Our Commitment

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need our clients to tell us about it. This will help improve our standards. Whenever possible, please raise any initial client care problems with the person acting on your case to give them the opportunity of resolving matters with you. Often, matters can be quickly resolved in this way.

If the person acting on your case cannot resolve the issue, please raise the matter with one of our Directors. If that does not lead to a resolution and you remain unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the bill, please contact us by post to our office at 24-25 Market Place, Hitchin SG5 1DT or telephone on 01462 433800 or email [email protected] to make a formal complaint. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

What will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint within seven days of receiving it and we will provide a copy of this Complaints Handing Policy. If not already received, we will ask you to put the detail of your complaint in writing, if possible.
   1. We will investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to one of our Directors who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
   1. We will provide a detailed written response to your complaint and seek to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks of receiving the complaint. If you are unsatisfied with the response, you can ask another Director to review the decision.
   1. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.  
   1. If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. We would hope that this does not become necessary and that we can resolve matters between ourselves.  Contact details are as follows:

PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Tel: 0300 555 0333
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint and within the following timescales:

a) 12 months from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring, or

b) 12 months from the date you should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint.

Complaints in relation to bills

The procedure above also applies to complaints arising concerning our bill. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; The Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the Court for assessment of that bill.

Raising concerns with our regulator

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you 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. You can find information about raising your concerns with the SRA at www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/

Alternative dispute resolution

Alternative complaints bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm consent to use such a scheme. In the event that you wish to use an alternative complaint body you should advise us and we will then state if we agree.