Punch Robson is 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.
If you have a complaint, please contact us with details. Initially we hope that matters can be resolved directly with the person with day to day conduct of your matter. However, if you consider a resolution with the file handler to be impossible, please contact our Client Services Partner, John Wilkin. Mr Wilkin is based at 34 Myton Road, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton on Tees TS17 0WG. His direct e-mail address is jwilkin@punchrobson.law.
If you wish to make a complaint, it is often helpful for the complaint to be put in writing as it may make it easier for us to understand the nature of your complaint. However, if complaining in writing presents problems or if your complaint is of a particularly urgent nature, please contact us by telephone.
If you are writing to us with a complaint please bear in mind that it may be helpful if you are able to tell us what you believe we have done or not done which you consider was wrong and how the act or omission about which you are complaining has affected you. If you are aware of the date on which the matter complained about occurred it can sometimes be helpful to tell us. If there is anything specific which you would like us to do in response to your complaint, again we are happy to receive your suggestions.
What will happen after your complaint:-
- We will endeavour to send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within 3 business days of receiving it. We will enclose a copy of this procedure with that letter.
- Our Client Services Partner will investigate your complaint, review the file and speak to any relevant members of staff.
- We will endeavour to respond fully to your complaint within 14 days of acknowledging it. However, if there are any reasons why prevent us from providing you with a full response within 14 days we will write to you to tell you and give an indication of when we expect to be able to reply fully. For example, it is possible that we may need to ask you for further information to enable us to properly deal with your complaint.
- In more complex matters we may ask you to confirm in writing that we have properly understood the facts upon which your claim is based. If so, we shall endeavour to set out our understanding of the facts within 14 days of receiving your initial complaint. We will endeavour to respond fully to your complaint within 14 days of your written confirmation that the facts we have set out are correct (or alternatively or within 14 days of your written corrections). If there are any reasons which prevent us from adhering to these deadlines will write to you and give you an indication of when we expect to be able to contact you again.
- If we consider it necessary we will invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will endeavour to do this within 14 days of acknowledging your complaint.
- Within 7 days of any meeting we will write to you if the meeting has resolved your complaint to confirm any solution which we have agreed with you.
- If the meeting does not resolve matters we will endeavour to write to you within 14 days of the meeting with our response to your complaint.
- If your complaint is accepted we will write to you with our proposals to redress the issues which you have raised.
- If we reject your complaint or offer you redress and you remain unhappy you should contact us again and we will arrange for another Partner in the firm to review our initial decision and we will then write to you again within 14 days of receipt of your request for a review confirming our final position and explaining our reasons.
- If you are not not satisfied with the handling of the complaint then you may contact:
The Legal Ombudsman
https://www.legalombudsman.org.uk/
The Legal Ombudsman, Edward House, Quay Place, Birmingham B1 2RA.
Telephone : 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Any complaint to the Ombudsman must be made within 6 months from the date of our final written response on your complaint and within 1 year from the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within 1 year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.Solicitors Regulation Authority
If you think a solicitor might be dishonest or you have concerns about their ethics or integrity, you have the right to notify our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). There are no time limits for making a report but there are limits on what the SRA will consider. The SRA is not able to deal with issues of poor service
For further information about the SRA’s role, please contact the SRA or visit:
https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/
- If for reasons beyond our control we have to change any of the timescales above we will endeavour to let you know in good time and explain why.