Complaint Procedure

We are 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 service.

Our aim

We aim to deal promptly, fairly and effectively with any complaint a client may have about any aspect of our service.

How to complain

If you have a complaint, we kindly ask that you set out your complaint in writing including :

• Your full name, Address and contact telephone number
• Details of where you feel Rainer Hughes failed to act appropriately
• What you hope to achieve as a result of your complaint; and
• The file reference number for the matter which relates to your complaint.

All complaints should be sent to :

Sanjay Panesar, Client Care Partner, Rainer Hughes, 182 Hutton Road, Shenfield, Essex CM15 8NR.
OR
Email : complaints@rainerhughes.com

What will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your 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 partner, Sanjay Panesar, who will review your matter file and speak to the member of staff who acted for you.

3. Sanjay Panesar will then invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. He will do this within 21 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

4. Within 5 days of the meeting, Sanjay Panesar will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions he has agreed with you.

5. If you do not want a meeting or it is not possible, Sanjay Panesar will send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including his suggestions for resolving the matter within 28 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.

6. As this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again and we will arrange for a consultant to review Sanjay Panesar’s decision.

7. We will write to you within 19 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 then contact the Legal Ombudsman or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.    The contact details for these organisations are provided below.

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

The Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation with powers to resolve complaints about legal services. In order to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman you must make your complaint within six months of our final decision; or within six years of the act or omission which you are complaining about (or within three years of becoming aware of it).

You can contact The Legal Ombudsman: by telephone: 0300 555 0333;
by post at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
by email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

You may make a complaint at any time within six months of our final decision about your complaint. If you do not refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within that six-month period, then your complaint may not be accepted by the Ombudsman.

You may also lose your right to refer a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if more than six years have passed since the event(s) about which you want to complain, or if more than three years have passed since you should have realised that you had a possible complaint.

Solicitors Regulation Authority

If your concern relates, to our conduct you may wish to make a complaint to The Solicitors Regulation Authority.

You can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority:
By post : SRA Report, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN
By DX : DX 720293 BIRMINGHAM 47;
By telephone: 0370 606 2555;
By email: reports@sra.org.uk

Costs

We will not charge you for handling a complaint.
Please note that where you do not pay a bill, we may be entitled to charge interest on any amount outstanding.
The Legal Ombudsman and Solicitors Regulation Authority do not charge for handling your complaints.

Further information

For Further information in relation to this policy, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.

Contact details are provided below:

Rainer Hughes Solicitors
182 Hutton Road
Shenfield
Essex CM15 8NR

Tel 01277 226644
Fax 01277 224228
Email : info@rainerhughes.com

DX 32910 SHENFIELD