Complaints Policy & Procedure

Policy

Dean Manson LLP trading as Dean Manson LLP Solicitors are committed to providing a fast, friendly and efficient service to all our clients. If you feel that your matter is not proceeding as it should and as per your expectations, please feel free to bring your concerns to our attention. We shall do everything we can to ensure that our service meets or even exceeds your expectations.  However, if at any time you are dissatisfied with the service we provide, we would ask you to raise the matter with us in the first instance.

Procedure

If you have a concern or problem, please discuss it with the fee earner dealing with your matter in the first instance. If you feel unable to discuss your problem with the fee earner or you feel that he/she has not properly addressed your problem, then we would ask you to put your problem in writing to the fee earner along with a copy to the senior Partner who is also our Senior Member.

On receipt of your letter, we will write to you acknowledging your complaint and informing you as to who at this firm will be dealing with you on this matter. On receipt of your letter, the person designated to deal with this matter will review the file with the fee earner having day to day control. We may also contact you for further details. Having investigated your problem, we will endeavour to find a solution and will inform you of our proposed solution. We aim to do this within 7 working days of receipt of your letter, but in a complicated matter this may take up to 21 working days.

In the event there is no simple solution we may ask you to come to meet us or speak to us on the telephone to discuss the matter and hopefully resolve your complaint. If, having received our letter with a proposed solution, you are still dissatisfied please contact the writer of that letter with a view to setting up such a meeting.

If you are unhappy following the meeting and/or receipt of the letter proposing a solution and you do not want a meeting, then you should write to us again, in this case addressing the letter to Mrs Huma Hussain, the firm’s Complaints Officer. Mrs Hussain will aim to acknowledge your letter within 7 working days of receipt and will investigate your complaint fully in accordance with our internal procedure*. After a comprehensive investigation, interviewing of the concerned staff and in line with the contents of your file, Mrs Hussain will aim to write to you with a detailed response to your complaint within 8 weeks of the date of receipt of your complaint.

*Please note that a copy of our internal complaints procedure is available on request. 

Legal Ombudsman (LeO)

If the Complaints Officer fails to respond to your complaint within 8 weeks without informing you of the reason for the delay, or if at the conclusion of our complaint’s process, we are unable to resolve matters to your satisfaction, you may have a right to make a complaint directly to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO). If you wish to do so, you must contact the Legal Ombudsman(LeO) within 6 months of your last contact with us. Additionally, you must have raised your complaint with either us or the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) within one year of the relevant act, or omission or one year from the date when you realised there was a cause for complaint. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) may not deal with a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for assessment of that bill.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) to make a complaint or to check whether you are eligible to use the service by calling 0300 555 0333 (or +44 121 245 3050 if you are calling from overseas), emailing at: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or writing to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO), PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ. Further information can be found at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.

Please note that the time limit for complaint to the LeO is within one year from the act/omission or one year from realising the cause of complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) must usually be made within six months of the date of our final decision on your complaint.

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

We do hope there will be no need to do so if you invoke our internal complaints procedure to resolve the matter without any further charge for doing so. Please bear in mind there will be no charge for invoking our internal complaints procedure.

 

Solicitors Regulation Authority

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you 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.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority by visiting their website at www.sra.org.uk, by writing to them at: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN or by telephone on 0370 606 2555 (inside the UK) or from overseas on +44 (0)121 329 6800.