We hope you will be happy with our service but we are required to let you know our complaints procedure.
We aim to provide a high quality service for our clients but if a problem does arise or if you are unhappy about our service or what you have been charged we want to hear about it.
If you believe that we have got something wrong, have concerns with the way we are dealing with you or are unhappy with an invoice you have received please do tell us. The sooner you tell us the sooner we can take steps to put matters right.
Our Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint, please initially raise it in writing with the person dealing with your matter but if this does not resolve the problem please contact their supervisor whose name is given in the Costs Information and Terms of Business sent to you when we agreed to act for you.
If at this stage the problem is not resolved, please write to Sara Lloyd, the firm’s Client Care Manager, with details of your complaint. Sara may be contacted via email at slloyd@belcherfrost.co.uk or by post at 3 West Street, Emsworth, Hampshire, PO10 7DX telephone 01243 377231.
What will happen next
Sara Lloyd will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and, if necessary, asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. You can expect to receive her letter within two working days of her receiving your complaint.
From this point the following steps will be taken:
- Your complaint will be recorded in our central register and a separate file will be opened for your complaint.
- Your complaint will be investigated by a review of your file and if necessary, speaking to the person concerned.
- Sara Lloyd will write to you with suggested options for resolving your complaint within fourteen working days of the acknowledgement letter. Alternatively, she may suggest that she meets with you to discuss your complaints and the ways in which they can best be answered or resolved. If you particularly would like to have a meeting, then please raise this during this period.
- If a meeting is arranged we will give you ample notice of the meeting and where it will take pale. You may also bring a friend/representative with you to attend that meeting.
- During the meeting we will put forward suggestions to resolve the complaints or alternatively ask for time to consider anything you have said and steps that we consider appropriate to resolve the issues. We will write to you within five working days of any meeting to confirm what took place and set out any suggestions we have either agreed with you or have subsequently decided to put forward.
- If there is no meeting we will write to you with the conclusion of our investigations and any suggestions that we have as to how any complaint may be resolved or remedied.
- If you are not satisfied with our conclusions/suggestions please let us know within ten working days of the date on which we write to you. You should let us know in what ways you are dissatisfied with what we have stated/suggested. We will then review the position in light of what you state. This review will be carried out by Sara Lloyd or, in her absence, by Penny Smith. We will notify you of the result of the review within ten working days of the date on which you send to us your letter requesting the review. We would very much hope that your complaint will have been satisfactorily resolved by this stage. If it has not, then we may suggest that the services of the local Law Society are used if it provides a conciliation service.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of our complaints process
If you remain dissatisfied with our handling of your problems you may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint.
The address of the Legal Ombudsman is:
- PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ
- Telephone number 0300 555 0333
- Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
- Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
The Legal Ombudsman is an independent complaints body that deals with legal services complaints.
The time limits for the Legal Ombudsman accepting a complaint are:
- Six years from the date of the event/omission; or
- Three years from when you should have known about the complaint.
However, the Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness was before 6 October 2010.
Please note: You MUST contact The Legal Ombudsman within six months from the end of our complaint process.
If your complaint is about our bill you have the right to object by way of our complaints procedure. You may also have the right to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman and/or to apply to the Court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 but please note that we may be entitled to claim interest if all or part of a bill is unpaid.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behavior. If you feel that we may have been dishonest or treated you unfairly because of your age, disability or other characteristic then please see its website: http://sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor-page
