Complaints policy

Complaints policy

1. Our complaints policy

R. George Davies & Co is committed to providing a high quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong, we need you to tell us about it. This will help us to improve our standards. Whenever possible, please raise any initial client care problems with the person acting on your matter to give them the opportunity of resolving matters with you. Often matters can be quickly resolved in this way.

2. Our complaints procedure

If you have a concern or a complaint that has not been dealt with to your satisfaction by the person handling your case or their supervising partner, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed.

3. What will happen next?

  1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days of our receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure.
  2. We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve passing your complaint to our client care director, Christopher Waters, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you. 
  3. Christopher Waters will then speak to you in person, or by telephone, it is hoped, to resolve your complaint. He will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  4. Within three days of the meeting, Christopher Waters will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.
  5. If you do not want to speak to Christopher Waters, or it is not possible, he will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
  6. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments. Depending on the matter we may at this stage arrange for another director to review the decision.
  7. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
  8. If you are still not satisfied, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint. We hope that this does not become necessary and that we can resolve matters between ourselves. The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are: 

Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 – from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm
E-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final written response from us about your complaint and within the following timescales:

  • six years from the date of the act or omission about which you are complaining occurring; or
  • three years from the date you should reasonably have known there were grounds for complaint.

If we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

4. When should you complain to the Solicitors Regulation Authority?

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) deal with complaints where firms or those they regulate have breached the SRA Principles. The SRA Principles comprise the fundamental tenets of ethical behaviour that solicitors must uphold, e.g. acting with honesty and integrity.   Most of the time, complaints about solicitors are about poor service, and therefore should be sent to the Legal Ombudsman, however if the complaint relates to a breach of an SRA principle, it should be made to the SRA.

5. Complaints in relation to bills

The complaints procedure above also applies to complaints arising concerning our bill. There may also be a right to object to the bill by applying to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974; the Legal Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about a bill if you have applied to the court for assessment of that bill.