Complaints Policy
How we deal with complaints
How to complain
If you are unhappy about any aspect of the service you have received, or about the bill, please contact us by post to our office at 39 Infirmary Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD1 3SF, telephone 01274 392 177 or email mail@harrissolicitors.org.uk We have a procedure in place which details how we handle complaints as follows:
Where a quick resolution of your complaint is possible
It is possible that, after investigation, the partner to whom you first notified your complaint can quickly resolve it to your satisfaction, in which case s/he will record in writing to you and to the Central Register, within 7 days of your first contacting us, the agreed manner of resolution. If, however, your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction within 7 days of your first contacting us, you should notify (by letter, email or telephone) the partner first contacted by you that you require your complaint to be investigated by another partner.
Complaint Procedure
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within three days of receiving it, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our Senior Solicitor Mr Atta Rehman, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. Mr Rehman will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within three days of that meeting Mr Rehman will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting, or it is not possible, you will be sent a detailed written reply to your complaint, including the suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement latter.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another director within the firm to review the decision.
7. 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.
8. If you are still not satisfied with our handling of your complaint you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint. Contact details are as follows:
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If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman:
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by letter at: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
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by telephone at: callers from UK: 0300 555 0333 / callers from overseas: +44 121 245 3050 by email at: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
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The Legal Ombudsman may be prepared to investigate your complaint if you satisfy the relevant criteria. You must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
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within six months of receiving a final response from us to your complaint;
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and
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no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
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no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
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The Solicitors Regulation Authority 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. For more details visit https://www.sra.org.uk and https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.