OUR COMMITMENT TO CLIENT CARE

Our clients are at the heart of everything we do

Our Promise to You

As a client, you are at the heart of everything we do and at Stratfords Solicitors we base our reputation on delivering exceptional levels of client service.

We aim to meet and exceed your expectations in everything we do. To achieve this, we monitor at all times our legal and support team, systems and processes to make sure that as a client you are happy with the service you receive.

We will always try to find out what is important to you and strive to ensure that we provide what you need and when you need it. Whether you are meeting us at our offices, contacting us by phone or hearing from us by letter or email we will always try our hardest to provide you with an exceptional service.

Our complaints procedure

We value our relationship with you. However, from time to time, things can go wrong and difficulties and misunderstandings can arise.  Wjhen this happens we need you to tell us about it.  If you are unhappy with the service that you have received from us, then in the first instance, please take the matter up with whoever has been dealing with your matter.

If the matter is not resolved to your satisfaction, please contact us in writing outlining your complaint in full.

Our complaints partner is Nicholas Stratford. You can contact him by post at our office address, namely, Poynton Chambers, 130 London Road South, Poynton, Cheshire, SK12 1LQ or by e-mail at enquiries@stratford-solicitors.com. Whilst it is helpful if you can put your concerns into writing, if you would prefer not to do so, or if you would find it difficult to do so, he can be contacted by phone at 01625 878 204.

If you have special needs which we should take into account due to language or disability, please let us know.

What Happens Next

The following explains our complaints process and our target times for each stage of the process. Where, for any reason, it is not possible to observe any of these limits we will let you know and explain why.

  1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint and asking you to confirm or explain the details. We will also let you know who will be dealing with your complaint. You can expect to receive our letter within 14 days of us receiving your complaint.
  2. We will record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint. We will do this within 7 days of receiving your complaint.
  3. We will then start to investigate your complaint. The person who acted on your behalf will consider your complaint again. They will then send you their detailed reply or invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter. They will do this within 14 days
  4. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you can let us know. We will then arrange to review our decision within 14 days of you informing us that you are not satisfied.
  5. We will let you know the result of the review within 14 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. We will also give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman. If you are still not satisfied, you can contact them about your complaint.

Legal Ombudsman

If you do not agree with the outcome of our complaints process, or we fail to investigate it within 8 weeks, then you can have the complaint independently looked at by the Legal Ombudsman and it will not affect how we handle your case. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about service issues with lawyers. Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of our final response to your complaint. Before accepting a complaint for investigation, the Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to resolve your complaint with us first.

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.

The address is PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ, telephone 0300 555 0333 or email enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Solicitors Regulation Authority

You may alternatively contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) if you have concerns as to whether we have breached any of their professional rules for solicitors or if you are concerned about or unhappy with 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.

Details will be found at www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/principles and the SRA can be contacted at The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN, or by email to contactcentre@sra.org.uk.