Complaints Procedure

Our complaints handling policy & procedure

Our complaints handling policy

Longden Walker & Renney is committed to providing a high-quality legal service. If you are unhappy with our service or our charges, please tell us. We will deal with your complaint promptly, fairly and free of charge, consider how to put matters right and use what we learn to improve our service.

We follow a procedure aligned with the Legal Ombudsman’s Model Complaints Resolution Procedure.

How to make a complaint

You may wish to raise your concern with the person handling your matter, who might be able to resolve it quickly. You do not have to do that first. You can make a complaint directly to our Complaints Director, Ms Alixandra Cadden-Young, by emailing law@longdens.co.uk, writing to our office address or telephoning 0191 5666 500.

You can complain by email, letter, telephone or in person. You do not need to describe your concern as a “formal complaint” or put it in writing. If you are unsure whether what you have raised is being treated as a complaint, please ask us. Tell us if you need any reasonable adjustments or another way of communicating with us.

This procedure is also available to someone who is entitled to complain about a legal service we have provided, even if they did not personally instruct us. We will consider any question about whether the Legal Ombudsman can investigate a complaint separately from our consideration of the complaint itself.

1. Acknowledgement

We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days of receiving it. We will provide a copy of this procedure, explain what will happen next and identify who is dealing with your complaint. If necessary, we will check that we have understood the issues you want us to address.

The overall eight-week period for handling your complaint starts when you first make the complaint, not when we acknowledge it or move it to another stage.

2. Early Resolution

We will consider whether your complaint can be resolved promptly through a conversation or other direct contact with you. We will listen to your concerns and discuss what might resolve them. Depending on the circumstances, this could be an explanation, an apology, correcting a problem, taking agreed action or offering another appropriate remedy. You will not have to attend a meeting if you prefer to communicate another way.

Where we use Early Resolution, we will generally aim to complete it within ten working days. We may allow longer if that would help reach an agreed outcome, but this will not take away your right to contact the Legal Ombudsman after eight weeks.

If we agree a resolution, we will confirm it in writing, including any action we have agreed to take. This will be our final response on the issues resolved.

If we consider Early Resolution unsuitable, we will tell you and move straight to Full Investigation. If we try Early Resolution but cannot agree an outcome, we will move to Full Investigation. We will explain the next steps and tell you when to expect our final response.

3. Full Investigation

Ms Cadden-Young will oversee the handling of your complaint. Where it concerns the technical handling of a matter, she will register the complaint and arrange for a Director in the relevant department to review the file and speak to the member of staff involved. For a non-technical complaint, Ms Cadden-Young will review the relevant information and speak to the member of staff involved. If a different person is needed to ensure a fair review, we will make that arrangement.

We will establish the issues you are complaining about, consider the relevant evidence and assess each issue. We may contact you for clarification. Steps already completed during Early Resolution will not be repeated unnecessarily.

We will send you a final written response that addresses the issues raised, explains our conclusions and, where appropriate, sets out what we will do to put matters right. It will explain your right to refer the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman if you remain dissatisfied.

We will respond as soon as reasonably possible and aim to send our final response within eight weeks of the date you first made your complaint. If we need more time, we will explain why and keep you informed. You may contact the Legal Ombudsman once eight weeks have passed, even if our investigation is continuing.

If you remain unhappy

If you are dissatisfied with our final written response, or your complaint has not been resolved within eight weeks of when you first made it, you may be able to refer it to the Legal Ombudsman. This is a free and independent service for complaints about legal services.

You must ordinarily refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of the date of our final written response. You must also ordinarily refer it within one year of the act or omission complained about, or within one year of when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint. The Legal Ombudsman may extend its time limits where it considers that fair and reasonable.

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough
SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk