Our Complaints Policy 

We are committed to providing a high-quality service to our customers.  This includes a commitment to putting things right when they go wrong.  This policy explains how we will deal with any complaint that is referred to us. Your complaint may concern the way in which you have been dealt with, the quality of service you have received or any invoice that you have received. 

Our Complaints Procedure 

If you have a complaint, please contact Mark Shannon-Little, Team Leader, on 0333 124 4084 or by email to [email protected] or by post at ESP Solicitors, 68 Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RX. It is preferable that you do put your concerns into writing, but if you would prefer not to, or if you would find it difficult to do so, please contact Mark by telephone.

To explain to you how long this process might take we have included 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. 

 

What will happen next? 

1. On receipt of your complaint, one of our Directors will send you a letter acknowledging your complaint. We will open a file for your complaint on our systems and the appropriate Director will examine the file that we have on the work that we have been doing for you. We would look to acknowledge your complaint within two days and we will aim to write to you with our views and any suggestions within seven days of completing our investigations. 
2. Where we feel that we have failed in our standards we could offer an apology, a reduction of any bill or a repayment in relation to any payment received. 
3.  If, by this stage, you are still not satisfied, please let us know. It would be helpful to us if you could do so within the next 21 days but there is no obligation on you to do so.  We will then arrange to review our decision.  We would generally aim to do this within seven days of hearing from you. The review will be dealt with by an alternative Director of the business. 
4. We will let you know the result of the review within seven days of the end of the review and will do so in writing to you to confirm our final position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.   
5. If you are not satisfied with our handling of a complaint under our own complaint procedure in relation to the service we have provided or an invoice, then you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to resolve it.  The service offered by the Legal Ombudsman is usually only open to all members of the public and small businesses, charities, clubs and trusts and further details are available on www.legalombudsman.org.uk. 

You must take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint from us. From 1 April 2023, the Legal Ombudsman also 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. 

The Legal Ombudsman’s telephone number is 0300 555 0333. You may email  [email protected] or write to Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH. 

If your concern relates to our conduct or behaviour, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help you. This could be for things such as dishonesty, taking or losing money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic. You can contact the SRA by telephone at 0300 606 2555 or via the website www.sra.org.uk.  

We are authorised and regulated by the SRA and the rules and regulations governing how we should act and carry out our business are contained in the SRA Handbook and in particular the SRA Standards and Regulations. These can be accessed and downloaded here. Alternative complaints bodies also exist, which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. An example is Independent Mediators whose website is www.independentmediators.co.uk. 

If we enter into a contract with you and/or you become an ESP Solicitors Ltd client by electronic means (such as by email or online) then, in addition to any rights of redress you may have through the Legal Ombudsman, you may be entitled to use an EU online dispute resolution platform to assist with any complaint or dispute you may have about our services. This online platform can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/odr. We do also have an email address you may contact in this regard and that is [email protected].  

In respect of our invoices raised in respect of this matter, you may also apply to the court for an assessment of the invoice under Part III of the Solicitors Act 1974.