We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If something goes wrong it is important that you tell us about it.
In the first instance, if you have a concern or complaint, we may attempt to resolve this matter with you informally by a telephone discussion or meeting. You may, at any time, invoke the formal complaints procedure which is as follows:
Stage 1
You should clearly set out in writing your complaint and basis for it and include any evidence for the complaint. The complaint should be addressed to Vital Ruwala who is the Managing Director and Client Care Director. We will then send you a letter or email acknowledging your complaint. If your complaint is not clear to us, we may ask you to confirm or clarify the details of your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter or email acknowledging your complaint within 14 days of us receiving your complaint. We may open a separate file for your complaint.
Stage 2
Once we have received your complaint, we will start to investigate. This may take approximately 21 days and may involve the following steps.
- We may invite you to attend our offices to informally discuss your complaint.
- Vital Ruwala may, within seven days of receiving full details of your complaint, speak to any member of staff that you are complaining about or who may have been responsible for the conduct which gave rise to your complaint.
- If he considers it appropriate, Vital Ruwala may request any member of staff for a written response.
Stage 3
Vital Ruwala will then provide you with a written decision to your complaint. Such a response may be a final decision. This will be within approximately 28 days of receiving full details of your complaint.
Stage 4
If you are satisfied with the resolution, you should write to confirm this to us. If you are not satisfied and our response is not a final decision, you may contact us again providing us with reasons as to why you are not satisfied. Vital Ruwala may then review the decision having regard to your representations.
Stage 5
If the decision is reviewed, we will endeavour to let you know the outcome of the review within 14 days of receiving your correspondence. The outcome to the review will normally be our final decision.
If the process is likely to take substantially longer than the time scales mentioned above, we will endeavour to let you know and explain why.
If you are still not satisfied with our final decision, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman whose details are as follows:
PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
Tel: 0300 555 0333
You may complain to the Legal Ombudsman after eight weeks of raising your complaint to us and you have up to a year to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman from:
- The date of act/omission that you are complaining about; or
- The date when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) deals with cases where firms or those they regulate have breached the SRA Principles. Most of the time, complaints about solicitors are about poor service, and therefore should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman. However, you may report the matter directly to the SRA if you think that we or anyone regulated by the SRA has breached an SRA Principle.
How to report a solicitor or firm to the SRA
You may report a matter to the SRA by writing to the SRA with your concerns and attaching any evidence. The correspondence address for the SRA is:
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
Alternatively, you can report your concerns by email and send it to: report@sra.org.uk
There are no time limits that you need to be aware of to report a matter to the SRA and a report to the SRA may be made at any time.