Complaints
We always aim to offer a professional service, including client care, which is of the highest quality. Please let us know if we fall short of your expectations and we will immediately take corrective action.
In the unlikely event that this does not satisfy you, you should contact our practice manager Irene Hallas who will ensure that your complaint is dealt with in accordance with our firm’s complaints procedure. Irene’s contact details are:
Address: Coupe Bradbury,
48 Poulton Street,
Kirkham,
Lancashire,
PR4 2AH,
Telephone: 01772 683000
E-mail: Irene.hallas@coupe-bradbury.com
Irene will immediately refer your complaint to a senior lawyer at Coupe Bradbury who has had no previous involvement with your matter. He or she (the Complaints Officer) will be the person who will be responding to your complaint.
What will happen next?
1. The Complaints Officer will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details set out (if you have not already done so). You can expect to receive our letter within five working days of us receiving your complaint.
2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. We will do this within three days working days of receiving your complaint.
3. We will then start to investigate your complaint. This will normally involve the following steps:
Your complaint will be investigated fully by the Complaints Officer.
The Complaints Officer will ask the member of the practice who acted for you to make detailed comment and provide a response to your complaint.
The Complaints Officer will then examine the reply received and all the relevant information in your file.
The Complaints Officer will then contact to you. It may be necessary for the Complaints Officer to speak with you to clarify issues. Once all the issues are fully identified and clarified the Officer will make detailed comments on your complaint. This commentary may include suggestions for resolving the complaint. Hopefully this will enable the complaint to be resolved to your full satisfaction.
We aim to respond formally to you within 28 days. However if the complaint is of a more complex nature, we may require more time but we will let you know when you will receive the full response. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) allows up to 8 weeks to investigate.
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:
• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• No more than one year from the date when you should have realised that there was cause for complaint;
and
• Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint.
For more information contact the Legal Ombudsman.
Contact details:
Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call 0300 555 0333 between 10am to 4pm.
Relay UK: 18001 0300 555 0333
Email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO BOX 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
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.