Complaints

Our Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. However, we acknowledge that we may not always get it right. When something goes wrong, including in relation to any bill, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards.

Our Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint, you can contact us in writing (by letter, fax or email) or by speaking to us by telephone or in person.

In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your matter to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the client care letter we sent you at the beginning of your matter or you may contact your client relationship partner or our Compliance Officer (see below).

Our Compliance Officer will be appointed to deal with your complaint. Her contact details are:

Rachelle Sellek
Acuity Law Limited,
3 Assembly Square,
Britannia Quay,
Cardiff Bay,
Cardiff,
CF10 4PL
m: +44 (0)7867 987927
e: rachelle.sellek@acuitylaw.com

What will happen next?

  1. Within three working days we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint together with a copy of this policy.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
    1. reviewing your complaint;
    2. reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
    3. liaising with the person who dealt with your matter.
  3. We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.
  4. We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.
  5. If appropriate we will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. You do not have to attend such a meeting if you do not wish to or are unable to do so. Alternatively we will be happy to discuss your complaint by telephone or video call. We would hope to be in a position to meet with you in this way no longer than 21 days after the date we acknowledge your complaint in writing or, if later, the date we receive the additional information requested from you in relation to your complaint.
  6. We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. We aim to do this within 10 working days of our meeting or telephone call.

    If the complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction

  7. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please let us know and we will review the matter. We will then arrange to review our decision. We would generally aim to do this within 10 days. This will happen in one of the following ways.
    1. 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 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.
    2. We will invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.
  8. If you are still unhappy you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to look into your complaint. We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved it within this time you may be able to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1m, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman). Larger organisations, public bodies or other authorised persons cannot use LeO and must instead seek redress through the courts, mediation or an alternative dispute resolution mechanism.
  9. 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:
    9.1 within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
    9.2 no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
    9.3 no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
  10. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman:
    1. Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
    2. Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00
    3. Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
    4. Write: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH.

      Alternative Dispute Resolution

  11. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process. Therefore, if you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.

    What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

  12. 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.
  13. Visit its website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/

    What will it cost?

  14. We will not charge you for handling your complaint.
  15. Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding in accordance with our terms of business.
  16. The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.
  17. The ODR platform itself is free to use, but the ADR entity to which the complaint is transmitted may charge for its service. The ADR entity is responsible for informing all parties of the cost of its dispute resolution procedure.
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