Complaints
OCL Complaints Proceedure
At OCL Solicitors we take our professional responsibilities seriously and we are committed to providing a high quality legal service for all our clients. However, if you, as a client at any point become unhappy or dissatisfied with the service you have received or are receiving, we need you to you to tell us about it, so we can do our best to resolve the problem. We regard it as an opportunity to monitor and improve our standards.
In the first instance, if you are dissatisfied but do not wish to raise a formal complaint you should contact your dedicated case handler who is responsible for the day to day handling of your case. The handler will work with you to try and resolve the matter. If your discussions do not resolve the matter to your satisfaction and you would like to make a formal complaint you should put your complaint in writing to us at OCL Solicitors, Saturn Building, 2nd Floor, Balby Carr Bank, Doncaster, DN4 5JQ or by email to [email protected]. Please mark your letter or email as ‘Complaint’.
We will respond to any concerns you may have and we will do everything we can to resolve your complaint fairly and efficiently.
To help us understand your complaint you should set out as much information as possible regarding the reasons for your complaint along with any proposed resolution.
The following information should be included:
- Your full name, contact details and any reference number you may have for your case;
- Details of why you are dissatisfied with the service provided or what you think we have done wrong.
- Your desired outcome from the complaint, what you think we need to do to put things right.
If you have any special needs to enable you to bring your complaint to us please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate them.
Please note that you should make your complaint to us within 6 months of the last correspondence you receive from us or within a year of the act or omission to which it relates.
How we will deal with your complaint
We endeavour to respond to complaints in full within 8 weeks.
Upon receipt of your complaint we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within 5 working days, identifying the individual responsible for investigating the complaint and the steps we are taking.
We will then investigate your complaint and aim to provide an initial response within 10 working days of acknowledgement of your complaint.
We may be able to deal with the matter in a phone call, or we may need to carry out a detailed review of your case.
In all cases we will contact to you to tell you the outcome of your complaint and to give you the opportunity to respond.
If you remain unsatisfied at this stage your complaint will be escalated internally to a member of the Senior Management team to investigate further. We will contact you upon conclusion of our investigation to try and resolve the matter amicably and provide our final response in writing.
If your complaint is particularly complex and we have to change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why and provide you with an updated timescale.
We will not charge you for the handing of your complaint.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist which can deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. However, we have chosen not to adopt an ADR process.
Accordingly if, at the end of the above process, you continue to be dissatisfied with our final response, you may refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman is an independent consumer focused scheme set up to resolve complaints about lawyers in England and Wales. Before considering your complaint the Legal Ombudsman will check you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be made within certain time limits, specifically within 6 months from the date of our final response.
From the 1st April 2023, a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must be referred by no later than 1 year from the date of any act or omission complained about, or if the act or omission happened more than 1 year ago, then within 1 year of you becoming aware of the act or omission.
You can contact the Legal Ombudsman Service at:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0300 555 0333
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ
A complaint can be made to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if it relates to professional conduct of OCL Solicitors.
Further information is available on the SRA website (www.sra.org.uk/consumers). The SRA can be contacted by phone on 0370 606 2555, by email [email protected] or by post at Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B4 6AH.