PRH COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE
Providing our clients with a good service is extremely important to us. Continuously improving our service, including learning from our mistakes, is also our aim.
If, despite our best efforts, you feel unhappy, you have the right to raise your concerns, either informally with the fee earner concerned or, if you wish to formally complain, to initiate the procedure described below, and to contact our Client Care Partner, Fiona Shinner.
Mrs Shinner’s contact details are:
• Telephone: 01709 388362;
• Email: fionashinner@prhsolicitors.co.uk; or
• Post: The Point, Bradmarsh Business Park, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S60 1BP.
Our Complaints Procedure has four stages:-
Stage One
You formally raise your complaint (generally in writing) and our Mrs Shinner acknowledges receipt of your complaint within five working days of receipt and also sends you a copy of this Complaints Procedure.
She may, at this stage, need to ask you for more information regarding your complaint.
Stage Two
Mrs Shinner will investigate your complaint, usually by reviewing your file and speaking with the fee earner/s who have had care and control of your file, and consider any legal issues and our procedures.
Generally, within fourteen days of you receiving Mrs Shinner’s letter of acknowledgement, Mrs Shinner will send you a further letter advising you of the outcome of her investigation and suggesting any redress which she thinks may be appropriate.
If the matter is complex and Mrs Shinner needs more time to investigate, she will contact you within the initial fourteen day period to advise you of the situation.
If Mrs Shinner believes it may assist, she may ask to meet with you to discuss matters prior to coming to a conclusion.
Stage Three
If you are not satisfied with Mrs Shinner’s decision, you have the right to advise her of this and ask her to arrange for another Partner to review her decision (the Appeals Partner).
The Appeals Partner will review matters and suggest any redress they think necessary.
The Appeals Partner will endeavour to carry out the full further review within fourteen days of your request for an appeal.
Stage Four
We will try to complete all three stages (as detailed above) of our Complaints Procedure within an eight week period.
If your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks following the making of your complaint, we will inform you in writing:-
a. of any right you have to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, the timeframe for doing so and the full details of how to contact the Legal Ombudsman; and
b. if our Complaints Procedure has been exhausted and the complaint remains unresolved, we will provide you with the name and website address of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) approved body which would be competent to deal with the complaint and advise you whether we would be willing to use such a scheme.
Information about the Legal Ombudsman
Information about who may submit a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, the type of complaints which he will consider, the timescales within which a complaint may be submitted and the procedures used are published on the Legal Ombudsman’s website (www.legalombudsman.org.uk).
Normally a complaint about service must be notified to the Legal Ombudsman no later than: -
• one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• one year from the date when the complainant should have realised that there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted by:
• Telephone: 0300 555033
• Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; or
• Post: Legal Ombudsman, P O Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Information about the Solicitors Regulation Authority
If you think one of our solicitors has been dishonest, or you have any concerns about their ethics or integrity, you have the right to notify our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”). There are no time limits for making a report, but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. Please note that the SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service (complaints of this nature should instead be referred to the Legal Ombudsman – see above).
The SRA can be contacted by:
- Telephone: 0370 606 2555
- Email: report@sra.org.uk
- Post: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Or by visiting: https//www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page#report
