Your Right to Make a Complaint

Our Complaint Procedure

Our Policy

You have the right to complain to us.  You will not be charged for any time spent handling your complaint.  You can request a copy of this complaint procedure at any time.  We shall aim to deal with any complaint that we may receive promptly, fairly, openly, and effectively.

Making a Complaint

We want to give you the best possible service. We truly value feedback from clients because it helps us to continually improve our service.  However, if at any point you feel that we are not meeting your expectations or 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 case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at that stage informally. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the client care letter we sent you at the beginning of your matter.

If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with either the person who is working on your case or their supervisor, or if you have raised your issues with them and you are still not satisfied with the response, you can refer the matter to the Firm’s Managing Partner and Complaints Manager, who is Mary Dack, by emailing mdack@mossops.co.uk  or writing to Mary Dack,  Mossop & Bowser Solicitors, Abbots Manor, 10 Spalding Road, Holbeach, PE12 7LP

Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.  This means that if your legal matter is ongoing it will continue to progress as normal and will not be affected by the complaints procedure, assuming no conflict of interest has arisen and that you continue to comply with the terms of our engagement as set out in our client care and advice letter and terms of business.

If you need to make a formal complaint, you should:

• Complain as soon as possible;
• Provide your full name and contact details;
• Provide us with your file reference number, if you have it;
• Be clear on what the issue is and how you would like it to be resolved;
• Allow us up to eight weeks to resolve your complaint.

If you require any help in making your complaint, we will try to help you.

There is no fee for making a complaint and we will not charge you for investigating and responding t your concerns.

Your complaint will be investigated and handled independently of your legal matter. This means that if your legal matter is ongoing it will continue to progress as normal and will not be affected or disadvantaged by the complaints process, assuming no conflict of interests has arisen and that you continue to comply with the terms of our engagement as set out in our client care letter and terms of business.

In accordance with our terms of business, our invoices remain payable within 28 days regardless of the investigation of any complaint.

However, please be assured that if the outcome of any complaint investigation concludes that any adjustment or reduction in costs should be made, any reimbursement will be paid promptly at that time.

Handling and Resolving a Complaint

We will write to you within seven days acknowledging your complaint, enclosing a copy of this policy.

We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:

• Reviewing your complaint diligently, impartially and fairly;
• Reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
• Liaising with the person who dealt with your matter.

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents to assist our investigation. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

 We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.

We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you by telephone or video conference.

We will provide you with a formal, final written outcome following an investigation into your complaint to set out the conclusion of our investigation, tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to rectify or resolve your complaint.  This will normally be within 8 weeks from receipt of your complaint although we will always aim for sooner.  If it is necessary to extend this timescale, we will let you know in writing and try to agree any variations with you first.

We regret any dissatisfaction which our clients experience and, if our investigation concludes that our service has fallen below our usual high standards, we will not hesitate to apologise. We may also make any proposals that we consider appropriate to resolve or improve your situation. Depending on the circumstances this may include, for example, an offer of compensation, reduced fees, further assistance or other proposals. These are only examples and may not be relevant or appropriate in all cases.

We will also take steps internally to ensure that any problems that you have experienced will not reoccur.

We will ask you to let us know whether we have succeeded in resolving your concerns and, if you accept any proposals made, we will fulfil the proposals promptly.  If we cannot resolve your complaint, you remain dissatisfied or in the unlikely event that you have not received a final response from us within eight weeks of receiving your complaint, you can speak directly to the Legal Ombudsman, provided that you fit one of the following categories:-

• an individual.
• a business or enterprise that was a micro-enterprise (European Union definition) when it referred the complaint to the authorised person.
• a charity that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person.
• a club/association/organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members/a committee/a committee of its members, that had an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person.
• a trustee of a trust that had an asset value of less than £1million when it referred the complaint to the authorised person.
• a personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of a person who, before he/she died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge and can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received from us.

They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case (if ongoing). The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge and can investigate complaints about the legal service you have received from us.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.

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.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them as follows: –

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Phone Number: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EHIf you are complaining about our bill, in addition to referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you may be entitled to ask the court to assess your costs under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. However, be aware that if you have done so, the Legal Ombudsman may not be able to consider a complaint about the same issues.

For complaints about the firm or a Solicitor that relate specifically to an alleged breach of the SRA Standard and Regulations including the SRA Accounts Rules, you should refer the matter to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could be for things like general misconduct, losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.  The SRA will not investigate complaints about services provided by the Firm. They will refer such matters to the Legal Ombudsman.

We do not anticipate any such problems arising and would ask that you notify the person dealing you’re your matter straight away if you have any such concerns. You can find out more about the Solicitors Regulation Authority (including their contact details) and the Standards and Regulations that govern the conduct of solicitors and law firms on their website: www.sra.org.uk. Website: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

Phone Number: 0370 606 2555 between 8am to 5pm. Except Tuesday 9:30am to 5pm.

Contact page: https://www.sra.org.uk/home/contact-us/

Other ADR services providers exist that are competent to deal with complaints in the legal sector, including ProMediate. However, we believe that the Legal Ombudsman offers our clients the most appropriate forum to seek resolution of their concerns. Therefore, we have not adopted an alternative ADR procedure and do not agree to use another ADR organisation.