COMPLAINTS POLICY AND PROCEDURE

Meadows Ryan Solicitors Ltd t/a Meadows & Co. is committed to high quality legal advice and client care.

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to sort out any mistakes or misunderstandings, and to improve our standards.

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

 

Initial concerns

First it would be helpful if you could discuss any feedback or concerns which you have about our service or how it might be improved with the lawyer dealing with your matter.

If the lawyer dealing cannot resolve your concern informally, or if the issue is of such a serious nature that you do not feel comfortable raising it with your lawyer, then you may discuss this with our Complaints Manager, Ashley Burrow, who can record everything you are unhappy about and recommend the best solution for you. You can contact Ashley at ashleyburrow@meadow-legal.com

 

What we need to know

To deal with your complaint correctly, it would be helpful when contacting us if you could provide the following information:

  • Your name, contact details and preferred contact method.
  • File reference number
  • Details of your concerns
  • How you would like us to put things right.

 

What will happen next?

  1. If you telephone us, we will endeavour to resolve the issue in that call.
  2. If you email or write to us, or if your complaint cannot be resolved in a phone call, we will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in writing within 5 working days of receiving it.
  3. We will log your complaint on our central complaints register and open a separate file for your complaint.
  4. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve our Complaints Manager and / or another senior member of staff reviewing your file and speaking to the member of staff who acted for you.
  5. We may need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specified period of time.
  6. We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you on the telephone or a video call.
  7. We will aim to send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including our suggestions for resolving the matter, within 28 days of sending you the written acknowledgement of your complaint referred to above.
  8. If the reply (and proposed action if any) is not satisfactory to you, you may
  • a. request that another member of the management team reviews the decision.

I. We will write to you within 28 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint, and explaining our reasoning.

  • b. ask the Legal Ombudsman to look into your complaint (further details below)
  1. If we have to change any of these timescales, we will let you know, explain why, and seek your agreement before proceeding.

 

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

  1. The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at the complaint independently and any investigation by them will not affect how we handle your case.
  2. For complaints about our service, including billing issues, you may contact the Legal Ombudsman via one of the methods below:

 

  1. Any concerns you with to raise with the Legal Ombudsman must be referred to them within six months of the date of our final response to you. Other time limits, as of 1 April 2023, to be aware of are:
  • The Ombudsman will consider your complaint if you refer it on to them within either of the following: one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a year of you realising there was a concern.
  • The Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act/ omission or the date of awareness was before 5 October 2010.
  1. 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.
  2. 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 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 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 Ombudsman.

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

 

What will it cost?

  1. We will not charge you for handling your complaint.
  2. Please note that if we have issued an invoice for work done on a matter and all or some of the invoice is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding.
  3. The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.

 

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

  1. 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 characteristic.
  2. Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the SRA at: https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/

 

What to do if your complaint relates to an insurance policy

  1. If your unresolved complaint relates to an insurance policy covering your case, you may contact the Financial Ombudsman Service:
  • Phone: 0800 023 4567
  • Online complaint forms are available via their website:
  • Post: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower. Harbour Exchange. London. E14 9SR.

 

What to do if your complaint relates to a data protection issue

  1. If your unresolved complaint relates to a data protection matter, it is open to you to contact the ICO:
  • Live chat on their website
  • Helpline: 0303 123 1113.
  • Relay UK: 18001 0303 123 1113