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 maintain and improve our standards.
Our complaints procedure
If you have a complaint, please contact Gurjit Bdesha with the details. If we have to change any of the timescales set out below, we will let you know.
What will happen next?
Within three days, you will be sent correspondence acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details. A meeting may be suggested to clarify any details.
We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint and investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps.
If Gurjit Bdesha acted for you, they will ask another senior solicitor to consider your complaint. A detailed reply will be sent or you may be invited to a meeting to discuss the matter.
If someone else acted for you, Gurjit Bdesha will ask them to give me their reply to your complaint. Gurjit Bdesha will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. They may also speak to the person who acted for you.
Gurjit Bdesha may ask another senior solicitor to investigate your complaint and report to them.
Gurjit Bdesha may then write inviting you to meet and discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint.
At this stage we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you. We would aim to be in a position to be able to meet with you within 14 days of first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write fully to you setting out my views on the situation and any redress.
Within three days of the meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision within the next 10 days. This may happen in one of the following ways.
Gurjit Bdesha will review the decision.
Gurjit Bdesha will arrange for someone who is not connected with the complaint to review the decision.
Gurjit Bdesha will ask another senior solicitor to review your complaint. This may take longer than 10 days in which case they will let you know how long this process will take.
Gurjit Bdesha will let you know the result of the review within five days of the end of the review. At this time they will write to you confirming their final position on your complaint and explaining their reasons.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
If you are still not satisfied, having exhausted our complaints procedure, you have the right to contact the Legal Ombudsman, but you must do so within 6 months of receiving a final response to your complaint and no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or from when you should have reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
You have the right to contact them at any time, but they will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you are unsure on the time limit on referring your complaint, you can seek their guidance by contact them, but we very much hope that this will not be necessary.
The complaints handling scheme operated by the Legal Ombudsman does not deal with complaints from most businesses unless they are a small enterprise. If you need guidance on this point you should contact the Legal Ombudsman on the details above. The Legal Ombudsman will not deal with complaints from trustees where the asset value of the trust is more than £1, or from a club or association where it’s annual income exceeds £1m. We will deal with any complaints made by businesses, trusts, clubs and associations falling into such categories under our complaint handling procedures set out above.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
Contact details
Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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.
Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.