COMPLAINTS HANDLING POLICY
We value our business and do not wish you to have any reason to be unhappy with us. We are confident in providing a high quality service. It is therefore important that you raise any concerns you may have with us immediately so that we may address them. This will help us to improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you are dissatisfied with the service received or if you are dissatisfied with regards to a charge on a bill received, please first contact a member of staff who is dealing with your matter who they will then try to resolve your concerns informally. Our aim will always be to deal with your concerns as quickly as possible and without recourse to any formal complaints procedure. If it is clear that you remain discontented, the member of staff will inform you of the existence of our formal complaints procedure by sending you a copy of this procedure.
Stage 1
You should contact Muhammad Riaz Gull, our Complaints Handling Director in writing either by email at advice@gulllaw.com or by post at 65 Staines Road, Hounslow, TW3 3HW. Please outline the cause of your complaint and if possible, the action you would like us to take in order to remedy that complaint.
Stage 2
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within five working days and inform you of the name of the person who is dealing with your complaint. Your complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and a thorough investigation undertaken and recorded in our central register which is reviewed regularly by the firm.
Stage 3
The person investigating the complaint will have full access to all the information and personnel that they require to investigate your complaint properly. They may contact you directly to discuss and confirm your heads of complaints and request any further information from you to assist the investigation. We will ask the person investigating the complaint to recommend the action which they believe would be recommended by the Legal Ombudsman if the complaint was referred to their office.
Stage 4
The person investigating your complaint will provide you with a detailed assessment report together with their recommendations to resolve the complaint, if any, a copy will first be forwarded to our Directors for review. If the complaint is outsourced, we will generally follow their recommendations made but if we think they are not appropriate we will explain our reasons to you. We have 8 weeks from the date we receive your complaint to fully investigate and provide our final response to you. If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will contact you to explain why. You will not be charged for our time spent dealing with a complaint internally.
Stage 5
If you are still not satisfied, the next step is for you to contact the Legal Ombudsman by one of the following methods: Telephone : 0300 555 0333 Overseas: +44 12 245 3050 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk In writing : PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ www.legalombudsman.org.uk
The Ombudsman service is only available to members of the public, very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. If you are unclear about your position, then you should contact the Legal Ombudsman direct to clarify whether or not they can deal with your complaint. You have the right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman at the conclusion of our complaints process providing you do so within 6 months of the date of our final written response.
Ordinarily you can also ask the Legal Ombudsman to investigate your complaint if you are referring your complaint within:
1. Either Six years of the problem happening, or 2. Three years from when you found out about it
Complaints about Fees
If you are dissatisfied with our bill, you have the right to apply to the High Court for an assessment of our charges by an Officer of the Court under ss. 70, 71 and 72 of the Solicitors Act 1974. We hope that before making such an application you would first use our complaints procedure explained above.
Complaints about Misconduct
If you have any concerns about any misconduct or breach of the SRA Code of Conduct by our firm such as taking or losing your money, dishonesty or discrimination, you can also report the matter to our regulatory body, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Their details are; The Solicitors Regulation Authority The Cube Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN T: 0370 606 2555 https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page