Our Complaints Policy

Quastels LLP is 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 concern or a complaint that has not been dealt with to your satisfaction by the person handling your case or their supervising partner, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed.

What Will Happen Next?

  1. We aim to send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within a week (unless over a bank holiday when the time will be extended to cover that period) of our receiving the complaint, enclosing a copy of this procedure. 
  2. We will then investigate your complaint.
  3. Depending upon the complexity of the complaint this will normally involve passing your complaint to the person referred to in your client retainer letter designated as the relevant complaints partner (“the designated person”). 
  4. The designated person will review your file and so far as required, speak to the relevant member of staff who managed your matter. 
  5. The designated person may then either:
    • a) write to you to confirm that they have the requisite information giving a time estimate within which you will hear from them; and/or 
    • b) if your complaint needs further clarification, ask you to give that clarity and then once received, write to you in accordance with 5. a) above.
  6. The time estimate for writing to you in accordance with 5. above will depend upon the complexity of the complaint and the need to address your issues to relevant persons who may have handled your case. The target is to return to you within 6 weeks. 
  7. When the designated person writes to you, they may provide you with a decision or a provisional decision, in both cases asking you to review and provide feedback or inviting you to meet with them to seek to resolve any areas which have not been addressed. You do not have to agree to meet. 
  8. If there is a meeting, then it is intended that within 14 days of the meeting, the designated person will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions agreed with you. 
  9. If you are invited to a meeting but do not wish to attend or your attendance is not possible, we will in any event send you a detailed written reply to your complaint, including suggestions for resolving the matter.

 

If you are not satisfied with our handling of your complaint, you can ask the Legal Ombudsman at:

PO Box 15870, Birmingham B30 9EB (0300 555 0333; www.legalombudsman.org.uk) to consider the complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman expects complaints to be made to them 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.