All clients have the right to make a complaint about any aspect of our service. This firm is committed to high quality legal advice and client care. All complaints received will be treated seriously and we promise to investigate complaints as fairly as possible.

Where a client wishes to make a complaint they should raise their concerns with Annemarie McQuade immediately, whether by appointment, telephone or email. We will formally reply in writing to the complaint within 7 days and where a full response cannot be given in this timeframe, we will acknowledge receipt of the complaint, give the reason for the delay and commit to responding fully within 28 days of receipt of the initial complaint.

 

Our response to the complaint will include a clear explanation of our assessment of the complaint together with our decision on it and an offer of remedial action or redress where a complaint is upheld. Where a redress offer is accepted, this will be actioned within 28 days. If the complaint is not upheld, or where a client is not satisfied with the offer of remedial action or redress, they have the right to have their complaint escalated to the Legal Ombudsman. This right also applies if you are unhappy about the way in which your complaint was handled. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman’s jurisdiction covers service-related complaints; the ombudsman will refer any conduct-related complaints to the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

 

Contact information for Legal Ombudsman:

 

Tel no: 0300 555 0333

 

Email:enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

 

Website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/

 

 

Legal Ombudsman

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

WV1 9WJ

 

The Legal Ombudsman can normally only investigate a complaint if it has already been through our complaints procedure. If the ombudsman receives a complaint concerning us which has not been through our complaints process, it will be referred to us to be dealt with in the first instance. Therefore, unless it agrees there are good reasons not to do so, the Legal Ombudsman will expect you to allow us to consider and respond to your complaint in accordance with the procedure set out above, before they will consider it. The Legal Ombudsman can accept complaints up to 6 months after the completion of our own complaints process. You may also refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if our complaints process has taken 8 or more weeks to complete. A complaint can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman up to 6 years from the date of the act of the omission or up to 3 years after discovering a problem.

 

Alternative complaints bodies (such as Ombudsman Services, Pro Mediate and Small Claims Mediation exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We agree to use Small Claims Mediation if requested by you.

 

If you make a valid claim against us for a loss arising out of work for which we are legally responsible and we are unable to meet our liability in full, you may be entitled to claim from the Compensation Fund administered by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (from whom details can be obtained). We keep a record of all our complaints received together with the response given and final outcome. For details of the professional rules which govern our firm, please visit www.conveyancer.org.