Complaints Procedure
We are 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.
If you have a complaint, please write to us with the details, addressed to our Client Care Officer, Claire Darby, who is a partner of this firm. You can contact her by letter to Fountain House, 2 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey KT3 3LR, by fax on 0208 949 8011 or by email to cdarby@pearsonhards.co.uk. If your complaint is about Claire, then please write to our Deputy Client Care Officer, Donald Morrison, who is also a partner.
What will happen next?
- We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out. You can expect to receive our letter within two days of us receiving your complaint.
- We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this within a day of receiving your complaint.
- We will acknowledge your reply to our acknowledgement letter and confirm what will happen next. You can expect to hear from us within three days of your reply.
- We will then start to investigate your complaint. We usually aim to complete investigations within 21 days, but it may take longer, especially if files have been archived or are particularly complex. We will aim to conclude our investigation within 8 weeks of your complaint being made.
- Following the conclusion of our investigation you will be contacted by our Client Care Officer to discuss and it is hoped, to resolve your complaint.
- At this stage, if you are not satisfied [you can write to us again]. We will arrange to review our decision and another solicitor of the firm will then review our Client Care Officer’s decision within ten days.
- At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process however if you are still not satisfied, you may want to consider referring your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman independently investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers and normally expects the law firm’s complaints process to be exhausted before considering a complaint.
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 from when you should have realised that there was a cause for a complaint. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
The Legal Ombudsman's website is www.legalombudsman.org.uk and contains useful information and criteria regarding complaints (only from individuals and small businesses, charities and similar organisations) and time limits.
The Legal Ombudsman's contact details are:
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH
Telephone number: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
The Solicitors Regulation Authority
Information relating to reporting concerns about an individual or a firm to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is available on the SRA website. Please note that the SRA does not deal with complaints about poor service. Further information is available here, and they may be contacted at:
Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Cube
199 Wharfside Street
Birmingham
B1 1RN
Telephone number: 0370 606 2555