain to us about our service and object to their bill using the above process.
Alternative bodies (such as ProMediate – website: www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm wish to use such a scheme.
Please note that we do not agree to use ProMediate, or other alternative bodies, as we are satisfied that the Legal Ombudsman is the appropriate
referral body.