Scope
All claims, complaints and disputes arising out of or in connection with the Services (“Disputes”) will be resolved pursuant to this paragraph.
Complaints Procedure
Oliver & Co Solicitors are committed to providing the highest standard of legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need to know about it, so that we can try to put things right. We value feedback good or bad to help us to improve our standards and service to our clients. We will consider any complaint carefully and objectively, endeavouring to resolve the issues and reach a satisfactory conclusion.
We value your feedback as this helps us to understand our client’s requirements, which in turn helps us to continually adapt and improve our services to you.
How do I make a complaint?
If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received or about the bill, please contact the legal advisor dealing with your matter, or their supervising director. Their names and contact details will be in the engagement letter you received when you first instructed the firm on the relevant matter. We are happy to deal with your complaint by telephone or in writing, whichever is more convenient to you.
If you would like to deal with someone else, you can contact our Client Care Director, Mrs Kay Cook, on 01244 312306 or e-mail kay.cook@oliverandco.co.uk or by post to: Oliver & Co Solicitors Limited, Douglas House, 117 Foregate Street, Chester, CH1 1HE.
How will we deal with your complaint?
Stage 1
We will contact you by letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint, within 7 days of receiving your complaint.
We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Client Care Director, Kay Cook, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
Mrs Cook will then respond to your complaint formally in writing within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint. Mrs Cook will be happy to meet with you in person or discuss the matter on the telephone should you wish.
If you are still not satisfied with our response you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy and we will review your comments and respond accordingly. Depending on the matter we may, at this stage, arrange for another director to review the decision and respond further.
We will respond to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint, and explaining our reasons.
You will not be charged for investigating your complaint.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
What happens next?
Stage 2
We would hope our final response has resolved any issues you may have, however if you remain dissatisfied with our final decision, you can refer your complaint to The Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation which deals with complaints about solicitors and other legal professionals.
Full details of the process are available from the Legal Ombudsman website http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/or can be obtained by calling 0300 555 0333 or emailing enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.The postal address is Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH.
Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must generally be made:
– within six months of receiving our final response to your complaint
and
– No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about;
or
– No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint
The Legal Ombudsman provides further guidance on its service at; www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
Alternatively, if you consider that we have breached a regulatory obligation, you may refer the matter directly to the SRA at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/. The postal address is Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN. You may also telephone them on 0370 606 2555 or email them at report@sra.org.uk.
Exclusions
We shall not be obliged to comply with the paragraph above in relation to any Dispute in which we seek:-
- an order or award (whether interim or final) restraining you from doing any act or compelling you to do any act; or
- a judgment or award for a liquidated sum to which here is no arguable defence (provided that the exception shall cease to apply and the Dispute may be referred to arbitration on the application of either party if the court decides that you should have permission to defend the claim); or
- the enforcement of any agreement reached or any binding order, award, determination or decision made pursuant to paragraph 28 above,
- nor shall anything in this paragraph inhibit us at any time from serving any form of demand or notice or from commencing or continuing with any bankruptcy, winding up or other insolvency proceedings.
Objecting to our fees
You have the right to object to our bill by raising the issue with us, and if you are not satisfied with our response, by referring it to the Legal Ombudsman. Alternatively you may have a right to apply to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors’ Act 1974. If you exercise a right to have our costs assessed by the Court, you can not refer the issue to the Legal Ombudsman. If the services we have provided relate to proceedings in a Court or tribunal, you may additionally be entitled to have the amount of our fees checked or assessed under Rules of Court or regulations applying to the particular proceedings, or under the inherent jurisdiction of the Court or tribunal.
If all or part of our bill remains unpaid, whilst you dispute it, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.
