Our complaints policy
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, you can contact us in writing (by letter or email) or by telephone.
In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your matter to discuss your concerns and we will then do our best to resolve any issues at that stage. Alternatively, if you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter who will be named in the client care letter which was sent to you at the start of your matter.
If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with either of those people, or you are unsatisfied with their response, please contact our Complaints Director, Paul Woolliscroft, who has overall responsibility for complaints and whose contact details are Paul Woolliscroft, Complaints Director, Tinsdills Solicitors, Hays House, 25 Albion Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent, ST1 1QF, Paul.Woolliscroft@tinsdills.co.uk .
To help us understand your complaint and in order that we do not miss anything
please tell us:-
- a) Your full name and contact details;
- b) Your file reference number (if you have it);
- c) What you think we have got wrong;
- d) How you would like your complaint to be resolved.
What will happen next?
We will send you confirmation of acknowledgement of your complaint. You can expect to receive our acknowledgement within 3 working days of us receiving your complaint. We may also at that time request further information from you so that we can understand fully to what your complaint relates.
Your complaint will be handled promptly, fairly and free of charge.
We will then begin to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve our Complaints Director reviewing your matter file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you.
Our Complaints Director will then write to you with his findings. Normally this will be within 28 days of you receiving the acknowledgement letter. However, if the complaint is complicated further time may be needed and if so, we will write to you and advise you what the revised time estimate will be.
We may invite you to a meeting to discuss, and hopefully resolve, your complaint. Normally, we would do so at the same time as we write to you with our findings as referred to in paragraph 3 above. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible to arrange one, we will write to you with our suggestions for resolving the matter at the same time as we write to you with our findings or within 14 days of a notification that a meeting will not be possible.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
We have 8 weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
Alternatively, if we have not been able to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction once we have completed our investigation, you again may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. This applies if you are an individual, a business of fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1,000,000, or if you fall within certain other categories which you can find out more about from the Legal Ombudsman.
Contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are as follows:-
Postal address: PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
Telephone number: 0300 555 0333
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently.
N.B Time Limits
Normally you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint or within 1 year of the matter complained of or alternatively 1 year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was a cause for complaint.
Alternative complaints bodies, such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.
We currently do not use any alternative complaints bodies to resolve complaints.
Unresolved complaints about our services will, therefore, be dealt with by the Legal Ombudsman.
Professional Misconduct
The Legal Ombudsman considers complaints about the quality of legal services that clients receive. In the unlikely event that you have more serious concerns that a solicitor or the firm may have been involved in professional misconduct it may be appropriate for you to refer this to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
For further information as to how to complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, what complaints that they will deal with and the procedure for doing so can be found on the SRA website: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
Alternatively you may contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority at their address:-
Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 119 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
Telephone No: 0370 606 2555