Our Complaints Policy

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point 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. If you would like to make a formal complaint, our full complaints procedure is set out below.

Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

What should I do if I have a complaint?

If you have a complaint about the service provided by us, or about an invoice raised by us, then please put this in writing addressed to Helen Drewery or email it to [email protected] with ‘complaint’ in the subject line.

Should your query relate to a bill, you must inform us within a month of receipt of the bill.

What will happen next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of receiving it.

We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Senior Director, Helen Drewery, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you to investigate the matter.

We will then either:-

• Invite you to a meeting to discuss, and hopefully resolve, your complaint. We will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. Within 3 days  of the meeting we will then write to you to confirm what took place , along with any solutions agreed; or
• Send you a detailed written response to your complaint to include suggestions for resolving the matter. We will do this within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

At this stage, if you are still not satisfied that your complaint has been dealt with, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another Director within the firm, who is unconnected with your matter, to review the decision.

We will contact you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you may be eligible to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman provided you do so within 6 months of the end of our internal procedure.

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.

The Legal Ombudsman will not normally accept a complaint unless we have been given the opportunity to respond first. But you can usually escalate matters to the Legal Ombudsman if:

• The complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks from the date it was made; or
• The Legal Ombudsman considers that there are exceptional reasons to consider the complaint sooner, or, without it having been made to the firm first; or
• Where the Legal Ombudsman considers that resolution through our internal procedure is not possible due to a breakdown in the relationship between you and the firm.

You should also be aware that, when your complaint relates to a bill, the Legal Ombudsman will not consider your complaint while your bill is being assessed by a court.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman or information regarding timescales and eligibility for a complaint, please contact them on the details below:

• Address: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Graham & Rosen

13.02.2022