Complaints Procedure
Our complaint procedures
The procedures that you will have to follow
At Hutsby Mees in Stafford, we want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you are unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform us immediately so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.
In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
The Solicitor Regulation Authority can help you 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 characteristics.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. (/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page.)
In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure here. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.
The Solicitor Regulation Authority can help you 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 characteristics.
You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. (/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page.)
Experience
Knowledge
Professional
Reputation
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.
Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:
- Within 6 months of receiving a final response to your complaint
and
- No more than 6 years from the date of act/omission or
- No more than 3 years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint
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 am to 5 pm)
Complaints policy
We are committed to providing high-quality legal services to our clients. If something goes wrong we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.
If you have a complaint, please contact Henry Hutsby, our Client Care Partner.
He can be contacted either in writing at 5-7a, St. Marys Grove, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST16 2AT, email at hhutsby@hutsbymees.co.uk
or telephone on 01785 259 211
Don't leave it to long to complain
The Legal Ombudsman can only investigate complaints within one year of the problem happening OR within one year of when you found out about the problem AND you must complain to us within six months of your service provider's final response to your complaint.
1. Within two days, we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain any details, inform you of what you can expect, give you a realistic timetable and a full explanation of what is being done to address the complaint. If it seems appropriate, we will suggest a meeting at this stage. We will also let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint.
2. We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file
for your complaint. We will also investigate your complaint by examining the relevant file.
3. We will then write to you regarding our findings of the complaint and if
appropriate we will then invite you to meet Mr Hutsby to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We would hope to have reached this stage within 14 days after first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within a reasonable timescale, we will write fully to you setting out our views on the situation and any redress that we feel would be appropriate.
4. Within three days of any meeting we will write to confirm what took place
and any suggestions that 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.
5. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within 10
days and this will happen in one of the following ways:
• Mr Hutsby will review his decision
• We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it
We will let you know the result of the review within five working days of the end of the review. At this time, we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. We will also give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact them about your complaint. We very much hope that this will not be necessary.
You can read our complaints policy yourself by clicking here
