Complaints Policy & Procedure
Our Complaints Policy
We are committed to providing a high quality service to all of our clients. Our aim is to give you no cause for complaint.
We want you to be entirely satisfied with our services and for us to learn from your feedback how we can improve our service in the future. We are committed to treating all clients equally, to respect diversity, handling your data appropriately, and to deal fairly, openly and effectively with any concerns of discrimination.
However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then please 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 at this stage.
Our Complaints Procedure
In the first instance, if you experience a problem or indeed have a complaint concerning our service, bill or how your personal data is being handled, please raise it with the person handling your (or the relevant) matter, or their supervisor. They will do their best to resolve the issue promptly and to your satisfaction. If they are unable to do so, please contact Andrew Raby who is the Senior Partner and has overall responsibility for client care. It is preferable to put your complaint in writing to him at our Head Office T-Bromley, 15-17 London Rd Bromley, Kent, BR1 1DE or by e-mail to andrew.raby@thackraywilliams.com. You can also contact him by telephone on 01732 496 496.
Alternatively, if your complaint is regarding how your personal data is being handled, you can contact Amy Hine, our Data Protection Officer, directly in writing to her at our Head Office T-Bromley, or by e-mail to amy.hine@thackraywilliams.com. The Information Commissioners Office can help you if you are concerned about how we are handling your personal data.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour (and the CILEx Regulation can also help you if your file handler is regulated by CILEx). 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.
You can raise your concerns with The Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Information Commissioners Office or The CILEx Regulation. Click the links for more information.
What will happen next
- We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and advising you of the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. We will aim to send out this letter within 2 working days of receipt of your complaint. If further information is required in order to investigate the complaint, you may also receive a second letter within this timescale from the person responsible for handling your case.
- If we request further information from you, we will write to you again within 2 working days advising you what we will do next.
- We will record your complaint in our Central Register. We will do this as soon as we receive your complaint and will open a file. The Central Register enables us to monitor any complaints, making sure that they are dealt with to the client’s satisfaction.
- We will then begin to investigate your complaint. Initially the person who has been responsible for handling your case will be required to respond to your complaint within 10 working days. If further time is required to respond we will advise you of the timescale. If your complaint was made orally, we will set out our understanding of your complaint in this letter. A complaint can arise merely through a misunderstanding of the advice given or through inadequate communication with you. A letter from the person dealing with your case clearly setting out the position can often resolve things quickly. This letter may also contain any suggestions for resolving your concerns. A copy of this reply will be passed to the Head of Department, to Andrew Raby and to our Risk & Compliance Department to be placed on your complaint file.
- We may suggest to you that your complaint can best be resolved through a face-to-face meeting rather than by correspondence. The meeting may need to involve the person dealing with your case and/or their Head of Department.
- Within 5 working days of any meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
- If you are not satisfied with the response received from the member of staff handling your complaint, their Head of Department will review the matter. They will let you know the result of the review within a further 10 working days.
- If you are dissatisfied with the response from the Head of Department, then you will need to contact Andrew Raby, the Senior Partner. He will then carry out a further review and will aim to write to you within 10 working days confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
- 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, you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
• within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and
• no more than one year from the date of the act/omission
• no more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
They can be contacted by telephone on 0300 555 0333 or e-mail at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Their postal address is PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH. Further information is available on their website at www.legalombudsman.org.uk. - If your complaint relates to our bill you may have the right to apply to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. Please also note that if part or all of a bill remains outstanding we may be entitled to charge you interest.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Full contact details for the SRA and CILEx
If you are concerned about our behaviour, you can contact the SRA in writing using their form by email to report@sra.org.uk or post to:
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
If you need help to report your concerns, you can contact their contact centre by telephone on 0370 606 2555.
If you are concerned about our behaviour and your file hander is regulated by the CILEx Regulation, you can contact the CILEx Regulation in writing by email to info@cilexregulation.org.uk or post to:
Room 301
Endeavour House
Wrest Park
Silsoe
Bedford
MK45 4HS
You can also contact them by telephone on 01234 845770.