Complaints Procedure
Hannah Solicitors is committed to providing a high-quality legal service and we take all complaints seriously as we pride ourselves on the close relationship that we have with our clients. If you have a complaint about any aspect of our service, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible. In our experience, most issues can be resolved in a short telephone call but if you would like to discuss any concerns, please contact our Practice Manager, Marcia French in the first instance
• Telephone: 01933 588 022
• Email: m.french@hannahsolicitors.co.uk
Alternatively, you can make a formal complaint by following our procedure detailed below.
How to make a formal complaint:
1. Formal complaints should be made in writing using one of the following methods:
Via email: info@hannahsolicitors.co.uk
Via post: Hannah Solicitors LLP, 16 High Street, Rushden, NN10 0PR
2. How we handle your complaint
2.1. We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receipt. A record of your complaint will be put on our Complaints Register.
2.2. Your complaint will be reviewed by Iftekhar Shah (Compliance Officer for Legal Practice), or in his absence, a fellow partner, or our Practice Manager, who will investigate the details of your complaint and address your concerns. This may involve speaking to any relevant members of staff that worked on your case.
2.3. If your complaint is not complex, we will aim to give you a substantive response in writing within fourteen working days of receiving your complaint. We will inform you of our decision and, if applicable, our suggestion/s for resolving the matter.
2.4. If your complaint is complex, or we require further information from you, you may be invited to a meeting in person, or we may request a video/telephone conference call to discuss the matter further. If so, we will contact you to indicate how this may affect the timings for a final response. If the date and time are unsuitable for you, please let us know as soon as possible.
2.5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible to meet with us, we will send you a detailed written response to your complaint, including (where applicable) our suggestions for resolving the matter.
2.6. If you are satisfied with the outcome of your complaint, your complaint will be regarded as closed and we will retain a copy of all correspondence for our records in line with current UK legislation.
3. What to do if you are not satisfied with our decision regarding your complaint
3.1. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. Ordinarily, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern.3.2. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers.
3.2. However, you can refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within eight weeks of our final response to you or;
where an ombudsman considers that there are exceptional reasons to consider your complaint sooner, or without it having been made to us first (as the authorised person); or;
Where an ombudsman considers that in-house resolution is not possible due to irretrievable breakdown in the relationship between us and you (the complainant).
For example, an ombudsman may decide that the Legal Ombudsman should consider the complaint where we have refused to consider it, or where delay would harm the complainant.
3.3. In relation to section 3.2 above;
a) Where a complaint is referred by a personal representative or beneficiary of the estate of a person who, before they died, had not referred the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, the period runs from when the deceased should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint;
and
b) when the complainant (or the deceased) should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint will be assessed on the basis of the complainant’s (or the deceased’s) own knowledge, disregarding what the complainant (or the deceased) might have been told if they had sought advice.
The contact details for the Legal Ombudsman is as follows:
Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Tel within UK: 0300 555 0333 (Opening hours are: 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday)
Relay UK: 18001 0300 555 0333.
Tel from overseas: +44 121 245 3050
Email: service.complaints@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/make-a-complaint
4. What to do if you have concerns about the behaviour of the Firm or a solicitor?
Should you have specific concerns about the behaviour of a solicitor, you can report your concerns to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The SRA can help you, or take action, when solicitors:
· tell lies
· steal from you
· shut down the Firm without telling you
· break SRA rules
· otherwise fail to meet required standards
You can make a report to the SRA via their website, where you can download their online form and read more about the reporting process on this weblink below https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
Alternatively, you can contact the SRA to ask for them to send you a reporting form using the contact details below:
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47
Tel: 0370 606 2555
Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk
SRA Opening Hours
Monday: 08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday: 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday: 10:00 - 17:00
Thursday: 08:00 - 17:00
Friday: 08:00 - 17:00