Complaints

At Preston Turnbull, we are committed to providing the highest standard of legal service to all of our clients. However, if you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the service you have received, we want to address your concerns promptly and fairly.

In the first instance, informal complaints should be address to the Partner in charge of the matter and we will do our best to resolve the issue. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, or if you would like to make a formal complaint, then please follow the below formal complaints procedure.

Formal Complaints Procedure

If you wish to raise a formal complaint, please write to our complaints Partner, Elizabeth Turnbull, setting out the details of your complaint and providing any relevant documents or correspondence.

elizabethturnbull@preston-turnbull.com

Upon receiving your complaint, we will acknowledge receipt within 3 working days and confirm the name and contact details of the person handling your complaint. This will usually be a Partner or senior member of the Firm with no previous involvement in your case.

We will then investigate your complaint. This will normally involve a full review of your matter file, including interviews with the member of staff who acted for you. You may be contacted to provide further information.

We aim to provide a full written response to your complaint within 21 working days of our acknowledgement. If the matter is complex and requires more time, we will inform you of the delay and provide a revised timescale.

The full written response will include an outline of the investigation and proposals for dealing with your complaint and/or remedying any defects in our service to you.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you can request a review by another senior partner within the firm.

If we have been unable to resolve your complaint, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. Please see below for further information.

Unresolved Issues – Legal Ombudsman

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 our final response to your complaint; and
No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

You can contact the Legal Ombudsman by:

Telephone: 0300 555 0333
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ

SRA

If your complaint relates to a breach of the SRA’s regulatory requirements, you can raise your concerns directly with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). Please visit the SRA website for more information: [www.sra.org.uk].

Bills

If your complaint is about our bill, you may also apply to the court for an assessment of the bill under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974. If all or part of a bill remains unpaid, we may be entitled to charge interest.

Data Protection Issues

If your complaint relates to a concern about our data handling, or a data breach, you may complain directly to the ICO. Please visit the ICO website for more information: www.ico.org.uk