CLIENTS COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Gudgeons Prentice is 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.

Complaints Procedure

If you have a concern or a complaint, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed.
The complaint should be addressed to the firm’s Senior Partner, whose details are:

Robert Jackson
Gudgeons Prentice Solicitors
Buttermarket
Stowmarket
Suffolk IP14 1ED

What will happen next?

    1. We will send you a letter or email acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of our receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
    2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our client care partner, Robert Jackson, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
    3. Robert Jackson will then send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter or email.
    4. If you then wish to discuss the response in more detail, a meeting can be arranged with Robert Jackson where, it is hoped, your complaint can be resolved.
    5. Within three days of the meeting, Robert will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
    6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments. Depending on the matter we may at this stage arrange for another partner 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. What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint?

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case. 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 take 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 you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Write: 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.

If we have to change any of the time scales above, we will let you know and explain why.