We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. When something goes wrong we are glad to hear about it, so that we can address your concerns and improve our service.
How do I make a complaint?
If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of the firm’s services, including the quality of the legal services provided, costs, your treatment by any member of staff, or anything else, please contact us.
In the first instance, it may be helpful to contact those working on your case to discuss your concerns. We will do our best to resolve any issues.
If you do not feel able to discuss your concerns with those staffed to your case, please contact Jef McAllister, our client care partner, who has overall responsibility for complaints. You can contact Jef at jmcallister@mcolaw.com or by writing to him at the following address:
McAllister Olivarius
Pearce Building
7th Floor
West Street
Maidenhead, Berkshire
SL6 1RL
To help us understand your complaint, and to make sure we do not miss anything, please tell us:
- your full name and contact details;
- what you think we have got wrong; and
- how you would like your complaint to be resolved.
How will you deal with my complaint?
We will write to you within five days acknowledging your complaint.
We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:
- reviewing your complaint;
- reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
- liaising with the people who dealt with your matter.
We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.
We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.
We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish or if you are unable to. If we do hold such a meeting, we will work out with you whether to conduct it in person, by telephone or by video conference.
We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within 21 days of acknowledging your complaint.
What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint
If we are 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.
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 one year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within one year of you realising there was a concern. You must also refer your concerns to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of our final response to you.
The Legal Ombudsman’s contact details are:
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 (between 09:00 and 17:00)
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6806, Wolverhamption, WV1 9WJ
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.
What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can help 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 another characteristic.
Visit its website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
What will it cost?
We will not charge you for handling your complaint.
Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding, including during the period the complaint is being handled. This is explained in our engagement letter.
The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.