You can always give us your feedback by e-mailing our Managing Director, Nicholas J John, at njjohn@ericwhitehead.co.uk
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to sort out any mistakes or misunderstandings, and to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please raise the problem with the lawyer responsible for your matter, or our Complaints Director Timothy Halliday.You can contact our Complaints Director, Timothy Halliday, at timothyhalliday@ericwhitehead.co.uk or by calling him on 01538 755761.
We have a formal complaints handling procedure, Timothy Halliday will provides further details upon request but our standard procedure is set out below
- We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within three days of receiving it.
- We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve our complaints partner reviewing your file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you.
- Within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter our complaints partner will invite you to a meeting to discuss and resolve your complaint. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, our complaints partner may instead offer you a chance to discuss the matter by telephone.
- Within three days of the meeting, or any telephone conversation we have with you instead of a meeting, our complaints partner will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
- In any case she will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including her suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the written acknowledgement of your complaint referred to in paragraph 1 above.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for another partner to review her own decision
- 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.
- If we have to change any of these timescales we will let you know and explain why.
- If you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ about your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response on your complaint but for further information, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organisations unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman. legalombudsman.org.uk
- If a complaint cannot be resolved you may also be able to ask for it to be referred to a process of alternative dispute resolution using a certified provider. We are not required to agree to such a request. In any case this is not available to businesses, only consumers. We will give you more information about that right if it becomes relevant
- In addition we wish to draw your attention to role of The Solicitors Regulation Authority
The common complaints about Solicitors are about the poor service and should therefore be sent to the legal ombudsman. If, however, you consider that your complaint involves a breach of SRA Standards and Regulations https://www.sra.org.uk.solicitors/standards-regulations refer the matter to them. Please note however that the SRA do not have the power to award compensation for poor service or to reduce or refund your legal fees.
