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- Mason Bullock aims to provide a quality legal service but recognises that during the course of conducting a matter, you may become unhappy about some aspect of that service. This procedure aims to provide a means of resolving any such issue as fairly and promptly as possible.
- If you are not happy, you have the right to complain about our services or our charges.
- In the first place, you should raise your concerns with the member of staff responsible, who should seek in a constructive and sympathetic manner to address your concerns, so far as possible.
- If the member of staff is unable to resolve the issue, or if you think they have not displayed a constructive approach to it, you will be given the opportunity to raise it as a formal complaint. This is known as a First Tier Complaint.
- A First Tier Complaint will be dealt with by the Principal Solicitor, Andrew Crisp. You can choose whether to formulate the complaint yourself or to ask the member of staff to refer what has already been discussed with Andrew Crisp.
- You may raise your complaint in whatever way you feel most comfortable: by letter, telephone or email. We would prefer the complaint to be in writing to avoid any misunderstanding. If you have any difficulty communicating your complaint, please let us know how we can help you.
- Andrew Crisp will ensure a record is kept of all complaints and their outcome, and for monitoring the progress being made to a resolution. If there appears to be any delay in progressing the complaint, you may contact him for information as to its status.
- Andrew Crisp will aim to provide a full response to your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving your complaint.
- Upon receiving the complaint, Andrew Crisp will acknowledge the complaint in writing, within 7 days of receipt, setting out a timescale within which he intends to try to resolve the complaint and providing a copy of “Complaints Procedure for Clients”.
- He will investigate those issues in the most appropriate fashion to seek to gain an understanding of events leading to the complaint;
- He will write you with his views, proposing any remedial action that he considers appropriate and seeking the your views on that proposal.
- The remedy might include:
- an apology (subject to the requirements, if any, of your professional indemnity insurance insurer)
- compensation for loss suffered
- compensation for inconvenience, distress or both
- putting things right
- reducing the bill or limiting fees
- Conversely, if Andrew Crisp finds that the service provided was reasonable, he will fully explain why he has come to this conclusion and may provide evidence.
- He will conclude the complaint on the basis of that (or any modified) proposal if possible and confirm that conclusion in writing: or if a conclusion is not possible, notify upi in writing of your right to refer the complaint, within 6 months, to the Legal Ombudsman (giving you the contact details for the Ombudsman).
- If the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, you can use the Legal Ombudsman.
- A complaint made to the Legal Ombudsman under the scheme rules of the Office of Legal Complaints is known as a ‘second-tier complaint’.
- A second-tier complaint must be brought to the attention of the Legal Ombudsman within
- One year from the date of the act/omission or
- One year from the date the complainant should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint;
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- Within six months of the complainant receiving a final response from their lawyer or of the expiry of the 8 week period from the date of the complaint.
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For ease of reference, the contact details for the Legal Ombudsman (legalombudsman.org.uk) are:
Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
e: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk t: 0300 555 0333
You also have the right to complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you believe we have breached the SRA principles. This includes, for example, serious allegations such as dishonesty or discrimination.
For more information about how to complain to the SRA, go to https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/