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Client Complaint

Policy and Procedure FROM 1 APRIL 2023

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all of our clients. We take very seriously all expressions of dissatisfaction from our clients.  When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it.  This will help us to improve our standards.  We deal with all complaints fairly, promptly and at no extra cost to you.  If you have difficulty bringing your complaint to us, let us know so that we can help you.

Please be assured that your complaint will be dealt with promptly, fairly and free of charge.

If you wish to express any concerns, you can do so by telephone, email or by letter.  Our contact details are below.  We would prefer you to write to us with full details of your complaint so that we have a good understanding of the issues being highlighted.  If you have trouble with this, please let us know so that we can help you.

You should know who is dealing with your matter, this will be set out in the first letter that we sent to you (this is called our Client Care Letter).  This also sets out who their supervisor is.  You can contact them initially, and they will do their best to resolve the issue for you.

If your lawyer or their supervisor are not able to resolve the matter for you, or if you would prefer, you can raise your complaint with Partner, Susan Faulkner who manages the complaints at this firm.

Susan Faulkner, BTTJ Solicitors, Lowick Gate, Siskin Drive, Coventry, CV3 4FJ

Telephone: 02476 531532, Email: susan.faulkner@bttj.com

Reporting & Investigation Responsibilities

  • Informal verbal complaints should be addressed to your lawyer in the first instance.  If you are not satisfied with their proposals, then the matter should be taken up with the Supervisorresponsible for their work.
  • If the matter cannot be resolved informally with your lawyer or their supervisor, it would assist investigations if you were to fully detail your concerns in writing so there is less room for misunderstanding your concerns and requirements.
  • The complaint will be dealt with by Susan Faulkner, who is a Partner and the firm’s Head of Risk and Compliance, or the Head of the relevant department will address it. Additionally, Kelly Harrison, who assists with Risk, Compliance, and Business Support, might also contact you.

These people form our Compliance Team and you may be contacted by any or all of them during the investigation into the complaint.

Response Times

  • We will have 8 weeks from the date that we receive your formal complaint to try to resolve it to your satisfaction. In order to keep within this timeframe, we intend to carry out the following:
  • We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 7 days of receiving it.
  • A full reply will be sent as soon as the matter has been investigated.  We will always endeavour to provide a full response within 28 days.  If that is not possible, an interim response will be given explaining why it is not possible to meet this deadline, when we expect our investigations to be completed and a response finalised.
  • Once we have prepared our final response, we will let you know and tell you what you can do if you still do not consider that the complaint has been resolved.

If you do not consider the complaint to be resolved

If you do not consider that we have resolved your complaint, you may refer your complaint, free of charge, to the Legal Ombudsman.

1. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check:

  • you have tried to resolve the complaint with us in the first instance and
  • you have suffered significant financial loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment, which deems it proportionate for them to investigate.

We will always be happy to discuss your issues further, prior to you going down this route, if you wish to do so.

2. For complaints about our service, including billing issues, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman via one of the methods below:

3. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of the date of our final written response to your complaint. You should also be aware that the Legal Ombudsman will consider your complaint if you refer it on to them within either of the following:

  • one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about OR
  • one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman has discretion to extend the one year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so.

4. Note that the Legal Ombudsman service cannot be used by businesses or most other organisations, unless they are below certain size limits. Further details are available from the Legal Ombudsman’s website.

5. It is worth considering, whilst it is open to you to submit a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, they apply strict criteria to determine whether they will ultimately accept a complaint for a full investigation. They have the discretion to dismiss or discontinue all or part of a complaint if they believe:

  • it does not have any reasonable prospects of success.
  • you have not suffered (and are unlikely to suffer) significant financial loss, distress, inconvenience or detriment.
  • it is frivolous, vexatious, lacks merit or where there is a compelling reason not to accept it.
  • the likely impact, size, complexity, scope, volume of evidence or your conduct render it disproportionate/unreasonable/impossible for the complaint to be investigated.
  • you have previously complained about the same issue to them, unless you provide material evidence that is likely to affect the outcome which only became available to you after you submitted the original complaint.
  • there has been undue delay in the complaint being raised.

Also note:

  • If, during the course of an ongoing investigation by the Legal Ombudsman, a revised/increased offer is made by us which is deemed to be fair and reasonable redress and you decide to reject that offer, the Legal Ombudsman has the discretion to dismiss or discontinue all or part of your complaint.
  • If you have already accepted an offer to settle your complaint made by us during our internal complaint handling process, which is deemed to be fair and reasonable redress, unless there has been some significant intervening act, you will not be able to have that agreement overturned in the hope of securing a preferential outcome by pursuing your complaint via the Legal Ombudsman.

For more information on the Legal Ombudsman’s rules and requirements, please see their Scheme Rules dated April 2023.

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

6. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (‘SRA’) 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 protected characteristic.

7. Visit the ‘Reporting an individual or firm’ page of the SRA  website to see how you can raise your concerns with the SRA.

You may also refer your complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme Provider (ADR).  We will send you a final letter informing you of this.  See more information regarding the ADR scheme below.

Management

All complaints (written or verbal) are recorded and logged centrally.  Where necessary, we will implement corrective action in response to individual complaints and improvement measures to prevent adverse trends and correct recurring problems.  In this manner, we aim to constantly improve the service we provide.

Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes

Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate (www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services if you and our firm want to use them to resolve your compliant.  However, we do not currently agree to use this ADR service due to the availability of the Legal Ombudsman Service.  You should be aware that we are obliged to comply with the Legal Ombudsman as a result of our regulatory Code of Conducts.