OWEN PAULO COMPLAINTS POLICY

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients, however 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 our Client Services department. You can write to them either by email complaints@owenpaulo.co.uk or posted to The Complaints Director, Owen Paulo Legal Ltd, 31 Watling Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2UD. The Complaints Director will acknowledge your complaint and will then usually pass it to the director in charge of the department involved in your complaint to investigate.

We have eight weeks to consider your complaint. If we have not resolved your complaint within this time, you may complain to the Legal Ombudsman.

What Will Happen Next?

• We will record your complaint in our central register, write to acknowledge your complaint and let you know the name of the person who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within three working days of us first receiving your complaint.

• We will then start to investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps:

-  Asking you to confirm or explain the details set out.

-  Asking the member of staff who acted for you to reply to your complaint.

-  Examining the reply and the information in your file. We may then ask for more information.

• We will endeavour to complete the investigation within 21 days of sending you the initial acknowledgement letter.

• We will write to advise the outcome of our investigation (this will include our suggestions for resolving the matter) and may invite you to meet the investigating director to discuss and, it is hoped to resolve your complaint. You may, in any event request such a meeting.

• Within two days of the meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any suggestions we have agreed with you.

• At this stage, if you are still not satisfied you can write to us again. We will then arrange for someone who has not been involved in your complaint to review your initial complaint together with the outcome of our initial investigation. They will endeavour to do this within ten working days.

• We will let you know the result of the review within five 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.
  
  

Legal Ombudsman

If you are still not satisfied, then you may contact the Legal Ombudsman P.O. Box 6806 Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ about your complaint.

From 1st April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them within a year of the date of the act or omission about which you are concerned or within a 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.

For further information, you may also like to contact the Legal Ombudsman on 0300 555 0333 or at enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk.

Solicitors Regulation Authority

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 other characteristic.

Visit their website to see how you can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority.