Complaints

We are committed to providing high quality legal advice and pride ourselves on our high standards of client care.  Sometimes however, things can go wrong, and if they do, we need you to tell us so that we can do what we can to resolve the problem.

Firstly, please contact the person who is doing the work for you and let them know your concerns, hopefully this will allow any problems to be dealt with at an early stage.  If you are not happy with the response that you receive then please contact the person responsible for supervising the work that is being done for you.  They will investigate the problem and try to resolve the issue to everyone’s satisfaction.

If that fails, or you would like to make a formal complaint, please contact our Head of Client Services, Kate Wright who can be reached by phone on 0800 689 1700, by email at kate.wright@harperjames.co.uk,  or by writing to her at Harper James, Floor 5, Cavendish House, 39-41 Waterloo Street, Birmingham, B2 5PP.

Our Complaints Policy can be found here.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint:

The  Legal Ombudsman

The Legal Ombudsman service has been operational since 6 October 2010 and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that complaints are dealt with appropriately. However, before you contact the Legal Ombudsman, you must first register an official complaint with us.  Before the Legal Ombudsman accepts a complaint for investigation they will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first

Normally, the Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve the matter. If after 8 weeks you are still dissatisfied you can then involve the  Legal Ombudsman. For more information on how the Legal Ombudsman works please visit the Legal Ombudsman website.

The  Legal Ombudsman’s contact detail are:

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6167
Slough, SL1 0EH

Telephone: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Timescales

In summary:

• You must register your complaint with us within one year
• The Legal Ombudsman expects you to give us 8 weeks to try to resolve your complaint before you contact them
• A complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must normally be made:
  • within six months of receiving our final written response to your complaint
  • within one year from the act or omission giving rise to your complaint, or
  • within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

SRA

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA); our SRA ID number is 612099.  The SRA can assist you if you have any concerns about our behaviour. For more information please visit https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor.page