Have you got a complaint against Garratts?
We hope that you will never have reason to complain about our service to you. However, if something does go wrong, please bring it to our attention as soon as you can. We will then try to resolve the matter fairly and quickly. We will apologise if need be and do our best to offer a practical solution. The firm’s complaint partner is Frances Greenhalgh who is responsible for this procedure.
A preliminary point
The relationship with your lawyer is built on trust and openness. You should be able to talk to your lawyer frankly about all sorts of things so that some complaints (and these are likely to be minor issues) might lend themselves to be resolved by a simply phone call with your lawyer. However, if you are not comfortable speaking to you lawyer about the problem, then speak to either their supervisor or Frances Greenhalgh.
How do I complain?
We much prefer that substantial or complicated complaints are dealt with in writing – we do not have any set forms that we use for this purpose. However, we realise that not all clients may be able to formulate a detailed letter. In such cases, a telephone call will do during which we will make a note of the issues and then send that to you for comments. This document will then form the basis of the complaint.
Who do I complain to?
Our system is that, wherever possible, complaints are resolved within the department handling your case. You should look at the “Client Care” letter that you were sent at the start of your case. It will name the person in the firm to whom you should address your complaint. In the first instance this will be the person dealing with your matter.
What will happen next?
To explain to you how long our process might take we have included our target times for each stage of the process. Where, for any reason, it is not possible to observe any of these limits we will let you know and explain why.
|
Action
|
Timescale
|
|
Acknowledge the complaint in writing and send a copy of the complaints procedure
|
Within two working days
|
|
Invite you to a meeting or to discuss the issues by telephone – if deemed necessary
|
Within two working days
|
|
Confirm the outcome of the meeting or telephone conversation in writing – if appropriate
|
Within three working days of the meeting/telephone conversation
|
|
Investigate the issues
|
Within 14 days of receiving the complaint
|
|
If a meeting/telephone discussion is not possible or required:
Investigate the issues and write to you with the outcome
|
Within 21 days
|
|
Review and close the complaint
|
Within 8 weeks of receiving the complaint
|
Legal Ombudsman
If you do not agree with the outcome of our complaints process, or we fail to investigate it within 8 weeks, you can then complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
There are, however, restrictions to this service for organisations, as set out on their website (see below). The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman are:
Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Minicom: 0300 555 1777
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
You should bring any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the end of our complaints process. In addition, you should be aware that the Legal Ombudsman will not accept your complaint if:
- more than a year has passed from the date of the act or omission giving rise to the complaint or from the time when you should have known about the complaint; or
- the date of the alleged act or omission giving rise to the complaint was before 6th October 2010.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour and that it may be in breach of the SRA's Code of Conduct. You can find information on how and when to raise a concern with the SRA on the SRA website.
