Complaints | Penn Chambers
This page gives you the full complaints procedure for Penn Chambers Solicitors.
If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact us.
Penn Chambers Limited
Trading Name: Penn Chambers Solicitors
We will always work hard to ensure that you receive the highest possible standards of service from us. However, we acknowledge that from time to time we may not get things right. In the unlikely event that you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our service including in relation to your bills rendered, we have an established procedure to resolve your concerns as swiftly as possible.
We are committed to resolving any grievances that you may have in the spirit of compromise and with the utmost of best intentions. We will endeavour to act professionally, courteously and fairly.
Policy
The Head of Quality Assurance has determined the policy for dealing with client concerns. The policy is that we will endeavour at all times to be fair and reasonable to your concerns and we will place a particular emphasis on creating a compromise and suggesting solutions to avoid future issues, rather than apportioning blame.
Charges
Please be assured that you will never be charged a fee or suffer any reduction in the quality of the service that we offer you because you may wish to raise a client care issue.
Process
Where the complaint is more about service or costs you should complain to us directly in the first instance. We have several stages of dealing with your complaint:
Internal Procedure – Stage 1:
We firmly believe that resolving any issues that you may have as close as possible to the source of the concerns is the best way to achieve the most effective outcomes. Therefore if you have any concerns about the quality of service that you have received from us, then please raise your concerns with the Advisor acting for you in the first instance. All our advising staff are rigorously trained during our induction processes and beyond to handle quality assurance issues positively and fairly at all times.
The Advisor will acknowledge your complaint within 3 days.
The Advisor may also invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your concerns. We would hope to do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. Following this meeting, the Advisor will then write to you within 14 days to set out their conclusions and proposals or suggestions they would wish to make.
If no meeting takes place (for whatever reason) then the Advisor will write to you within 14 days of sending the acknowledgement letter setting out a full response to you set out their conclusions and proposals or suggestions they would wish to make.
If we have to change any of the timescales mentioned above, we will let you know and explain why.
Internal Procedure – Stage 2:
If you feel that it would be completely inappropriate to raise your issues with the Advisor or you have raised your issues with the Advisor and you are dissatisfied with the proposed outcomes, then you should raise the matter with the Head of Quality Assurance in writing. In the circumstances that your complaint relates to the Head of Quality Assurance, your issue will be re-directed to the next most senior person within the company, who will consider your concerns impartially.
We will acknowledge your request to take the matter to the Second Stage within 3 days.
Our Head of Quality Assurance may also invite you to a meeting to discuss and hopefully resolve your concerns. We would hope to do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter. Following this meeting, the Head of Quality Assurance will then write to you within 14 days to set out conclusions and proposals or suggestions they would wish to make. If no meeting takes place (for whatever reason) then the Head of Quality Assurance will write to you within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter setting out a full response to you set out their conclusions and proposals or suggestions they would wish to make.
This will be our "Final Response".
If we have to change any of the timescales mentioned above, we will let you know and explain why.
External Procedure – Stage 3:
In the very unlikely event that you are unable to resolve matters with the Head of Quality Assurance or the Final Response outcomes suggested by us do not meet with your satisfaction, you have a right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman, an independent complaints body, that deals with legal services complaints.
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, and are not satisfied with our Final Response, you can then take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, but this must be done:
a) no more than one year from the date of act/omission; or
b) no more than one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.
The Legal Ombudsman retains the right to extend this period if you make a complaint after that one-year period has elapsed.
Further, the Legal Ombudsman has a discretion allowing them to consider whether it is a proportionate use of their resources and time to investigate a complaint. This will enable the Legal Ombudsman to dismiss or discontinue a complaint if the loss, detriment or impact is deemed not to be significant.
If you are not happy with the Ombudsman's first decision then you may apply for an Ombudsman's Final Decision (i.e. like an appeal against the first decision of one of the Legal Ombudsman's investigators) - but this does not apply in all cases as the Legal Ombudsman retains the right to conclude that a Final Decision is not needed in a case if no substantive issues have been raised in response to their investigator’s first decision findings or remedy.
If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman, please contact them. Their details are:
Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0300 555 0333 between 9 am to 5 pm.
Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
Address: Legal Ombudsman PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ.
Alternative Complaints Bodies
Alternative complaints bodies such as ProMediate and Small Claims Mediation exist which are competent to deal with complaints about legal services should both you and our firm wish to use such a scheme. We prefer to use the Legal Ombudsman to deal with such complaints and not the alternative bodies stated.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority can also 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 protected characteristic.
If you would like more information about The Solicitors Regulation Authority, please contact them. Their details are:
Website: www.sra.org.uk
Telephone: 0370 606 2555
Address: Solicitors Regulation Authority, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN.
Head of Quality Assurance Contact Details
Should you have any concerns about any aspect of the service that you have received from Penn Chambers you may contact the Head of Quality Assurance by the following means:
a) By telephone on freephone 0800 073 73 76
b) By email on clientcare@penngroup.co.uk
c) By writing to us at The Head of Quality Assurance, 13 Austin Friars London EC2N 2HE
How Do We Keep This Procedure Up To Date?
We will occasionally make changes and corrections to this Client Care Procedure. If we believe that the changes are material, we’ll let you know by doing one (or more) of the following:
(1) posting the changes on our website site, or
(2) sending an email to you (if you are an existing client) informing you about the changes; or
(3) writing a letter to you (if you are an existing client) informing you about the changes.
Penn Group
13.03.24
Version 2.7