Policy
Sydney Mitchell LLP is committed to providing a high quality service to all our clients. We take very seriously all expressions of dissatisfaction from our clients.
Reporting & Investigation Responsibilities
Complaints should be addressed to the person handling your matter in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with their response, you may raise your concerns with our Client Care Manager, Nik Heelam at Chattock House, 346 Stratford Road, Shirley, B90 3DN, or by telephone on 0121 746 3300; e-mail address n.heelam@sydneymitchell.co.uk. If the matter cannot be resolved informally, you may be asked to fully detail your concerns in writing, to avoid our misunderstanding your concerns. It would also help us if you would let us know how you would like your concerns to be resolved.
Response Times
We aim to acknowledge complaints within 7 days of receipt, whereupon the name of the person responsible for handling the complaint will be confirmed. A full reply will be sent as soon as the matter has been investigated and our proposals for dealing with your concerns have been agreed upon. If you would prefer to discuss the matter at a meeting you should indicate as much and a meeting will be arranged. If you wish, you may bring a friend or family member with you. In any case, we will aim to provide a full written response within 21 days of acknowledgement of your complaint, or of any meeting. If that is not possible, an interim response will be given explaining why it is not possible and when we expect our investigations to be completed and our response finalised. If we accept your complaint in whole or in part we will offer appropriate redress. Please note that no charge is made for the time spent in investigating or responding to a complaint.
Unresolved Issues
If you are still not satisfied you should contact us again and we will arrange for the firm’s senior partner to review the decision and we will aim to write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.
If, in the unusual event that we are unable to resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you are able to take the matter up with the Legal Ombudsman, who may be found at P O Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ. Normally, you will need to bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of a final written response from us about your complaint or within 12 months of the date the legal work undertaken for you was completed. For further information you should contact the Legal Ombudsman by telephone on 0300 555 0333, by e-mail on enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk or refer to www.legalombudsman.org.uk