Complaints Procedure
Our complaints policy
Harrop White Vallance & Dawson is 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.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a concern or a complaint, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed. Initially you should usually refer the complaint to the fee-earner concerned, by telephone, fax, e-mail or post – see our letterhead for contact details. Alternatively, or if you are not satisfied with the response, you should refer your complaint to Mr C G Dawson, or if the complaint relates to him, Mr T J Lander. Mr C G Dawson and Mr T J Lander are the partners in the firm.
What will happen next?
- We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of our receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
- We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our client care partner Mr C G Dawson, who will review your file and speak to the fee earner who acted for you. If the complaint relates to Mr C G Dawson, Mr T J Lander a partner, will undertake his role in these complaint procedures.
- Mr C G Dawson (or Mr T J Lander if he is dealing with the complaint) will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and, it is hoped, resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. Rather than a face-to-face meeting, an electronic meeting can be arranged, as can a pre-arranged telephone call, if you prefer.
- Within three days of the meeting, Mr C G Dawson (or Mr TJ Lander if he is dealing with the complaint) will write to you to confirm the firm’s response and any solutions or outcome he has agreed with you. In certain cases further investigation or information may be required which we will explain.
- If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Mr C G Dawson (or Mr TJ Lander if he is dealing with the complaint) will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments. Depending on the matter we may at this stage arrange for another partner to review the decision, or if we both consider it helpful, arrange a further meeting.
- We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. If we need to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
- If we are unable to resolve your complaint, then you can ask the Legal Ombudsman at PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH or call 0300 555 0333 to look at your complaint independently. This will not affect the way that we handle your case. The Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have without success, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within six months of your receiving a final written response from us regarding your complaint and 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 reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman has provided further guidance on its service at www.legalombudsman.org.uk.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
If you are concerned about our behaviour, then the Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you. This
could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your
age, disability or other characteristic.
You can raise your concerns directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority at www.sra.org.uk