Complaints Policy
Our Commitment
We aim to provide the best possible service to our clients. If you do have any concerns about our service, or our bill, please raise the matter with the person who is dealing with your matter in the first instance. We would much rather know sooner rather than later if you are not happy with any aspect of our service, so please do not hesitate to raise any questions with us.
Our Procedure
If the person dealing with your matter is unable to resolve your concerns, or if you would prefer not to discuss the matter with them, then you are welcome to contact any Director of the firm. The Director will consider your complaint carefully and will endeavour to find a mutually acceptable solution.
Please contact us by post at 1st Floor, 32 New Road, Woodstock, Oxford OX20 1PB, by email at info@woodstocklaw.co.uk or by telephone on 01993 811 792. Please outline the cause of your dissatisfaction and if possible, the action you would like us to take in order to remedy that dissatisfaction.
Investigating your complaint
• We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days and inform you of the name of the person who is dealing with your complaint.
• We will record your complaint in our central register which is reviewed regularly by the firm.
• We will appoint a senior member of the firm as investigator who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
• We may invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.
• Following investigation, you will be sent a detailed written reply to your complaint, including the suggestions for resolving the matter, within 15 working days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
• At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another senior member of the firm to review the decision.
• We will write to you within 10 working 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 above timescales, we will let you know and explain why.
The person investigating the complaint will have full access to all the information and personnel that they require to investigate your complaint properly. They may contact you directly to discuss and confirm your heads of complaints and request any further information from you to assist the investigation.
We have 8 weeks from the date we receive your complaint to fully investigate and provide our final response to you.
A copy of our firm’s complaints policy is available on request.
The Legal Ombudsman
At the conclusion of the firm’s complaints process if you are still not satisfied then there is a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. We would hope that this does not become necessary and that we can resolve matters between ourselves. The Legal Ombudsman can be contacted by one of the following methods:
• Telephone: 0300 555 0333
• Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
• In writing: PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
• Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
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, or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
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. Information about raising concerns with the SRA is available at: www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor
Complaints about your bill
The above complaints procedure 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; and that if all, or part, of a bill remains unpaid, the firm may be entitled to charge interest.
