Complaints Procedure

We want to give you the best possible service.  However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service, which we have provided, please 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, in order to discuss your concerns.  In that event, we would do our best to resolve any issues then.  If you would like to make a formal complaint, our full complaints procedure is set out below (marked by an *).

If you do make a complaint, it will not affect our handling of your case.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour.  Examples of concerns, which can be expressed about Solicitors, are dishonesty, taking or losing clients’ money or treating clients unfairly because of their age, a disability or another characteristic.  You can raise any concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Further, if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves, the Legal Ombudsman can help you.  He or she would look at your complaint independently and, again, any such complaint would not affect our handling of your case.  Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman would check that you had tried to resolve your complaint with us first.  If you had done that, you would then have to take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

1. within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
2. no more than
   • six years after the date of the act or omission in question; or
   • three years after the date, on which you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact him or her. The contact details are set out in our complaints procedure below.

CHANDLER HARRIS COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

Our policy

1. We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all of our clients.
2. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it, so that we can:
   • put things right between us;
   • make improvements, in order that the problem does not arise again; and
   • generally improve our standards.
3. It is our policy to deal with any complaint in a way, which is prompt, fair and open, whilst working towards an effective resolution for you.

Our procedure

1. If you have a complaint, please let us have details of it.
2. We prefer this to be in writing, which can be in a letter, fax or e-mail.

What will happen next?

1. Within three working days of receiving your complaint, we will:
   • send you a letter, acknowledging receipt and asking you to confirm or explain the details, which you have set out; and
   • let you know the name of the person, who will be dealing with your complaint.
2. We will:
   • record your complaint in our central register; and
   • open a separate file for it.
3. We will then start our investigations, which will normally involve the following steps:-
   • We will pass your complaint to David Harris or to Simon Chandler (the “Client Care Partner”).
   • The Client Care Partner will ask the partner or other member of staff, who acted for you, to reply to your complaint.
   • The Client Care Partner will then:
     • examine this reply against the information, contained in your complaint file; and
     • speak to that partner or staff member.
4. You will then be invited to a meeting with the Client Care Partner, in order to discuss (and, hopefully, to resolve) your complaint.
5. After your meeting with the Client Care Partner, he will write to you in order to record:
   1. the nature and content of the discussions; and
   2. any solutions, which he has agreed with you.
6. If:
   • you do not want to attend a meeting; or
   • it is not possible to hold a meeting for any other reason;

   the Client Care Partner will send you a detailed reply to your complaint (including his suggestions for resolving the matter).

7. We will make every effort to provide you with full response and any offer of resolution within twenty-one days of our letter, acknowledging receipt of your complaint (but, if we are unable to respond within this timeframe, we will provide you with an estimate of the date, by which we will be able to respond fully).
8. If, upon receipt of our full response, you are still not satisfied, please contact us again, after which we will then arrange to review our decision.
9. In the context of that review, unless he was the subject of the complaint, the other partner in the firm will:
   1. review the Client Care Partner’s decision; and
   2. inform you of the result of the review.
10. If you were still unhappy after this procedure had been followed, you would have the option to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, who can be contacted:
    1. online via www.legalombudsman.org.uk; or
    2. by post at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ; or
    3. by telephone on 0300 555 0333.
11. Please note that the Legal Ombudsman service is not available until eight weeks have elapsed since the last contact from us about your complaint.
12. After that, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman:
    1. as soon as you can; and
    2. (in any event) within six months of your last contact with us about your complaint.