At Platts Solicitors we are committed to providing the highest quality legal service.  However, at any point if you are not happy with the quality of the services that you have received, please tell us about it.  Your response will be used to address your concerns and help us build on the high standards we seek to uphold. 

You can address minor concerns directly with the fee earner dealing with your case.

What will happen next?
It will assist us if you were able to put your complaint in writing.  We will accept a complaint by email, and it does not have to be submitted in a formal document.

The Complaints Partner will handle the complaint.  Once we are in receipt of your complaint, we will send you an acknowledgement of receipt within four working days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of our complaint’s procedure.  Our complaints procedure is limited to dealing with complaints about the service you have received from the firm and does not cover the situation where your complaint relates to legal advice that you have received is incorrect.

If your complaint relates to the actual legal advice, then you will be advised that we will not be able to investigate the matter under our complaints procedure and to seek independent legal advice.

The complaint will be investigated, this will involve reviewing your complaint and speaking to the member of staff who the complaint relates to. 

If we feel that it is possible to resolve your complaint informally, then we will seek to do so.  For example, if your concern is that you have not been properly updated on your matter but are provided with an appropriate update and reassurance with regards how you will be updated in the future, this may resolve the matter.

If your complaint cannot be resolved informally, we will respond within 21 days of receipt of the complaint with the outcome.

In certain circumstances you may be invited to a meeting in order to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.  If you do have a meeting regarding your complaint, a time scale for providing the next response to your complaint in writing will be agreed at that meeting.  You will receive a final response within eight weeks.

If we have made an error, we will apologise at the earliest opportunity as we want to learn from our mistakes and improve on the service we provide.

If you are not satisfied with the written response to your complaint, you should contact us again.  We may arrange as part of this process for someone who has not been involved in dealing with your complaint to review it.  We will carry this review within 10 working days.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint.
If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then the Legal Ombudsman can independently look at your complaint.  The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.

Legal Ombudsman:
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 with or within one year of you realising there was a concern and within six months of receiving a final written response from us.

Legal Ombudsman contact details are:
Email    enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone number        0300 555 0333

Address
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (www.legalombudsman.org.uk.) within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within a year of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring (or you are becoming aware of it).