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Complaints Procedure

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if at any point you become unhappy or concerned about the service we have provided then you should inform us immediately, so that we can do our best to resolve the problem.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues at this stage. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure below. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help you if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Their contact details are:

Phone: – 0370 606 2555; Fax: – 0121 616 1999

Open hours 8.00 to 18.00, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 09.30 to 18.00, Tuesday

Address: – Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN

Website: – www.sra.org.uk

What can I do if we cannot resolve your complaint?

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first. If you have, then you must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman:

  • Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint and
  • No more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
  • No more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Contact details

Visit: www.legalombudsman.org.uk; Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9am to 5pm.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk; Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Our complaints policy

We are 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.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, please contact Mr Neil Waterhouse our Operations Director. You can contact him at Lowgate, Hull HU1 1EN. Mr Waterhouse will investigate your complaint in conjunction with the Solicitor in charge of the department involved in your complaint.

What will happen next?

  • We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within three working days of us receiving your complaint.
  • We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this on the same day as we acknowledge your Complaint.
  • We will then start to investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps.
  • We will review your file with the member of staff who acted for you.
  • We will then write to you with an explanation to the points raised by you. This may take up to 14 working days after our acknowledgement of your Complaint.
  • If necessary we will then invite you to meet Mr Waterhouse to discuss and hopefully resolve your complaint. We will do this within five working days of receiving your request.
  • Within two working days of the meeting we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we have agreed with you.
  • At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can contact us again. We will then arrange to review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways.
  • Mr Waterhouse will review his own decision within five working days.
  • We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it. They will do this within ten working days.
  • We will invite you to agree to independent mediation. We will let you know how long this process will take.

We will let you know the result of the review within five working days of the end of the review.  At this time we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

If we have to change the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem between us, then we are regulated by the Legal Ombudsman who will provide a complaints redress for you. If you are still not satisfied, they can be contacted at Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, or telephone 0300 555 0333 or by e-mail at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

If we have to change the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.
From 1 April 2023, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at your complaint within either of the following:

  • One year of the problem happening or one year from when you found out about it; and
  • You are referring your complaint within six months of Williamsons final response.