Complaints
Complaints handling procedure
We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all of our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. This policy outlines the various routes available to you in order to complain and how they interact.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint about our service or a bill that we have rendered (or both), please contact us with the details.
The person to contact is Lisa Haywood, and they can be reached at:
Stutt Associates, PO Box 372, Falmouth, TR11 9FN or ljh@stuttassociates.co.uk
What will happen next?
1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within 7 days of us receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to Lisa Haywood who will review your file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.
3. Lisa Haywood will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. This will be done within 35 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
4. Within 14 days of the meeting, Lisa Haywood will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions they have agreed with you.
5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Lisa Haywood will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including their suggestions for resolving the matter, within 35 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for Lisa Haywood to review their own decision.
7. We will write to you within 21 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
8. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
Legal Ombudsman
9. If you are still not satisfied once we have fully exhausted the steps above, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman at:
PO Box 680
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ
Tel: 0300 555 0333 or 0121 245 3050
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
There are time limits within which complaints must be made to the Legal Ombudsman, as indicated below.
Generally speaking, your complaint should be made to the Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response from us to your complaint
and
No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
You also need to be aware that the Ombudsman only deals with complaints from the following:
(a) an enterprise which, at the time that the complaint is made, is a micro-enterprise within the meaning of arts.1, 2(1) and (3) of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC, as that Recommendation had effect at the date it was adopted;
(b) a charity with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
(c) a club, association or organisation, the affairs of which are managed by its members or a committee or committees of its members, with an annual income net of tax of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
(d) a trustee of a trust with an asset value of less than £1 million at the time at which the complainant refers the complaint to the respondent;
(e) a personal representative of an estate of a person; or
(f) a beneficiary of an estate of a person.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
10. If someone thinks a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, they have the right to notify our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).
11. You may make a complaint to the SRA at any time, regardless of whether or not you have also made a complaint to us directly. There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. Please note that the SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service or about the level of our bills (complaints of this nature should instead be referred to the Legal Ombudsman). For further information about the SRA’s role, please contact the SRA or visit:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page#report