Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal advice and client care. If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you receive or about the bill please tell us about it.
Our complaints’ procedure
In the unlikely event of you having a complaint, please contact Catherine Fewings or Amanda Tate on 01483 485800 or by post to The Old Estate Office, Wilderness Road, Onslow Village, Guildford Surrey GU2 7QX.
What will happen next?
We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain, where appropriate, the details of your complaint. You should receive our letter within seven working days of us receiving your complaint. We will record your complaint in our central register.
We will then investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:
- A review of the relevant file;
- Discussion with the fee-earner who acted for you.
We should complete our investigation and respond fully in writing, or invite you to a meeting to discuss your concerns, within 28 days of our letter of acknowledgement.
If you are not satisfied with our written response, we will (if a meeting has not already been held) invite you to meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.
We will write to you within 5 working days of the meeting confirming what took place and the agreed solutions.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you can contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision.
We will let you know the result of the review within five 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. If after following the review process you remain dissatisfied with any aspect of our handling of your complaint you may contact directly the Legal Ombudsman to ask them to consider the complaint further. The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are :-
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 in the first instance. You can refer your complaint up to six months after you have received our final written response to your complaint. You can also use the Ombudsman service if we have not resolved your complaint within eight weeks of us receiving it. A complaint can be referred to the Legal Ombudsman up to six years from the date of the act or omission or up to three years after discovering a problem. The Ombudsman deals with service-related complaints; any conduct-related complaints will be referred to the CLC. Further information regarding the Legal Ombudsman can be found on its website www.legalombudsman.org.uk . They explain that an investigation normally takes between 3 and 6 months but if it is complex it can take up to 12 months.
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 )
Alternative complaints bodies such as Small Claims Mediation (UK) Ltd 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 (UK) Ltd. Its website address is www.small-claims-mediation.co.uk.
Our Responsibilities
We will provide the agreed services with reasonable skill and care and in a timely manner subject to any specific engagement letter and these terms.
The work we carry out for you will necessarily reflect the circumstances in which the work is carried out. By way of example only, where work is carried out in restricted timescales, or unusual circumstances, you accept that we may be unable to provide you with the same level of written advice or confirmation as may be appropriate where such restrictions or circumstances do not exist.
Our work and advice will cover the agreed services for the purpose expressly made known to us by you. In the absence of specific instructions from you accepted by us in writing, we will not be obliged to provide, and can accept no liability for, advice or work beyond the scope of the agreed services or in relation to factors of which we were not made aware.
Your Responsibilities
You must provide us with timely, accurate and up to date information relating to the agreed services and notify us promptly of any material change in information or circumstances.
We will be entitled to rely on information which you give us without further verification unless expressly agreed otherwise.
You accept that we will be entitled to treat the person or persons instructing us as being fully authorised by you to do so, including in respect of accepting these terms and the terms of any specific or additional engagement letter.
We expect you to check all information and documents sent by us to you where it is apparent from the circumstances, or indicated by us, that you should do so and to notify us promptly of any incorrect statements or information of which you become aware.
You must tell us as soon as possible if matters are or become particularly urgent or require action by a specific time.
You accept that we may rely and act on advice or information provided directly, or through you, by other specialist advisers acting on your behalf.
Our role is to act as legal adviser. You will be solely responsible for all commercial, financial or business decisions that you make.
Last updated September 2022
