Our Complaints Procedure

  1. What is our complaints policy?

Chubb Bulleid are committed to providing high quality legal service to our Clients. We aim to deal with any complaints against the firm and its staff in a fast, positive, open-minded and fair manner. We try to learn from all complaints made to the firm and in that way improve the service we give our Clients.

 

  1. What is a complaint?

Chubb Bulleid are committed to providing high quality legal service to our Clients. We aim to deal with any complaints against the firm and its staff in a fast, positive, open-minded and fair manner. We try to learn from all complaints made to the firm and in that way improve the service we give our Clients.

  1. Who deals with complaints?

 

Those dealing with your work have been instructed to direct any complaint immediately to the Director in the firm dealing with complaints, namely Richard Cussell. He can be reached at our office at 7 Market Place, Wells, Somerset BA5 2RJ, telephone 01749 836108, fax 01749 676300. His email address is richard_cussell@chubb-bulleid.co.uk. Should he be away from the office or otherwise unable to deal with the complaint then it will be dealt with by Carla Jones who is based at our office at Strode House, 10 Leigh Road, Street, Somerset BA16 0HA. Her direct e-mail address is carla_jones@chubb-bulleid.co.uk and her telephone number is 01458 844101

  1. How do you record my complaint?

Richard will record your complaint in a central register and designate a separate file of papers for your complaint within a day of receiving it.

 

  1. Will I be charged for the work done to resolve my complaint?

 

You will not be charged for any of the work undertaken by this firm in order to resolve your complaint. We will deal with your complaint free of charge.

 

  1. How will my complaint be investigated?

As soon as Richard receives a complaint he will send a letter acknowledging it and if necessary may ask you to clarify some details. He will give you a copy of this complaints procedure and
you can expect to receive this letter within two working days of our receipt of the complaint. Richard will thoroughly review the complaint, look at the file and speak or meet with all members of staff he considers will help him understand what has happened. At the end of his review he will send you a thorough written synopsis of the complaint and his suggested solutions for resolving it. If you would like a face to face meeting to discuss your complaint and his response then please be in touch to make a time for a meeting. Within two working days of the meeting Richard will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that have been agreed with you. You can also respond to Richard’s communication by email or telephone with a view to trying to resolve the issues you have complained about. We aim to resolve all complaints as soon as possible and in any event within the 8 weeks maximum period allowed by the Legal Ombudsman. If we do not do so you may take the matter to the Legal Ombudsman. As well as dealing with your complaint, Richard will always have in mind which of our procedures can be altered to ensure similar complaints do not arise in the future

 

  1. Is there further action open to me if I am still dissatisfied?

 

Whilst we hope that we will be able to resolve any problems with our complaints handling procedure, it may be that we exhaust all possible ways of resolving the issues within the firm in which case you may be able to ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent organisation which handles complaints against solicitors. The Legal Ombudsman service is open to all members of the public and very small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts. For more information on their complaints procedure, including who may use their service and the time periods for involving them their details are:
The Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH
Telephone 0300 555 0333 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or at
www.legalombudsman.org.uk
The Legal Ombudsman deals with all aspects of poor service, such as

delayed or unclear communication

problems with your fees, or

loss of documents.
Matters of professional misconduct are handled by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (please see below).
Please note that the Legal Ombudsman’s timescales for bringing complaints to the Ombudsman changed on 1st April 2023. The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a 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. You must also ensure that you are in touch with the Ombudsman within six months from the end of this complaints process otherwise they may be unable to investigate your complaint. If you are concerned about meeting this deadline please call the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333.
You may also have a right under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974 to ask the Court to assess whether the charges in our bill are reasonable.
Alternative complaints bodies (such as Promediate www.promediate.co.uk) exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and this firm which to use such a scheme.
8.
Professional Misconduct
If you believe an employee of this firm has breached an SRA Principle you may report the matter to the SRA. The SRA does not have the power to award compensation for poor service, or to reduce or refund your legal fees. More information on when a report to the SRA is appropriate and how to make a report may be found here (https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/).

To speak to one of our experts please call us on 01749 836100 or Ask us a question



    Close

    How can we help you?

    Please fill in the form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can