Alison Fielden & Co. Complaints Policy

If you have a complaint about the service you received from us then the following will be our procedure for dealing with it.

1. Please initially raise the complaint directly with the fee earner responsible for your case. The fee earner will try to resolve the issue with you.
2. If the issue cannot be resolved this way then the person named in the client care letter or Terms of Business which you received at the outset of your case will be asked to investigate. This person will acknowledge referral of the complaint within 7 days and will indicate within what time a substantive answer may be expected. You may be invited to a meeting. Once the matter has been fully investigated a report will be sent to you together with a proposal for resolving the matter. The firm normally has 8 weeks within which to send a final response. The person with overall responsibility for complaints is usually Alison Fielden as SP.
3. If this does not satisfactorily deal with your complaint then you may refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman usually within six months of our final response or the expiry of the 8 week period mentioned above, whichever is the earlier. These periods are subject to long stop dates and the Legal Ombudsman may only accept complaints made within one year from the act or omission complained of or within one year from when the complainant should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint. You may contact the Legal Ombudsman by writing to PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH, by telephone 0300 555 0333, or by e-mail: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
4. We will not charge you for the cost of handling a complaint.
5. The period of normally 8 weeks and usually six months referred to above are subject to exceptions, and not all clients are eligible. Further details can be found at http://www.legalombudsman.org.uk
6. Alternative complaints bodies such as Ombudsman Services and Promediate exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services, should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We do not agree to use such a scheme.
7. If your complaint concerns a solicitor's behaviour or dishonesty you can ask the SRA (Solicitors' Regulation Authority) to investigate. You will need to complete a report form which can be downloaded from the SRA website http://www.sra.org.uk/problem. Their telephone number is 0370 606 2555.