We are committed to providing a high quality legal service and to dealing with all our clients fairly. We acknowledge that we may not always get it right so if something has gone wrong, including in relation to our charges, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards of service.

How do I make a complaint?

You can contact us in writing (by letter, fax or email) or by telephone.

In the first instance it may be helpful to contact the person who is working on your case to discuss your concerns with them, and they will do their best to resolve any issues.

If you do not feel able to raise your concerns with that person, or you are not satisfied with their response and want to formalise your complaint, please contact our Client Care Director, Debra Hepplestall, who has overall responsibility for complaints, and whose contact details are:

Call: 0800 032 1432

Email: debrah@easthams.co.uk

Post: Debra Hepplestall, Easthams Solicitors Limited, Continental House, 292/302 Church Street, Blackpool, Lancashire, FY1 3Q.

To help us to understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us:

• your full name and contact details and preferred contact method;
• what you think we have got wrong;
• how you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
• your file reference number (if you have it).

If you require any help in making your complaint we will try to help you.

How will we deal with your complaint?

We will write to you within 2 working days acknowledging your complaint and enclosing a copy of this policy.

We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:

• reviewing your complaint;
• reviewing your file(s) and other relevant documents; and
• speaking with the person who dealt with your matter.

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.

We may also, if appropriate, invite you to a meeting to discuss your complaint. You do not have to attend if you do not wish to or if you are unable to. We will be happy to discuss the matter with you by telephone.

We will write to you at the end of our investigation to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we will aim to do this within 28 days of receiving your complaint.

If we have to change any of the timescales we will let you know and explain why.

The Client Care Director may direct a member of our Senior Management Team to deal with your complaint.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint?

If you are unhappy with the outcome of our complaints handling procedure please first let us know and we will review the matter. We ask that if you want this review carried out you let us know within 2 weeks. Where possible we will let you know the result of the review within 14 days of receiving your request for the review.

If you have exhausted our internal escalation process yet remain dissatisfied, or if a period of 8 weeks has expired since we acknowledged your complaint and we have not sent our final response to you, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

This applies if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets not exceeding a certain threshold, a charity or trust with a net income of less than £1m, or if you fall within certain other categories (you can find out more from the Legal Ombudsman). The Legal Ombudsman will look at your complaint independently and it will not affect how we handle your matter.

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 6 months of receiving a final response to your complaint; and
• no more than 1 year from the date of the act/omission being complained about; or
• no more than 1 year from when you should have reasonably known there was cause for complaint.

The Legal Ombudsman has discretion to extend the one year time limit for specific customers if, on the evidence, it is fair and reasonable to do so.

If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them.

Legal Ombudsman contact details:

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

Call: 0300 555 0333

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Post: Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme, for example ProMediate. We have, however, chosen not to adopt an ADR process. If, therefore, you wish to complain further, you should contact the Legal Ombudsman.

What to do if you are unhappy with our behaviour

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, a disability or other characteristic.

You can raise your concerns with the Solicitors Regulation Authority:

Post: The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham B1 1RN

Website: www.sra.org.uk

Email: contactcentre@sra.org.uk

What will it cost?

We will not charge you for handling your complaint.

Please note that if we have issued a bill for work done on the matter, and all or some of the bill is not paid, we may be entitled to charge interest on the amount outstanding. This is explained in our Terms of Business.

The Legal Ombudsman service is free of charge.

Easthams Solicitors Limited