Our Complaints 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 standards.

In the event that you are unhappy with any aspect of our service (including a bill), for instance:  you should have a problem or query about the way in which your matter is being handled or you feel that our services can be improved or you have a complaint, please inform us of the details at your earliest convenience.

You can contact us by telephone or arrange a meeting to discuss your concerns, alternatively you may prefer to write to us by mail or email.

In the first instance we ask that you contact the member of staff who has responsibility for your matter.  If the member of staff who has responsibility for your matter can not resolve your concerns immediately we will arrange for an investigation of them.

What will happen next?

1.         We will send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your concerns within 3 working days of receiving them, confirming our complaints procedure.

2.         Details of your concerns and your file will be passed to the supervisor of the member of staff who has responsibility for your matter.  They will review your matter file and speak to their supervisee.

3.         A written response to your concerns, including suggestions for resolving the matter, will be sent to you within 21 working days of sending you their acknowledgement letter.

4.         If you wish we can arrange a meeting to discuss matters further.  Within 3 working days of this meeting taking place, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions agreed with you.

5.       If you remain dissatisfied please contact our Compliance Officer for Legal Practice, Michael Sewell, stating why you remain dissatisfied. He can be contacted at:

Pardoes Solicitors

The Exchange

Express Park

Bristol Road

Bridgwater

TA6 4RR

Telephone: 01278 457891

Email:  michael.sewell@pardoes.co.uk

6.         He will review your concerns and write to you, within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position and explaining our reasons.

7.         If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint, alternative concerns bodies such as ProMediate (http://www.promediate.co.uk/) and UK Government Small Claims Mediation (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/small-claims-mediation-service/) are competent to deal with concerns about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme.  If you remain dissatisfied, the Legal Ombudsman ("LeO") can consider the matter.

8.         If, once your concerns have passed through our full complaints procedure, you remain dissatisfied with our service, you can refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman:

PO Box 6806

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

WV1 9WJ

Telephone:  03005 550 333

Email:  enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

9.         The Legal Ombudsman expects concerns to be referred to them within 1 year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year of you realizing there was a concern.  You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within 6 months of our final response to you.

Consumer Online Dispute Resolution

If you are a client with whom we have made contact by electronic means, you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution service to assist with any contractual dispute you may have with us.  Should you wish to do so, that service can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/odr.  Our email address for this purpose is enquiries@pardoes.co.uk.