Our complaints policy

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

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns and we will do our best to resolve any issues. If you would like to make a formal complaint, then you can read our full complaints procedure. Making a complaint will not affect how we handle your case.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint

The Legal Ombudsman can help you if we are unable to resolve your complaint ourselves. They will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your case.

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 six months of receiving our final response to your complaint

and

• No more than one year from the date of the act or omission being complained about; or
• No more than one year from the date when you should reasonably have known that there was cause for complaint.

For more information about the Legal Ombudsman contact:
www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333 between 9.00 to 17.00.

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

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 other characteristic.

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

How to make a complaint to us

ADCO LEGAL is a trading style of ADCO LEGAL LIMITED, registered in England and Wales (registered number 13727201 which is authorised and regulates by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, number 8002488.

We are 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 maintain and improve our firm’s standards.

Our complaints procedure

If you have a complaint, please write to Mr Adam Cohen, Head of legal practice & Managing Director at the firm’s address (found below) setting out in as much detail as possible your cause for complaint. If we have to change any of the timescales set out below, we will let you know. Mr Cohen will carry out the investigation into your complaint.

What will happen next?

1. We will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint within seven days of it being received by the firm and asking you to confirm or explain the details. We may suggest that we meet to clarify any details.
2. We will then record your complaint in our central register and open a file for your complaint and investigate your complaint. This may involve one or more of the following steps.
   • We will consider your complaint. We will then send you our detailed reply or invite you to a meeting to discuss the matter. This may include asking the member of staff that acted for you, to give Mr Cohen their reply to your complaint. He will then examine their reply and the information in your complaint file. We may also speak to the person who acted for you.
   • We may ask another independent local solicitor to investigate your complaint and report to Mr Cohen.
   • At this stage we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you. We would aim to be able to be able to meet with you within 14 days of first receiving your complaint. If you would prefer not to meet, or if we cannot arrange this within an agreeable timescale, we will write fully to you setting out our views on the situation and any redress.
   Within two days of the meeting, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions we may have agreed with you. In appropriate cases we could oder an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received.
3. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, please contact Mr Cohen again in writing to this firm’s address. He will then arrange to review this decision within the next 10 days. This may happen in one of the following ways.
   • Mr Cohen will review the decision himself
   • Mr Cohen will arrange for someone who is not connected with the complaint to review his decision.
   • We will ask our local Law Society or another local firm of solicitors to review your complaint. This may take longer than 10 days in which case we will let you know how long this process will take.
4. 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.
5. If you are still not satisfied, you are entitled to contact the Legal Ombudsman. You can contact the Legal Ombudsman via www.legalombudsman.org.uk or by writing to them at PO Box 15870, Birmingham, B30 9EB. Any complaint must be referred to them within 6 months of your last contact with this firm