Bentleys Solicitors – Complaints Procedure

We endeavour to provide a quality personal service to all our clients, however if any issue arises and you are not satisfied with your service causing you financial loss, or distress please do contact us. We take such concerns seriously and will make every effort to resolve the situation to your satisfaction. At first instant please contact the person dealing with your case so we can attempt to resolve the issue without delay.

If the issue is not resolved to your satisfaction and a formal complaint be received, the following steps will be taken:

1. Mr Bentley will deal with the complaint in the first instance and any complaint must be immediately passed to him for his attention. He will send the complainant a letter acknowledging their complaint and may ask them to confirm or further explain the details. They can expect to receive his letter within seven days of receipt of the complaint.

2. He will then start to investigate the complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps.

• If the complainant agrees, He will investigate the complaint within 4 weeks. He will send them a detailed reply or invite them to a meeting to discuss the matter.

 • If the complainant agrees He will ask another independent solicitor to investigate the complaint and report to him. He will do this within 4 weeks.

3. If for any reason He cannot send his reply within four weeks, he will write to the complainant explaining the reason why and will respond within 8 weeks in any event. Once we have considered the complaint we will write a detailed response to the complaint or invite the complainant to meet to discuss and hopefully resolve the complaint.

4. At that stage, if the complainant is still not satisfied, they may write to Mr Bentley again. He may then arrange to review any decision.

5. Mr Bentley will either consider the complainant’s request for a review and write back to them within 14 days of their request for a review with his final conclusion or with their consent, ask a member of the Solicitors Sole Practitioners Group or the local Law Society or another solicitor to review the complaint and respond to Mr Bentley within 14 days. Mr Bentley will let the complainant know how long this process will take.

6. Mr Bentley will let the complainant know the result of the review within 28 days of the end of the review. At this time Mr Bentley will write to them confirming his final position on the complaint and explaining his reasons.

7. If you remain dissatisfied at the end of our own complaints process, you are entitled to contact the Legal Ombudsman. You must do this within six months of receiving our final written decision on your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman can investigate complaints up to six years from the date of the problem occurring or within three years of when you found out about the problem. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman this must be done within six months of our final response to your complaint.

To contact the Legal Ombudsman telephone 0300 555 0333, email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or write to PO BOX 6806, Wolverhampton, WV19WJ. Alternatively, you can find more information by visiting www.legalombudsman.org.uk.