Complaints Procedure

We take complaints made against us or our employees very seriously. How we deal with complaints is very much part of our service. If you have a complaint, we would like to hear from you. We will investigate it thoroughly, take any necessary action to resolve it and respond to you and look at what preventative action may be required to prevent any recurrence.

Set out below is our procedure for dealing with complaints by clients:

In the first instance, please raise any complaint in writing (by letter or e-mail) with the person who is  responsible for the day-to-day conduct of the matter. That person will immediately refer the complaint to the person who has responsibility for overall supervision of the matter who will handle the complaint.

Please raise any complaint as soon as possible after the concern arises (there are strict time limits for a reference to the Legal Ombudsman in respect of which please see further below).

When writing, please state:

  • what your complaint is about;
  • what you want us to do about it.

We will acknowledge your complaint in writing within 48 hours when we will advise you:

  • of the name of the person who is handling your complaint;
  • within what period (not exceeding 21 days) we will respond to your complaint substantively.

We will do all we can to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction. However, if you remain unsatisfied, the matter will be referred to Greenwoods Complaints Partner, Paul Parsons, who will oversee an investigation and further respond to you. Such response will be made as soon as possible but, in any event, within eight weeks of receipt of your complaint.

At each stage we will do our best to:

  • investigate the complaint thoroughly; and
  • ensure that any necessary remedial action is taken as quickly as possible.  We will record in writing the nature of the complaint, our investigation of it and any remedial action taken.

We may ask you to confirm in writing if the complaint has been satisfactorily resolved.

We are entitled to a minimum of eight weeks in which to resolve your complaint but, if after that, you are not satisfied with the way we have handled it, and you are eligible to do so, please contact the Legal Ombudsman. This you should do within six months from the end (i.e. the date of our final written response to you) of our complaints handling procedure.

You will be eligible to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if you are a member of the public, a small business, a charity, a club or a trust. If you have any queries about pursuing your complaint further or your eligibility to use the Legal Ombudsman service please check the Legal Ombudsman website for details or contact the Legal Ombudsman by telephone. The details are as follows:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 15870
Birmingham
B30 9EB

W.  www.legalombudsman.org.uk
T.    0300 555 0333
E.   enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

If you are not eligible to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you may contact:

The Solicitors Regulation Authority
Ipsley Court
Berrington Close
Redditch
Worcestershire
B98 0TD
W.   www.sra.org.uk
T. 0870 606 2555