Complaints Policy

We aim 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. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint about our service or a bill that we have rendered or both, please contact us with the details.  The person to contact is:

• Piers Dryden
• Fifty Six Law, Swan Buildings First Floor, 20 Swan Street, Manchester, M4 5JW
• Tel: 0161 515 7329
• Email: piers.dryden@fiftysixlaw.co.uk

Please set out as much detail as possible regarding your complaint. You may find the template letter on the Legal Ombudsman’s website useful (http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/). We prefer to receive your complaint by post or email as we can then make sure we reply to all the points you raise.

What happens next?

We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt within five days of us receiving the complaint. We will then carry out an investigation. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Piers Dryden who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

We will send you the result of our investigation by email or post, depending on how you contacted us in the first place or any preference you may have. We may also offer to meet with you to discuss your complaint and resolve it.

This will be done within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter but it could be less or more (either due to the circumstances of your complaint, illness or holidays). In any event it should not be more than eight weeks after acknowledging receipt of your complaint.

If a meeting is required, we will write to you within 5 days of the meeting to confirm what took place and any solutions that are agreed with you.

If we agree with you and find that the service you received was not as we would have like it to be, we will work with you to try to find a way to resolve your complaint.

If we find that your complaint does not support a finding of poor service, we will let you know the reasons why and what to do if you are unhappy with our decision.

At this stage, if you remain unhappy, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another manager or someone unconnected with the matter at the practice to review the decision.

We will write to you within 10 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.  If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman at:

Legal Ombudsman
PO BOX 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Tel: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

There are time limits within which complaints must be made to the Legal Ombudsman, as indicated below. Generally speaking, your complaint should be made to the Ombudsman no later than 12 months from when the problem occurred or from when you should reasonably have become aware of the problem.

Additionally, you must make your complaint to the Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us following the complaint that you have made to us.

Normally, your complaint needs to fall inside both rules if the Ombudsman is going to investigate it.

You also need to be aware that the Ombudsman only deals with complaints from the following:

(a)      an enterprise which, at the time that the complaint is made, is a micro-enterprise within the meaning of arts.1, 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, as that Recommendation had effect at the date it was adopted;

(b)      a charity with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;

(c)      a club, association or organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee or committees of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;

(d)      a trustee of a trust with an asset value of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;

(e)      a personal representative of an estate of a person; or

(f)      a beneficiary of an estate of a person.

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.

The SRA deals with cases where firms or those the SRA regulates have breached the SRA Principles. Most of the time, complaints about solicitors are about poor service, and therefore should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman. If the Legal Ombudsman thinks your case involves a breach of the SRA Principles; they will refer your case to the SAR. Likewise, if you report a solicitor to the SRA for poor service, they will refer you to the Legal Ombudsman; The SRA does not have the power to award compensation for poor service, or to reduce or refund your legal fees.

You should direct your communication to:

Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN

Or via their website: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor