Complaints Policy and Procedure
Our Complaints Policy
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 put matters right where appropriate and improve our standards.
Our Complaints Procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact Stephen Soper, the Partner responsible for client care, unless the complaint concerns Stephen Soper in which case contact the alternative client care Partner, Paul Addison. You can contact either one at 7-13 Oxford Street, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, BS23 1TE telephone 01934 623501 or e-mail soper@powellslaw.com/addison@powellslaw.com
If you have any special needs (such as e.g. requiring correspondence to be produced in a large size print) please advise us so that we can so far as possible accommodate them. If we have to change any of the timescales set out below, we will let you know and explain why. In any event, we would normally be expected to resolve your complaint within 8 weeks.
What will happen next?
- We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days of receiving it. If it seems appropriate, we may ask you to clarify or explain any details, and/or suggest a meeting at this stage.
- Stephen Soper or Paul Addison will then investigate your complaint, examining the relevant file and speaking with members of staff as appropriate.
- If appropriate, Stephen Soper or Paul Addison will then invite you to meet or to speak with him over the telephone to discuss and, we hope, resolve your complaint. He should be in a position to do this no longer than fourteen days after first receiving your complaint.
- If you would prefer not to meet, or if it is not practical or appropriate, or if we cannot arrange it within an acceptable timescale, Stephen Soper will write fully to you setting out his views on the situation and any suggestions we may have to resolve it. Again, he should be in a position to do this within fourteen days of receiving your complaint.
- Within two days of that meeting/discussion, he will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions we have made or solutions that he has agreed with you.
- At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let Stephen Soper or Paul Addison know. We will then arrange for another Partner in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to impartially review our handling of it and whether different suggestions or solutions would be more appropriate.
- We will contact you again within fourteen days of receiving your request for a review. We will set out our final position on your complaint and explain our reasons.
- When we write to you on completion of the review, we will also give you the address of the Legal Ombudsman. If you are still not satisfied you may contact The Legal Ombudsman about your complaint, but we very much hope that this will not be the case. There is a time limit for referring complaints to the Legal Ombudsman. This is generally 6 months from the end of our procedure, but you can check this by looking at their website www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by telephoning them on 0300 555 0333. Alternatively, you can also contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority report@sra.org.uk, For guidance on the complaints process please either call 0370 606 2555 or email contactcentre@sra.org.uk