Complaints Handling Policy/Procedure

You may have asked for our complaints procedure or you may be receiving this because you have experienced a problem with our service.

If you have experienced a problem, thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention.  We will do our best to address any dissatisfaction that you have experienced in using the services of this firm. Our primary objective is to put things right.

Our complaints policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to all clients of the firm.  This includes a commitment to putting things right when they go wrong.  This policy explains how we will deal with any complaint that is referred to us. Your complaint might concern the way in which you have been dealt with, quality of advice/service you have received or the amount of any invoice you may have received.

Our complaints procedure

If you wish to complain (about our service or charges) please contact the lawyer dealing with your matter, or their supervisor in the first instance. Their names and contact details will be in the engagement letter you received when you first instructed the firm on the relevant matter.

We are always happy to deal with your complaint by informal discussion or in writing, at your choosing.

If you would prefer to deal with someone else rather than the lawyer dealing with your matter, you are welcome to do so. You can contact our complaints Director Theresa Holden or Dotun Ogunfolu. You can contact Theresa by post at Wyeth & Paul Law Associates, 117 High Street, Gosport PO12 1DU and Dotun Ogunfolu at Olives Solicitors, 2 Batchelor Street, Chatham ME4 4BJ or by email complaint@olivessolicitors.com. It is helpful if you put your concerns into writing, but if you would prefer not to, or if you would find it difficult to do so, you can contact us via our telephone lines.

If you have special needs which we should take into account due to language or disability, please let us know.

To explain to you how long our process might take we have included our target times for each stage of the process. Where, for any reason, it is not possible to observe any of these limits we will let you know and explain why.

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Legal Ombudsman

If you do not agree with the outcome of our complaints process, or we fail to investigate it within 8 weeks, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of our final response to your complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.

The address is PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, telephone 0300 555 0333 or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

You may alternatively contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you have concerns as to whether we have breached any of their professional rules for solicitors or 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.

Details will be found at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/principles and the SRA can be contacted at The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN, or by email to  contactcentre@sra.org.uk.