Client Complaints Policy

Our Complaints Policy

Pritchard Jones Lane LLP is 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 improve our standards.

Our Complaints procedure

If you have a concern or a complaint, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed.

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 do not feel able to discuss your concerns with them, please contact the person responsible for the overall supervision of your matter, who will be named in the Client Care Letter sent to you at the beginning of your matter.

If you do not feel comfortable in raising your concerns with either of these people, or you are unsatisfied with their response, please address your complaint to our Complaints Partner, namely, Mrs Beth Morgan, who has overall responsibility for complaints.

We may be contacted by telephone on 01286 671167, by post at Pritchard Jones Lane LLP, 37 Y Maes, Caernarfon, Gwynedd, LL55 2NP or via email on post@pritchardjones.co.uk.

What will happen next?

1. You will need to send us full details of your complaint in writing to help us understand your complaint, and in order that we do not miss anything, please tell us: -

• Your full name and contact details;
• Your complaint.
• How you would like your complaint to be resolved; and
• Your file reference number.

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

2. Upon receipt of your complaint, we will then send you a letter acknowledging receipt of your complaint within five days, enclosing a copy of this procedure.

3. We will then investigate your complaint. This will usually involve reviewing your complaint; reviewing your file(s) and any other relevant documents; and liaising with the member of staff who acted for you in the matter. It may be the case that we will ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

4. You will then be invited to a meeting to discuss your complaint(s) if deemed necessary. If you do not wish to attend the meeting, or are unable to, we are happy to discuss the matter with you by telephone conversation or video conference.

5. Within seven days of any meeting or discussion, we will write to you to confirm what took place and any solutions that has been agreed with you.

6. At the end of our investigation, we will write to tell you what we have done and what we propose to do to resolve your complaint. Where possible, we aim to do this within 8 weeks of the date of our letter of acknowledgement.

7. At this stage, if you are still not satisfied, you should contact us again to explain why you remain unhappy with our response and we will review your comments.

8. We will write to you within 21 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final position on your complaint, explaining our reasons.

9. If you are still not satisfied, you can then contact the Legal Ombudsman, PO Box 6167, Slough SL1 0EH or call 0300 555 0333 about your complaint. Any complaint to the Legal Ombudsman must usually be made within six months of your receiving a final written response from us regarding your complaint. The Legal Ombudsman has provided further guidance on its service at www.legalombudsman.org.uk

If we must change any of the timescales above, we will let you know and explain why.

If you would prefer the complaint to be dealt with by someone other than Complaints Partner, Mrs Beth Morgan, please let us know and we will arrange for another senior member of staff to deal with the complaint.

If you are unhappy with our behaviour

If you have any concerns about our conduct or behaviour, you can contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority as follows: -

• Visit: www.sra.org.uk
• Call 0370 6062555 between 8:00am to 6:00pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and between 9:30am to 6:00pm on Tuesday
• Email: report@sra.org.uk
• Postal Address: SRA, The Cube, 199 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RN

Updated February 2025