Winston Solicitors complaints procedure

Complaints procedure

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

Dissatisfied with our service?

Initially please contact the person who is handling your matter to discuss your concerns. Alternatively, or if your concerns are not resolved by the person handling your matter please contact the person supervising their work. The name of the supervisor is set out in the client care letter sent to you at the start of your case. 

We will do our best to resolve any concerns at this stage but if you still have concerns and feel you need to make a formal complaint, our full complaints procedure is detailed in this document. Making a complaint will not affect how your case is handled.

Making a formal complaint 

We are committed to providing a high-quality legal service to all our clients. If something goes wrong you need to tell us about it, so that we can put matters right. It will also help us to improve our standards.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your concerns having raised them to the person handling your matter and their supervisor, you should make a formal complaint which will be handled by our Complaints Handling Partner. 

What will happen next:-

  1. Within three days of receiving your complaint we will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint, let you know the name of the person handling your complaint and request you to confirm or explain any details which we require to investigate your complaint. If it seems that it would assist to resolve your complaint we will suggest a meeting with you. 
  2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a separate file for your complaint. 
  3. The timetable/actions for investigating your complaint are likely to be as follows:
    • Within three days of receiving your complaint the person investigating your complaint will raise it with the person complained about, and where appropriate call for your file of papers.
    • Within fourteen days of receiving your complaint the person dealing with your complaint will either invite you to a meeting to resolve the complaint, or send you a detailed reply, which will include suggestions for resolving the matter.
  4. If you are still not satisfied that your complaint has been resolved, please let us know, and your complaint will be reviewed within fourteen days of you notifying us by another partner in this firm.
  5. We will let you know the result of this review within five days of completing the review and we will write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons. 
  6. If you remain dissatisfied you have a right to take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body established under the Legal Services Act 2007, that deals with legal services complaints. Their contact details are set out below.

What you may do if we cannot resolve your complaint

If we are unable to help you, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how your case is handled. 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 there are some time limits for taking your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

You should do so: 

  • Within 6 months of receiving our final response to your complaint.

and 

  • No more than 1 year from the date of act/omission about which you are complaining.

or 

  • No more than 1 year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman their contact details are:

  • Visit www.legalombudsman.org.uk

  • Email at@email

  • Telephone 0300 555 0333, from overseas +44 121 245 3050

  • Write to Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH. Please note, this is not an address for service of legal documents. 

How the SRA can help you

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, disability, or other characteristic. You can raise your concerns with Solicitors Regulation Authority. 

Our commitment to you

We are pleased that we very rarely have to use our complaints procedure – and if any client is dissatisfied with our service, and wishes to use it, we will do our utmost to resolve the complaint to our client’s satisfaction.

Client feedback

My Divorce case was handled efficiently and with understanding by Teresa and Judith who guided me all the way through it with sympathy for the circumstances and I wouldn't hestitate to recommend them, infact I have already done so!
Elizabeth R
We engaged Winston Solicitors to update our Wills and create Lasting Powers of Attorney. Thanks to the help from Emily Spencer, we found the whole process to be easy, quick and very efficient
Lynne
Excellent Solicitors!!Just completed our house purchase with Winstons Solicitors and I can't recommend them enough!!We were first time buyers and both Amr and Joe were very helpful. They made everything easy and less stressful for us.Thank you Amr and JoeAlso thank you to the lovely lady on reception who was always very helpful, friendly and smiling when I went in to drop off paperwork.Gemma & Johnny
Gemma a
Great service and would highly recommend. Samantha and Michelle were great with dealing with my first house purchase and completed in a timely manner.I feel the service provided was 10/10 
Matty, Leeds
I highly recommend Winston Solicitors especially Heidi Stewart when it comes to getting a compensation claim. I was nervous at first but Heidi was very reassuring supportive as well as professional. She kept me up to date and explained everything,so I knew what was going on from start to finish. Best compensation no win no fee solicitors,as their commission is exceptionally reasonable as well. I trust them 100% to get the job done right and they always put the clients best interests first!
Gayle
The team at Winston Solicitors have been Fantastic from start to finish. We're first time buyers, so naturally pretty clueless ourselves. But with the expertise from Winston Solicitors everything went through without a glitch.Highly recommend 10/10
Gemma a
very nice staff and a lovely building realy good servive very prompt and easy to understand
Stephen
Completing our will was a very easy process and with support the whole way through to get to the end result that my wife and I wanted. Always had great service from Winston’s. Highly recommend.
David
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