We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“SRA”). We are committed to providing high quality legal advice and client care and aim to offer all our clients an efficient and effective service.
We are committed to high quality legal advice and client care and are keen to resolve any concerns as soon as possible and in order to do this, will follow our complaints handling procedure. All complaints are dealt with by our principal, Tina Wagon who can be contacted on 01442 242999, by email to tina@wheldonlaw.co.uk or at 1 The Waterhouse, Waterhouse Street, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1ES.
Our complaints procedure is as follows:
Step One
If they have not already done so, we ask our clients to let us know the full nature of the problem.
Step Two
Our principal Tina Wagon, will write to the client to acknowledge their complaint within 5 working days. In this letter we will confirm what happens next.
Step Three
The complaint will then be investigated by reviewing the matter file and speaking with the member of staff concerned within 14 days of acknowledging receipt of the complaint. If for some reason, the matter cannot be investigated in this timeframe, then we will write to the client notifying them of this together with the reason why and giving a revised timescale.
Once the investigation has been completed, the client will be provided with a detailed written response to inform them of the outcome of the investigation and the proposed resolution to the complaint.
Step Four
If the client is satisfied with the response following the above steps, that will be the end of the matter. However, if the client is not satisfied, they should contact Tina Wagon again and she will review her decision or, depending on the circumstances, will arrange for a member of staff who is unconnected with the matter to review her decision. We will write to you within 14 days of receiving a request for a review with confirmation of the firm’s final position in relation to your complaint, outlining the reasons and any final redress that is offered.
Step Five – other avenues
Clients must always try complaining to us first. In most cases a client will not be able to take their complaint further without allowing us the opportunity to put things right.
Legal Ombudsman
We are permitted a minimum of 8 weeks to consider the complaint. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us within that timeframe, then our clients are advised that they may ask the Legal Ombudsman to consider the complaint.
Clients are free to refer any complaint about our work, fees or level of service but there are some conditions and time limits. Please be aware that any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within 6 months of the client having received a final written response from us about their complaint. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within 1 year of the act or omission about which the client is complaining occurring; or within 1 year from when you should have known about or become aware that there were grounds for complaint. The Legal Ombudsman will not accept complaints where the act or date of awareness was before 6 October 2010.
For further information, please contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk. The Legal Ombudsman may be contacted at PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ.
Solicitors Regulation Authority
If there are concerns regarding a solicitors honesty, ethics or integrity, a complaint can be made to our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority. There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. Please note that the SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service (complaints of this nature should be referred to the Legal Ombudsman). For further information about the SRA’s role, please contact the SRA or visit them at https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page#report