Complaints Procedure

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, write to us with the details.

What will happen next?

  1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. That will be either Peter Blake-Turner, Rupert Farr, Paul Cooper or Hannah Starling (“the Client Care Partner”). You can expect to receive our letter within 2 days of our receiving your complaint.
  2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. We will do this within a day of receiving your complaint.
  3. We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within a day of your reply.
  4. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:-
    • We will pass your complaint to our Client Care Partner, within 3 days. Our Client Care Partner will be one of the partners, Peter Blake-Turner, Rupert Farr, Paul Cooper or Hannah Starling, who does not have direct responsibility for your work or file.
    • They will ask the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint within 5 days.
    • They will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. And, if necessary, they may also speak to them. This will take up to 3 days from receiving their reply and the file.
  5. The Client Care Partner may then invite you to meet them and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. They will do this within 3 days.
  6. Within 2 days of the meeting the Client Care Partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions they have agreed with you.

    If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, the Client Care Partner will send you a detailed reply to your complaint. This will include their suggestions for resolving the matter. They will do this within 5 days of completing their investigation.

  7. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can write to us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways:-
    • We will ask the Legal Ombudsman or another firm of solicitors to review your complaint within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take.
    • We will invite you to agree to independent mediation within 5 days. We will let you know how long this process will take.
  8. We will let you know the result of the review within 5 days of the end of the review. At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and expressing our reasons.
  9. If we have to change any of the time scales above, we will let you know and explain why.
  10. If we are unable to resolve the complaint with you then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates poor service from lawyers.
  11. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:-
    • Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
    • No more than six years from the date of act/omission; or
    • No more than three years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint (if it took place more than six years ago).

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please view their digital leaflet at https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/media/iwidgg3q/leo-here-if-you-need-us-leaflet.pdf, or contact them.”.

Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

BLAKE-TURNER LLP